Big_Mike_V's Blog

You'd think that newspaper editors would be professional enough not to air out their racist thoughts.

It seems that the new trend is to carry out a racist gesture and then deny it with a "oh, I didn't know that was offensive". This is not far off the Spanish basketball team and Miley Cyrus' "slant-eye" photos. In fact, it's even worse, since it deals with murder.

The New York Post ran the cartoon below, the day after President Obama signed the stimulus bill.

"It seems unthinkable that an editor of a newspaper would not understand the history of Black folks being depicted as monkeys and apes or the recent spate of death threats against President Obama. Worse, when confronted, Post editor Col Allan dismissed people's concerns as baseless." - from colorofchange.org

It's one thing that they ran such a cartoon, but to deny any racist intentions, nor the fact that they even knew the history of black people being depicted as monkeys is even more absurd.

It's 2009 and people need to stop this b-s. If the world is to recover from bigger problems, such as the economic crisis, terrorism, global warming,etc..., people are gonna get out of the "pre-civil rights era"-frame of mind.

Some people will tell you that it's just a company-invented reason to sell
flowers, chocolates, cards, and anything red.

Some people actually do cherish it as a celebration of being with a loved one.

Some people, who do not have a loved one, will find other things to do (hey, if you have nobody to spend on, you can always spend on yourself :)

Until recently, I never really knew where the whole idea originated... Yeah, I'll admit it.

After all these years of buying flowers for hot chicks and my ex's, I had no bleeping clue as to what started all this.

Long story made short:

In the medieval days, St-Valentine healed a sick woman and became very close to her.

Back then, Roman Emperor Claudius II ordered that young men remained single, since married men did not make for good soldiers.

Therefore, St. Valentine performed secret marriage cermonies behind Claudius' back.

When Claudius found out about this, he had Valentine arrested and thrown in jail.

On the evening before Valentine was to be executed, he wrote the first "valentine" himself, addressed to the girl that he loved (the one that he had healed earlier).

It was a note that read "From your Valentine."

I learned that from watching "My Bloody Valentine" (I know, of all places) and reading wiki.

So, now you know..."and knowing is half the battle" :)  (G.I. Joe TV Series, 1984)

I think that it's all good to celebrate Valentine's.

Although, it has become just another reason to sell Hallmark products, it's really no different from Christmas or Easter (after all, what did Jesus' crucifixion have to do with bunnies and Easter Eggs?).

If you don't, then that's fine. And if you do, please enjoy yourselves!

Just, please, take it easy on the fancy restaurants! Some places hike up their prices like mad and sell you the same food as they do every day!

Be romantic, but don't get exploited! :)

Happy Valentine's!