Evolving Big Paper - Culture messages

Introduction
Most people live their lives pursuing the meaning of life to achieve happiness, then they die. Since our childhood, we begin to receive these messages that shape our lives in a specific way. We are raised to live as puppets wanting to control others. Because of our culture and customs, we learn to create our independent world filled with stories based on interpretations. These stories lead us to put meaning into whatever happens in our lives, and as it is communicated by our civilized culture. This is elementary to achieving happiness.

Being able to distinguish the different types of messages, dominant, marginal and prohibited, that are constantly communicated, we create an access to profoundly analyzing ourselves under cultural influences. It's also important to distinguish how these messages contradict one another and for what purpose. Living as we are told makes the world a much more organized place. When individuals rebel against their own culture, these people are often cast away from civilization, (those who follow the rules). Ofentimes, people rebel because they are so corrupted by their own culture that they forget what it is to be happy. Even though they break their ties with thier culture they eventually identify with a different one. People will identify themselves with some other ideal and follow it, with the purpose of living happily.

Major argument 1: Dominant Corporate Cultural Messages

Through movies, magazines, ads, etc. we receive messages on what is to live a good life and methods to achieve it. Corporate media indeed contributes greatly into what we believe or think is right or wrong. We are taught that we need to improve so that we are accepted into society. We have representations on how a beautiful woman is supposed to look or how happy and complete we can be with money. People live their lives "trying" to become better, wealthier or skinnier so that one day in the future they can achieve happiness, and if they don't, they keep on "trying" until they die.

In most magazines, many articles' only purpose is to sell. So, they will invent many ideas that will bring a person to identify him/herself with the article to purchase the item. For example, -Housekeeping magazine feature the following article: "How to make delicious meals with Circulon Elite!- The Ultimate Problem Solver". This magazine article was determined to make the pan look good and efficient, so that people would purchase it. However, throughout the entire magazine, there were constant advertisements on underwear or beauty products presented by skinny and beautiful women. It is commonly known as a fact that eating excessively is a method of gaining weight, depending on metabolism and exercise. Corporate media is communicating that looking good is the ultimate problem solver, but also a pan used to cook, especially cake, is also the ultimate problem solver, allowing food to cook evenly!


Another example would be the movies shown in theLife Doesn't Have to be Meaningless class. The movie "She's all That" is another representation of how women are supposed to look in order to be accepted. The story line of this movie is based on high school life. Typical well-known social groups are shown. Among the popular group (the cheerleaders and the football players), there is a guy that began a relationship with a girl from the outcast group. This girl was considered a loser and it wasn't until she went to the salon and wore make up that she was first recognized by those around her. The guy eventually fell in love with her after she "exposed herself". This distinction makes society follow specific examples of how to look and be, in order to be accepted.

The Dominant Corporate Communications Issue of the Decade article "proposes a new strategy for corporate communications that focuses on five key principles: transparency, authenticity, knowledge and expertise, engagement, dialogue and partnership, and gaining trust". It is important to understand the source of our main messenger that controls our lives. Therefore, by analyzing its purpose, we understand a different way of how to live our lives. However, if we do not know what is to be happy, how can we tell when we are or when we are not? The answer to this question is based once again on whatever corporate culture says. It appears we have no life of our own.


Major argument 2 - Marginal Corporate Cultural Messages

Popular culture communicates how to live a good life, but no one is having a good life while living according to what was communicated. It is never enough. For example, The unreachable Hollywood stars, such as Angelina Jolie, Oprah, Tom Cruise, etc. The struggles or tough situations famous people go through are always exclusively communicated by popular culture. Magazines such as Life&Style, provides articles of how miserable Hollywood movie stars are. So then, according to who, who is having a good life? Our role models are struggling on being complete. They have everything media was communicating to have, in order to have a good life. Because of the fact that their interpretation was not working they added more. For example, "Have a great body to be happy!", "Be rich, there is nothing like it!", "Have children, family comes first!", "Get divorce and marry your true love to be happy!" In conclusion, media communicates how to live a good life according to how the example (famous people) live.


Another example of marginal corporate message is the song "Good Life" by Kanye West feat. T-Pain. By the name alone, it is clear that the purpose is to communicate what is to live a good life. Both singers in the video use an amusing way (colorful and entertaining sentences or images saying "welcome to the good life") to drag the viewer's attention into the pop culture message. The typical well known good life by society; money and sex. The singer's perspective on the people who seems to disagree with his way of life is "Haters give me those salty looks (Lawry’s)50 told me go head switch your style up Ad if they hate let em' hate and watch the money pile up" The society is economically divided and this division is strongly supported by everyone in the world, regardless of their social class. This message is directed to people who are in the state of living their independent life, both women and men. For men, the music video shows how a "good life" is supposed to be. Living life on a spree is outshining and gaining money from doing so. Also having possessions that would make a man's life satisfactory (cars, money, expensive clothes, traveling to different places). As for women, in the video there is a good looking woman that is being "wanted" by a rich and good looking man. The message from this is that women with, by definition of pop culture, a body like that girl in the picture will get their way in the "world" of the good life. An interesting statement from the lyrics contradicts the video completely, "Havin money’s not everything but not having it is" so then what is having a good life if money is not completing the man who possesses it? Once again this is the message that popular culture communicates to society in order to keep the world on a specific way of mind.

According to the movie, Pump up the Volume, to live a good and meaningful life you need to "get happy, get a girlfriend, sell a bestseller". In other words, in order to be happy you need to get married to an attractive man/woman and become rich and famous. This movie talks about popular culture from a teenager's perspective. Specifically, the teenager, who is about to step into the world and begin an independent life. The main character is supposed to have great analysis skills and he shares them with other fellows through the radio. He does not dare to speak up in real life and he is "sick of being ashamed" He does not mind "being rejected and rejected". He won't be ashamed. If everyone had the same ideal as this character then they would not be following the corporate messages we are given. Then Black Friday would be just another holiday in which people will not take on accounts because they do not need to improve anything. This is, however, a prohibited message. In my point of view, popular culture has no interest in allowing us to reach our full potential. We are raised to de-tune ourselves in order to fit in, believing that it is necessary to improve everything about us. We cling to what others say, so that is easier for us to blame someone or something else when life is not going according to plan.


Major argument 3- Dominant Folk Messages

Although we live under a Dominant Corporate Cultural, we also live under a more intimate culture, or Folk culture. Our families, friends, teachers, etc. have also something to say about how to live a good life. And, as it is expected, they believe they are right on what they are communicating to the future generation. It is often to believe everything we are told when we are children. Our parents tend to be the representation of reality and part of our personality is based on what they teach us. In childhood we begin having a sense of what is right or wrong according to our culture. Although our recognition of right or wrong might not apply in other countries we still refuse to accept the possibility that our way of live is wrong. Moreover, to accept that there is no such thing as right or wrong. If we cannot learn to accept the way things are, how can we achieve happiness?

For youth, the future is mostly influenced by media. Most teenagers spend a large amount of time on Facebook and chatting via internet. As it is interpreted from folk culture messages, it is the normal and popular thing to do. An example to represent this message would be Facebook.
Facebook is found as a way of communication between one another, and it is perfect for those who cannot talk to face to face. This method of communication suppresses reality even more. Due to this practical way of hypocritical self-expression, Facebooks helps the youth in avoiding reality. For example, countless hours are invested into checking messages or sending messages, so that the level of cyber popularity increases. Most people request to be recognized in some way, therefore, Facebook exists to save their day. After all, the Internet is classified as the life of many. I personally do not have a Facebook account, so I would not know the satisfaction it can bring. I cannot help to assume that it would be a total waste of time, but if folk messages are communicating methods to reduce life time on facebook, then I assume that it is "wrong".


Folk Culture messages also communicate methods to fit into society, and example would be how to be the perfect boyfriend or girlfriend. There is a complete list that demonstrates what to do and not to do in a relationship. This list is based on what we categorize as a normal woman or a normal man. The videos provided by my teacher in Life Doesn't Have to be Meaningless, represent in a comic way the perfect behavior to please your partner. Ultimately, no matter how good these "tips" may sound, they are complicated to practice and impossible to dominate. Folk culture does not show a complete version of human life in a relationship. Communicating that men and woman cannot be perfect is prohibited. People tend to believe that there is a perfect life to pursue and this involves finding the meaning of life that would complete them.

This previous example also involves how to be the prefect mother and perfect wife. Considering that being the perfect wife and the perfect mother at the same time is practically impossible as defined by folk culture's perpective, women still insist and expect to be that way. For example, being the perfect wife is basically the same as being the perfect girlfriend but with more responsibilities. Being the perfect mother involves dedicating most of the time to the children and their well being, and also to live as a responsible example. In other words, forget about partying and frequent sex. These contradictory messages do not confuse most of the people due to the fact that these cannot be identified as contradictory. People believe they can do anything and still be perfect in the eyes of everyone, and if they do not fulfill doing so, they live miserably.

We live in a world of categorizations and on each on of them perfection is involved. In my opinion, there is no such thing as the ultimate perfection. To someone, even one person, that definition will not fulfill his expectations, therefore the ultimate perfection will not be perfect. Perfection is an opinion. In this case it is folk culture's opinion, but we believe it is the truth. In my opinion, being perfect is boring. There is no room for creativity or analysis. There is nothing to improve, nothing to work on. Even though people pursue perfection, they do not accept it, because it is not wanted. By communicating that perfection is difficult or even impossible to achieve, then people would have a reason to live. Because perfection is easily interpreted by happiness, which is what we need to live a good and meaningful life. For example, finding the perfect wife, the prefect job, the perfect car, etc. But perfect to whom? When our hard work on pursuing perfection is not acknowledged by others, we become resigned. In other words, we are not working on making our lives better to live happily, we are working on making others less by us having more. Although there are people who are aware of perfection not actually existing, they still work to make something greater than anything else. It is all about succeeding and being on top according to folk culture. If this message is fufilled then happiness and completion can be achieved even though we are not truly familiar with any of these terms.


Major argument 4- Marginal Folk Messages

There are approximately 6.8 billion people in the world with 6.8 billion different opinions and perspectives. There is no right or wrong answer to the question of how to live a good and meaningful life. However, people still have righteus beliefs and ideals on how to live happily. In our families, neighborhood or school we were taught a lesson of life that stayed with us up until today by one specific person. The way our personalities are shapped is by gathering different aspects of the people we meet and identifying ourselves with them. We are a mixture of different personalities and opinions. We become a "new and unique" self that has a new perspective on life. However, regardless of these different combinations there is someone who impacted our life the most. This impact tends to be in our early childhood and determines our gathering later on in our lives. This folk message is classified as a marginal message for somewhat contradicting what dominant folk culture messages communicate.

Some examples of marginal folk culture messages would be: "Fight back if they are bothering you" by the typical macho male figure in our lives. Or "You do not have to eat your vegetables if you really dislike them" by the gentle person who seeks acceptance. These messages are interpreted to be a great help when they are communicated. If something is not working, we tend to end it. It is natural as human beings to not want to deal with tough situations to begin with. Dominant folk culture messages often communicate to always work hard and get to be number one in order to be somebody in this world, but marginal messages are telling us "Fuck it, lets us rebel". This could also be classified as a prohibited message because it would bring chaos, but most people decide to do the right thing, even though they were strongly influenced by that message. I think that ourselves as Yin Yang comes in during our childhood, whereby we receive contradictory messages. Regardless of what that person taught us, if things do not go right in our lives we blame that person because of the message we chose to live up to. As previously mentioned, it is easier to live as we are told, so that we can blame others for our misery and justify our insufficient actions of contribution to our happiness and the world.


Finally
It is inevitable to live under culture. As human beings we have the capacity of thinking way beyond our imagination, we just do not allow ourselves to do so. We choose to live limited lives. We choose to not be self-expressed. We choose to not practice or create new things that would be effective. Most people chose to be followers instead of leaders because must of us are raised as puppets with an insufficient life. Even if we analyze and understand corporate messages or folk culture messages to live our lives in a different way, it will never be enough. Not to us, not to our parents, not to our teachers. Our lives are so corrupted that we do not have a sense of what is to be happy, or even alive.

We also corrupt ourselves and our culture naturally, otherwise life would be boring. But life would be also boring to live if we lived it perfectly. Ultimately, we do not realize that we are perfect and we are enough.

Folk Culture messageS on Living a Good Life. Online advice from regular folks

These messages communicate a way of being in order to be accepted. In my interpretation these examples are a guide on how to be a normal person. Sex and money are the two main factors known that round the world. In this post I am focusing more in the sex aspect. Sex can involve many factors, including gender. Most people consider men and women to be from different planets. As Greek culture suggests these two actually are, Venus and Mars. Based on this ideology, men and women learn to behave differently, and learn the drastic differences that separates them from the opposite sex. As children grow up the feminine or masculine distinctions are shown, parents do not necessarily have to teach directly what a woman or a man is supposed to do, children also learn it by simply living in society. If a man or a woman do not behave the way they are supposed to they are mostly considered to be homosexual. In order to have a good life and fit in high society, you must behave like a lady or like a gentleman.
These examples are also a representation of how society does not allow unique personalities. Our sense of uniqueness is ultimately a copy of something else, but generally is not identified as one.

Regarding the online advice on how to be the perfect boyfriend or girlfriend, I personally think is quite futile to even attempt such thing. This definition of perfection is easily recognized and understood, but complicated to practice and impossible to dominate. People, regarding their gender, will always struggle at some aspect in their lives. It is not possible to feel completely at disposition for your partner the entire time under this culture. Regardless of how controlling these articles may be, I still find them interesting.


There is no such thing as the ultimate perfection. To someone, even one person, that definition will not fulfill his expectations, therefore the ultimate perfection will not be perfect. perfection is an opinion. In this case it is folk culture's opinion, but we believe it is the truth. In my opinion being perfect is boring. There is no room for creativity or analysis. There is nothing to improve, nothing to work on. Even though people pursue perfection they do not accept it, because it is not wanted. By communicating that perfection is difficult or even impossible to achieve, then people would have a reason to live. Because perfection is easily interpreted by happiness, which is what we need to live a good and meaningful life. For example, finding the perfect wife, the prefect job, the perfect car, etc. But perfect to who? When our hard work on pursuing perfection is not acknowledge by others we resign on it. In other words, we are not working on making our lives better to live happily, we are working on making others less by us having more. I think this is due to our competitive culture we grow up in, as previously mentioned in my Inauguration post.


Another example from popular culture is facebook. In my opinion facebook has a great impact on the youth today. It is found as a way of communication between one another, and it is perfect for those who cannot talk face to face.
This communicating method suppresses reality even more. Due to the practical way of hypocrite self-expression, facebooks helps the youth on avoiding reality. For example, countless hours are invested into checking messages or sending messages, so that the level of cyber popularity increases. Most people urge to be recognized in some way, therefore facebook exists to save their day. After all, the Internet is classified as the life of many. I personally do not have facebook, so I would not know the satisfaction it can bring. I cannot help to assume that it would be a total waste of time, but if folk messages are communicating methods to reduce life time on facebook, then I assume that it is "bad".


I am aware of how these messages impact my life. I have the need to be part of something, and live along with others. But personally I do not agree on how we are told to be in a specific way in order to fulfill the expectations of somebody else exactly like me. I have been living under culture my whole life, and I do not attempt to fight it, but to change it. For some there might be no difference between these two distinctions, but it makes no difference. Results are ultimately the only thing that matters to most people. accepting or avoiding my reality makes no difference in the world. The world will keep on raising puppets, regardless if they are good or bad.


Moreover, as people we interpret culture messages as our reality, so we must follow them by all costs if we want to exist. If we fight against expectations or even change our culture we would simply tie up to a different one, and follow some one's righteous beliefs.

Inauguration Day

Obama was announced the president of the United States of America. Most people feel delighted and even excited because he is the first "African American" president in the history of America. Being the 44th president, citizens of America welcomed Obama and his family traditionally in Washington D.C. Regarding Obama's first speech as president, he constantly mentioned the bad situation America had to restore from, mentioning that "Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real..They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this America- They will be met". He is committed into bring America back to its feet and start over as the great nation it still is. He gives Americans the sense of hope and responsibility.

The previous president, Bush, who was hated by most Americans was present during the inauguration. Obama showed his gratitude saying "I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition." which I consider intriguing, due to the fact that America is struggling today mostly because of president Bush. By doing this, Obama demonstrated that regarding past mistakes, Bush is still an American citizen who deserves equality.

As a connection to Martin Luther king's post, Obama also pursues equality among society stating that "We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things".
In his speech Obama shows his idea of how to live a good life, "all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness". In other words, Obama believes that every person deserves the right to be happy. The way happiness can be obtained is by believing in others, specially in yourself, and contribute to make the world a better place for those around you. We are all together on this crisis, we all can equally restore from it. Obama provides courage and opportunity, which is much needed now. The greatness of our nation must be gained.


Obama declares what needs to be done and what must be done in his speech:
"For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do".

In my opinion, Obama said what America needed to hear. Most people depended on someone to save America and they entrusted this task on Obama. However, Obama is clearly communicating that he cannot do this alone. We all need to contribute in different way to make a difference and live equally. Although, capitalism will not change, people interpret equality in a different way now. Things are not the same as they were when Martin Luther King was fighting for his people's rights. Citizens are now used to capitalism and base their lives on it. The competitive world still surrounds us.

I find Obama's words contradictory to society's ideal regarding success. Obama talks about equality in a world that runs mostly by money. In other words, it will be very difficult to change the American way of life, due to what is was taught before by culture, which was, if you are not rich, good looking with a handsome partner you will not be happy. Meaning that everyone competes against one another even during difficult times. The marginal message of this thought, would be that people consider happiness greater than equality, even though according to Obama, these two go hand to hand. And, people consider that being right is better than being happy.


No changes can be done if people do not change their way of mind. We must provide ourselves an opportunity to live peacefully along with others. As Martin Luther King said, the destiny of every man is tied up with other's by the fact that we live together as a nation. Why fight each other, when there is nothing to win?
I am looking forward to Obama's great leadership and the restoration of America. Most people feel now defeated because of the current situation, but in my point of view is not a reason to resign and leave the country's future in hands of others.

Response to Martin Luther King's Unfinished business.

I consider this article neutral for not taking any sides related to Martin Luther King's business. It merely reports his actions and some description of his life.


Martin Luther King, was a man who was committed to making a difference regarding economic justice. He was also a man who was affected by the strong racial division in society, and took actions to remedy this issue. As an African-American, he took a stand for his people and fought for them, believing that they were victims of injustice. The article communicates some of the actions he took in his life. For example, in August 1963, he "led a multi-racial rally of 250,000 in Washington demanding economic justice." Martin Luther King gathered so many people to communicate his plans. His dreams for the future were also shared by those who followed him.

His speeches provided meaningful breakthrough among black society. Martin Luther King Jr. said "This nation will raise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." He desired balance among society.



Although there were many obstacles in Martin Luther King's life to achieve balance, he still fought for what he believed in. During that time, Martin Luther King Jr. stated that "America has given the Negro people a bad cheque, a cheque which has come marked insuffiecient funds." For him, America accepting black people into society was not enough, people had to be treated equally regardless of their racial background.

His contributions to society and his words in particular, continue to have a great impact in the world today. For instance, his speech communicating his "dream" is constantly displayed by the media. It is clear that in America today, white people's "destiny is tied up" with black people's and they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to their freedom. In other words, we are all ultimately sharing the same destiny for the simple fact that we live together. His words and his actions impacted society so much that we now have a holiday in which we honor his memory with community service.


Because of his actions, Martin Luther King is highly acknowledged by most people. He is so highly acknowledge that he received the title of a saint after his death. Now people think that being someone like Martin Luther King is practically impossible, due to the fact that he is beyond our reach. He was a man like any other, except he was just committed. The sense of commitment is unfamiliar in society. Martin Luther King had flaws like any other person, however these are not communicated. I think they are not because the culture we live under does not wish for us to be aware of this. It is a prohibited message, and we unconsciously support it. People feel so powerless to make a difference in the world. This mindset is enforced through time and less actions are taken to make the world a better place. This involves the way of life we are taught to live. In order to have a good life, we must work hard to achieve our dreams. However we wait for someone to achieve them for us. It is possible to achieve such dreams, as soon as we are committed. Ultimately what good does it make to be ineffective?Is it ok for humanity to only live as consumers?

Martin Luther King was assassinated 40 years ago In Memphis. He was part of a low-paid municipal worker strike when he was murdered. Until the end Martin Luther King was still fighting for his dream. He could be considered as the leader of the civil rights movement in the United States and a saint, but as the article states "King was much, much more than that and by the end of his life was advocating change of a revolutionary character, challenging the power of American capitalism".


Finally,even though Martin Luther King's was fighting for balance he considered his people as different from others to begin with. In order to "fight" for a belief, one must choose a side. In this case, it was Martin Luther King vs. capitalism in the United States. Two sides fighting for what they believed was right. This could be easily related to the origin of a war. Two sides fighting to prove which culture is right and which one is wrong. "-you are the jerk, -no, you are the jerk!"
Disagreement over beliefs bring many consequences, which are usually terrible.
Are beliefs enough to excuse the death of hundreds of people? Or enough to excuse the hunger of thousands?

Moreover, this article like many others only describes Martin Luther King's great deeds. As previously mentioned, these prohibited messages are not communicated by the simple fact that if people live powerfully then many people would become a Martin Luther King and fight for their beliefs. Because, although we live under the same popular culture, we still live under our own folk culture, which makes us even more different from one another.We believe what we are taught to believe. Balance happens to give equally to all, therefore it seems to be the right thing to do in this situation. If you choose to do the "right thing" then one would be seen as the hero and even become a plastic saint, like was discussed in the Life Doesn't have to be Meaningless class.

Valentine's day ~ Be mine!~

Valentine's day, an opportunity for lovers to express their love and affection to their partners, or so is communicated by popular culture. To deepen our understanding on what is celebrated every year on February 14, we must know the origin of this holiday. It is important to understand that Valentine's day has different interpretations based on a timeline, therefore it's meaning is seen as a contradiction to something else, like most holidays.

The first interpretation this holiday has relates the God Lupercus. Every February the Romans would celebrate a feast called Lupercalia to honor Lupercus, with the purpose of him not harming the shepherds and their flocks. The Romans would also honor the goddess June Februata by having the women put their names into a box, so that later men would draw a name from the box and be paired with that woman for a year.

Another perspective is: as Christianity prevailed, the priests attempted to change the previous old culture. The church changed the Feast of Lubercus to St. Valentine's day with the purpose of Christianizing it. To make this celebration more meaningful, the church decided that Saint's names would be drawn from an urn by young people as opposed to young men drawing names of women and be paired up. The following year, the young people would have to follow or even imitate the way life of the specific Saint whose name he had drawn. By the fourteen century the usual tradition was reversed back; girls' names were now in the urn or box.

Something that might have opened a path to the modern perspective on Valentine's day is the reign of Emperor Claudius. During the reign of Emperor Claudius, a priest and also one of the seven men whose names were Valentine, was revered by old or young, rich or poor people that attended his services. Also, during this time Emperor Claudius was recruiting men for war without much success. He only recruited young uncommitted men. Due to the undesired war, young me did not wish to leave their families and lovers behind, so marriage was found as a solution. Emperor Claudius prohibited engagements and weddings as an outcome. Priest Valentine thought such actions were unfair, therefore he helped couples secretly marry. Emperor Claudius discovered this rebellion, so he sent Valentine to prison, where he died.

Another possibility explaining our customs today during February 14 is that another of the seven Valentinus was jailed for helping Christians. During his time in jail, he healed a jailer's daughter of blindness. He fell in love with the jailer's daughter and wrote her letters signing "From your Valentine".
The seven Valentines eventually became one, and Pope Gelasius declared the day to honor St. Valentine instead of the pagan god Lupercus. Throughout centuries, this holiday became a pattern of exchanging love letters and became a patron of saint lovers. It also became a day to get engaged and anyone wishing to marry.

Events like these happened in Rome bringing upon a famous holiday. Although there is no specific history record that proves that any of these perspectives were true, people still celebrate it meaningfully. Previously there are just a few of the possible events explaining such holiday, and although these make sense at some extent, these still do not clearly explain our current actions on February 14. In my opinion, this is because of our current culture. The world is known to be round by money and sex rather than love, which is the main aspect of this holiday. Somehow people molded this old tradition into a way that would fit in with our current society. As it was shared in Life Doesn't have to be Meaningless class, this holiday, like many others, was corrupted by us.


I think that people "corrupt" holidays or traditions naturally. Regardless of the culture someone lives under, that person will still make the tradition adapt to him as opposed to him adapting to the tradition. This would have to connect to our nature of being settlers instead of nomads. Thousands of years ago, we have made the world adapt to us, and use it in our advantage. Same happens with holidays. As seen with the ambitious Emperor Claudius, he did not let love be an obstacle to form a great army, even though he was acting against the Pagan festival traditions.


"February 14- The day the birds began to mate"
This holiday is described as best when it is celebrated in pairs. As previously mentioned these corporate messages have made us believe that this is the truth. During Valentine's day people dedicate their times into satisfying themselves and their partners, searching for someone to "mate" with, or suffer due to being single. Often, young people are those who strongly celebrate this tradition. It is considered as "hunting" due to the lack of commitment we still strongly possess. Older people are more focused into forming a life along with someone else, therefore their perspective on Valentine's day differs from the youth. It is also traditional to give love letters or cards (not necessarily an exchange), chocolates or flowers (specially red roses). From each present, there is an interpretation which does not only explains the current society behavior, but what culture have taught us about the meaning each object or action possess. For example: the flowers, which are known as sex plants symbolizing desire for sexual intercourse when these are given to a lover. Or, the main colour of this Holiday, red, which symbolizes love or/and passion, but also blood reflecting violence.


The change that this holiday has been through is considerably great. I personally wonder, how will long these traditions last until they get modified? We have slowly developed this holiday as time goes on. It is inevitable to maintain people for a long period of time following the same traditions. Change is naturally needed, otherwise life would be even more boring.