February 14th: Greeting Card Conspiracy?

Today, Valentine's today, is a day loaded with a myriad of connotations, most of which, are negative. Single awareness day, give Hallmark money day, buy chocolates to make your girlfriend fatter, the list goes on. So there are clearly the camp of people who feel that Valentine's Day is merely a commercial scam. There are purist wimps who say that you should not need an arbitrary holiday to be romantic. There are the real saps who say everyday is Valentine's Day. There are the pathologically single who desperately crave a significant other that suffer a self-esteem blow each year that they spend V-day alone. Then there are the unoriginal women who are happy to have a one day that their boyfriends/husbands are guaranteed to buy them flowers, Vermont Teddy Bears, and Godiva chocolates. There's always the cliche dicks that propose and shit like that today as well. I even know someone getting married today. So clearly, only women, and a minority of women at that, are actually enjoying Valentine's Day like kids enjoy Christmas. But the fact that Valentine's Day magnifies the romantic insecurity in so many, is where the real opportunist steps up to the plate. First, because of Valentine's Day, there is only one day of the year that you are at least expected to attempt romance with your girlfriend. That leaves you off the hook 364 days a year. Any additional romance is purely bonus. Additionally, if a dude gets romantic on any random day, risks looking whipped, he also makes his shows up his bros in front of their girls. Clearly unacceptable. Thus, not hallmark, but dudes, truly profit, by having one coordinated day, that you can get away with being romantic and still fit in. Sure, you could go the extra mile and send flowers on Flag Day, but like Barney Stinson says, "What's the point? That's like changing the oil in a rental car."
There is another unsung group of Valentine's Day profiteers: the single guy. Not only can a single guy get away with not spending any money on fancy dining, wine, flowers, chocolates, diamonds, or lap dogs but, he also can hit the bars and exploit the fact that the single ladies will be particularly self-conscious about not having a Valentine. The threshold for picking up girls on this night, theoretically should be much lower because of the bride's maid effect observed at weddings. When women are in proximity to a higher than normal level of relationship romantic innuendo, they are in turn more receptive to new people. I know that some people won't agree with what I have said, but the truth is, truth does not require you to believe in it for it to be truth. Women may deny that any of this is true, but I can assure you, people get too much credit sometimes.