Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Valentine's Day -- When Money is in the Air

Every year, people around the world toss around millions of dollars on a very low level holiday, Valentine's Day.  People spend on everything from decent chocolates to ridiculously priced roses.  Of course, since so much money is changing hands (an estimated $14.7 billion on Valentine's Day in 2009 alone) someone has to question the morality of the entire picture.
Like many of the most celebrated holidays, there is not a very clear reason behind why a large portion of the world celebrates Valentine's Day.  Some of the earliest theories are built around the belief that the holiday arose from a Pagan fertility ritual, but others have even the Pope endorsing it as a celebration for the Saint Valentine's works.  This lack of knowledge behind why the holiday is celebrated makes people who participate morally good in a Mandevillian sense, but not so much under the ideas of such philosophers as Thomas Hobbes.
Bernard Mandeville's idea that it is morally good if and only if something leads to benefit from that person is definitely in play here.  People aren't giving life-size teddy bears with Pagan rituals on their mind, no, they're doing it with a big box of Whitman's Samplers in mind.  Clear proof that people only participate in the holiday because they will receive something.
Thinkers that do not follow this Mandevillian thought process would likely say that the holiday is only moral in the sense that you are doing good for someone else.  Unless someone is thinking about Pope Gelasius's celebration of Saint Valentine, they are being immoral.  Such holidays as Christmas are different in that they are obviously based around an event, such as the Christian Christ's birth.  People spread cheer and give usually under the principle that they received the best gift from God.  People go to church to celebrate this on Christmas.  Personally, I've never heard of anyone headed to Valentine's Day Mass.
What does all this really boil down to showing about Valentine's Day? It's a chance to give the economy a nice first quarter boost, and a time to hope there isn't any coconut in the chocolate from your valentine.

1 comment:

  1. I think you are definitely correct that Valentine's day is the most Mandevillean holiday: people are making sure that others are looking when they give gifts, so that they get praise and receive advantage in their relationships with others, particularly their romantic partner (and particularly men with regard to women).

    As you say, there is something just materially different about gift giving on Valentine's day compared with Christmas. Why? It can't be commercialization: both holidays are extremely commercial, certainly Christmas is the most commercial of all holidays. Why, then, the dread, fear, resentment? It can't be obligation. Most people have many more obligations for Christmas also. I wonder if it is the gender dynamics that keep coming up in the various posts: something about the holiday brings this aspect up in a way that creates anxiety.

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