The phrase ‘love is love’ has become the cornerstone of liberal ideology. So much so that they flashed a version of it at the end of the Super Bowl halftime show, with the stadium’s enormous scoreboard reading “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.” As a core tenement of woke-ism, it’s plastered on bumper stickers, yard signs, and shirts galore. It serves as both a virtue-signal and calling card.
This “love” is never transferred to unborn children whose lives are threatened by abortion, women playing against transgender athletes, or even the rape and murder victims of illegal aliens. Instead, this love is reserved for the designated classes and disaffected groups that have been singled out as important to liberalism. Like communists, the Democrats have spent years hand-picking which people deserve love.
The proof comes from the rise of “Galentine’s Day,” a feminist response to Valentine’s Day’s traditions. Galentine’s Day is almost as marketable as Valentine’s Day, and it’s no surprise that the holiday has built momentum in recent years. Galentine’s Day celebrations usually involve a group of women getting together, buying themselves treats, and celebrating themselves. It’s rarely a celebration of womanhood, like one might assume, but is instead tinged with feminism’s blatant narcissism. These parties are purposefully designed for photo-ops. Party organizers are not devoting these events to hospitality but to their social media marketability. In a liberal society, the celebration of oneself, free from responsibility or Christian sacrifice, is perfectly logical. The Galentine’s Day event embodies our cultural embrace of narcissism disguised as self-love.
Galentine’s Day is not a genuine reflection of love, but maybe the more traditional Valentine’s Day never was, either. Most people recognize that it became prominent in the 1840s to sell greeting cards and cheap chocolates to young lovers. While it has Catholic origins dating back to the 8th century, it was a largely overlooked holiday until Americans found interest in the fashionable greeting cards being exchanged in Europe for the date. Currently, it’s primarily recognized as a good day for restaurants, flower shops, and jewelry stores. School children swap Valentine’s candies, and the holiday is probably the only thing keeping FunDip in business.
The difference between the two made up holidays comes down to what they’re actually celebrating. The liberal understanding of love is very different than the Christian, conservative understanding of love.
The ‘love is love’ sentiment succinctly encapsulates a core misunderstanding of love. The phrase became normalized in the twenty-first century as the LGBT movement picked up steam. It’s easily digestible, simple enough for a parrot, and so brief that it’s nearly impossible to argue with. However, it operates in bad faith, because it gives love no character. In this context, ‘love’ is used as a permission slip for deviancy. It intends to justify all forms of intimate relationships, but in doing so, it also justifies acts like bestiality or pedophilia.
The conservative understanding of love is very different. It doesn’t use love as a permission slip but holds it to a higher account. When conservatives argue for traditional marriages, they’re arguing in favor of strong marriages, healthy families, and service to others. This represents love as a sacrifice, not as a selfish hedonism.
Valentine’s Day is tacky. That’s part of its conception. It honors the time-forgotten tradition of sending greeting cards, and consumer culture has seen it evolve into a major gift-giving holiday. Timed just long enough after Christmas, it’s a great opportunity for companies to see a slight bump in revenue.
Americans don’t participate in Valentine’s Day because they are capitalist sheep; they participate in Valentine’s Day because they love their spouse. Everyone recognizes it’s a tacky holiday, but it’s rooted in compassion. Even the most hard-hearted feminist secretly hopes that someone will send her a bouquet of her favorite flowers on February 14. Love, the real, Christian, conservative kind of love, is so sacred that people are more than willing to put up with a little kitsch in order to make their spouse feel special. The restaurants are crowded, the roses are overpriced, and the greeting cards might be hard to fill out, but these hurdles are well worth it.
Participation in Valentine’s Day has dropped by nearly16 percent since 2009. Participation in Galentine’s Day has skyrocketed, with more than 200,000 TikTok videos referencing it and retailers such as Target creating products and advertising campaigns specifically designed for it. Traditional relationships are not a protected class in the liberal social culture. However, feminists and girl-bosses who push towards self-obsession, are protected.
Equity is not compatible with love. To love means to choose, something that liberalism doesn’t tolerate. If conservatives want to save Valentine’s Day, as well as the West, they must be unafraid to choose. They must choose to pursue a traditional marriage and their family above all else. They must choose life when confronted with the evils of abortion. They must choose safe borders over globalism. Husbands must choose to buy their wives the prettiest bouquet of flowers they can find, and wives must choose a restaurant with a great selection of wine and steak. That is how we keep western civilization and Valentine’s Day alive.
