Originally Posted by: AkiraValentines Day, Easter, Xmas. All these "religious" holidays are in the name of consumerism. Such a coincidence that God would appear to be a capitalist.
*sorry if any religious person reads this, I do not wish to offend anyone.
I don't think it's necessarily offensive to religious people, as I myself am one also. I do think that it is a spurrious connection. If we consider that these holidays seem to have been consumerized (on a truly massive scale) first by the US, we see that the inevitable result of American multinational corporate interest spreading this consumptive culture in a neo-colonial colonization that to date is qualitatively similar to the Spanish conquests of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, yet quantitatively unlike any colonial episopde in human history, is a homogenization of global cultures based upon a common consumerist ethic.
This homogenization even includes the United States itself, which may demographically spring mainly from the Judeo-Christian and most especially Western Christian traditions. This culture is diluted through a secularization of society that still retains its holidays and pleasantries, although one would be hard-pressed to find many who understand the significance of these holidays. For instance, how many people knew that Valentine was an early Christian martyr? Or how many have wondered why this ostensibly Christian commemoration is characterized by the thematic and charicatured use of pagan religious symbols.
Since we see the secularization and commodification of these holidays rising in tandem, it is a spurrious connection betwen the commodification of these holidays and the original religious persuasion of any demographic subset. Instead, we must realize that this massive export is the combination of a capitalist system which needs growth and new markets to perpetuate itself and the culture from which it comes; they spread what they know, yet paradoxically, they have diluted it to the point where it is essentially meaningless even to them. So while I personally see these holidays (and not Valentine's- more like CHristmas and Easter, as what they are: the celebration of what I believe to be the birth and resurrection of God, most people think in terms of santa claus and the easter bunny- easter is totally bogged down in pagan myths... that could be a whole other debate). So um.. yeah... I'm gonna shut up now. ;)
peace
[FONT=Times New Roman]The rich get richer til the poor get educated.[/FONT]
-Sage Francis
