Job Discussion Forums

[bje]

[007]

[veiledsentiments]

What I find the most ridiculous about this day is that I have women friends who send me valentine cards. And we're talking straight women here. My cousins have their children send my mother valentines and candy. Huh?

Personally I'm with Cleo on the basic idea. Just as I am totally a Scrooge and ignore Christmas too.

But, if a couple wants to use it as a special occasion that's fine with me. The world in general could use a little more romance.

VS

[cmp45]

Valentine's day IS a commercial 'holiday' meant to boost the sales of retailers. Obviously it was a very well concieved marketing ploy ...I personally think the whole notion of valentine's day is rather cheesy...however it certainly appeals to mainstream folks .... I think Halloween is still a much more exciting celebration! But you already know that... ..carry on with your debate....

[johnslat]

Hey, Valentine's Day is what you make it; it doesn't have to be "commercial", unless you want it to be.

Come on, let's lighten up here. Mama mia, this seems to be touching some "sore spots", and, if so, for that I'm sorry.

But jeepers - why all this fuss about a day that celebrates love?

"Certainly I'd be a bit wary of someone who felt the need to 'express his love' to me every day!"

A need, Cleo? Nope, it's not a need; it's a want . . . I tell my wife that I love her at least once a day, and so far, anyway, she doesn't seem too wary of me.

But different strokes, etc.

And 007, I'd say most, maybe all, sinners don't sin because they "hate God"; they sin because the temptation they give into pushes the thought of God and what is right out of their minds. Either that or perhaps they don't even believe in God in the first place.
Sin is a manifestation of weakness, not of hatred of God, I'd say.
Regards,
John


Regards,
John

[Cleopatra]

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

[007]

I wonder if the massacre in the lecture hall at a university in Illinois, which happened yesterday (14th of February), has anything to do with Valentine�s day?
And is it possible that the killer was in a �broken� state of love with his ex-lover (this is the highest level of Hate!)?
Is this how people celebrate the Valentine�s day in the land of Uncle Sam?
Just a thought.

It reminds me of the famous Saint Valentine's Day massacre which happened in Chicago, Illinois, in Feb 14, 1929, between the gangs of Al Capone and the Irish/German gangs!!!
What a coincidence!!!

John, where are you? Any news from Illinois?

[johnslat]

OK - I give up. The day's over and done with, anyway.
Mini-lecture? Yikes, I'd hardly call my obviously poor attempt at "humor" a "mini-lecture."
Sorry I ever brought it up. Believe it or not, I actually thought the mattawas
scouring the flower shops for red roses was rather funny; it always reminded me of Alice in Wonderland, in a way - the part where the cards are hurriedly painting all the white roses red (only in reverse.) Any day The Society for the Prevention of Vice and the Preservation of Virtue is so against can't, in my opinion, be all that bad.
Regards,
John

[veiledsentiments]

Hey John... I liked the article. You might noticed that Cleo has replaced Scot47 as head curmudgeon. Actually they take turns depending on topic. You've tapped into one of her pet peeves... the export of the worst of American culture - insane consumerism.

VS

[johnslat]

Dear veiledsentiments,
Well, I'm not a staunch supporter of insane commercialism, either. And I also think it's unfortunate that so much of the rest of the world seems to like to adopt many of the, shall we say, crasser aspects of American culture.
Unfortunately, humanity's "tastes" are not always (or even often) as elevated as many of us would like. Hollywood and TV certainly prove that.
It was H.L. Mencken who probably said it best:

"No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public."

But he was being too specific - it's not only the American public.

And The Kinks also put it well:

"Hey, hey, hey...
Give the people what they want

Well, it's been said before, the world is a stage
A different performance with every age.
Open the history book to any old page
Bring on the lions and open the cage.

Give the people what they want
You gotta give the people what they want
The more they get, the more they need
And every time they get harder and harder to please

The Roman promoters really did things right.
They needed a show that would clearly excite.
The attendance was sparse so they put on a fight
Threw the Christians to the lions, sold out every night

Give the people what they want
You gotta give the people what they want
The more they get, the more they need
And every time they get harder and harder to please

Give 'em lots of sex, perversion and rape
Give 'em lots of violence, and plenty to hate
Give the people what they want
Give the people what they want

When Olswald shot Kennedy, he was insane
But still we watch the re-runs again and again
We all sit glued while the killer takes aim
"Hey Mom, there goes a piece of the president's brain!"

Give the people what they want
You gotta give the people what they want
Blow out your brains, and do it right
Make sure it's prime time and on a Saturday night.
You gotta give the people what they want
You gotta give the people what they want
Give the people what they want
Give the people what they want
Give the people what they want"


"Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity!"

Regards,
John

[007]

[shadowfax]

Well done with the witticism about the shadow, 007. Your best yet. Keep sharpening it and you'll get there in the end.

As regards the evils of the tacky side of western "culture", you have to ask what it is replacing or attenuating in any given circumstance. Though it be base and inferior in comparison with better things, it may yet serve a purpose in overcoming tendencies of much greater malignancy.

As for Mr Slat, congratulations on your own poem from before (I assumed it was yours and was pleasantly surprised). Anyway, it's much better than that Kinks drivel.

here is one of mine, though perchance too late for the Valentine moment.
I think we would at least concur that the feast should not be rejected out of hand because of the base commercialisation thereto engrafted.

A belated Xmas present, against all those killjoy humbuggers out there.


O, but to see the astral form divine
Of womanhead infused with glory's hew,
The soul resplendent nobly to shine,
Bathing in bliss the stonied gazer's view.
Then might the stain of fleshly mould recede
From all the portals of infected sense;
Then might the panting soul be freed
From furtive pang of guilt's incontinence.
As Faustus when he viewed the Spartan maid,
Rapt with Elysian vision's foremost form,
Albe the sight with agonies was paid:
His tender limbs in guilt's sparagmos torn.
Can stilnovistic essence thus be raised,
Before th' inglorious flesh in soil lays?

[007]

[johnslat]

Dear shadowfax,
Wow - I'm impressed. Your style may be a few centuries old (but then, so was mine) yet your mastery of the form is amazing.
I even learned a couple of new words:

Sparagmos refers to an ancient Dionysian ritual in which a living animal, or sometimes even a human being, would be sacrificed by being dismembered, by the tearing apart of limbs from ones body. Sparagmos was frequently followed by omophagia (the eating of the raw flesh of the one dismembered). It is associated with the Maenads or Bacchantes, followers of Dionysus, and the Dionysian Mysteries.

Stilnovistic love is more a religious, devotional and intellectual love, it has no physical side, differently from the romantic idea.

As 007 put it so well, you are the epitome, indeed.
Regards,
John