The day’s coming. Streets are filled with people. Red is the typical color of most shops; Color of Love: Aritificial Hearts, Teddy Bears, Rose flowers, Chocolate boxes. Good days for sellers as well, to fill their pockets with price of ‘LoVe’!
As a multi-million dollar industry, It’s getting just an “opportunity” for companies to take more financial benefits. The advertisements capture your mind, forcing you to do what they want you to do With an overwhelming number of cards and presents being sold over the world; To ‘celebrate’ it.
Not too bad to have fun, though. But as for most people usually confuse the “Love” and “Lust” and spend money for a feeling that lasts for a short while, V-Day has become as commercial as the rest of corporate holidays.
Nowadays in the Middle East, if you’ve not heard the name of Valentine’s day or are not interested in celebrating a feast that has no trace in your own culture, you will be looked upon as a backward or not definitely ‘modern’. Doesnt matter if V-day’s driven by ‘Modern’ materialism.
Nowadays, Valentine’s day has lost its real meaning and getting to be an empty cube with no spirit. The day once used to be celebrated in the Rome, later in the France, Germany and UK. Finally in the big enforcer of culture, US of A.
The American culture tried to feed whole the world, is transfered via TV channels and Internet to all other countries. I remember before having an internet connection, i’d not even heard about the Valentine’s day. Now this epidemic in the Middle East is getting an important part of culture for some.
Strange that we didnt know this event before internet! Even before Islamic Revolution in Iran that blindly copying the western culture was very common and encouraged, there was no such an event to be practised widely in the society.
Is that considered as a form of globalisation? Or Just enforcing the materialism of the west into Muslim world? Why we simply don’t try to love a person for a lifetime and show our love to the beloves all the year and not just during a day?
The youth in Muslim countries are going to be blindly taken their culture off their mind. Sometimes they’re much more ignorant about their own culture than culture of western nations.
On the other hand, americans are less aware of other nation’s culture and traditions. Americans barely distinguish diversity of lifestyle and culture around the world. While their governments try to enforce the materialistic culture to other countries.
Just need to turn on TV and see how many satellite channels -even the European ones- are filled with American movies.
There’s a difference between “A good understanding of different cultures” and “obsession with foreign culture”. Culture is the most important factor in a society. It can be cause of both development and failure. It might be motivator or a disaster.
If there’s a way to destroy a nation, that’s changing their valuable parts of religious and cultural identity. It makes them feel a vaccuum inside. Makes them slave of other cultures which like a ready sandwich of thoughts goes into their mind.
Today is different from the past. Nowadays, power of a nation is not based on number of population. The powerful nations are those that introduce their identity in an influential way to the world. In fact, a more powerful nation is the one that has the most cultural influence on the others’.
P.S: Has been cross-posted on Mideast Youth
February 14, 2010 at 3:48 pm
Well done Shahrzad!
Nowadays we really feel the lack of Culture & Media specialists in our country.
That’s absolutely true: “Culture sells…”!
February 14, 2010 at 6:36 pm
Seyed Kamal, Welcome to my blog. Thank you for your visit and comment
February 19, 2010 at 7:50 pm
Yes, it is a sad situation!
March 8, 2010 at 12:16 am
Salam to you, Shahrzad, and to your readers. I would like to comment to explain a bit about Valentine’s Day, and to ask for your help in understand a bit about Islam.
What is now our Valentine’s day began as a religious or saint’s day. Saint Valentine was a priest who used to go into the prisons in Rome to visit Christians imprisoned for pracitising their religion. The love involved was agape, the altruistic love for other humans and concern for their welfare that had nothing to do with romance. Tradition holds that if he was not allowed by the authorities to have a visit, he would leave a note. I don’t know if this is historical truth, or just a nice tradition. For a long time this minor observance in remembrance of Saint Valentine has been made trivial with the hearts and flowers. It is fun and can be nice or silly. Most of us in the US don’t spend a lot of money on it. My husband and I celebrated Valentine’s Day this year in a very quiet way. He made me a breakfast, simple but with my favorite foods and brought it to me in bed. I cooked his favorite foods at dinner and took extra time. Just a little different than our every day caring, with a little more consiousness that we do services for each other every day out of care for one another.
Now, my question about Islam touches a little on the original meaning of Valentines day. I don’t think you will like the story, so I ask your forgiveness, but I need guidance. I stumbled across a blog written by a fellow in the US. He was reporting about a Muslim woman living in the US. It seems she killed her husband’s neice, who was in her care, because she became angry at the husband. She went by herself to the local police station and confessed. Her husband and the member of her mosque showed concern for her. They didn’t want the police photos to show her without her hijab, for instance. The blogger and his readers found a lot of fault with this woman’s community for their care. I added a comment, that makes sense to me, but it was a lot of assuming. And perhaps you can help me know if I was mistaken. I said that I do now know a lot about Islam, but that if I look at the community in terms of traditional Christian values, they were very correct in their concern for her. I argued two things. The first is that while people who have trangressed must submit to just legal punishment, none of us can know what God’s judgement will be. That is because we cannot know the intimate and secret relationship the individual has with God. We cannot know if the person is truly remorseful and begs God’s mercy, we cannot know how God will find for that person on Judgement Day. So for that reason I did not think that it was inappropriate for a religious community to abandon their sister. I was guessing, so I am wondering what Islam really does teach about such things? My second point in my comment to this blog was that I know that within the Catholic Church there are 7 practises called the Corporal Works of Mercy. They are things like feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, shelter the homeless. One is visit those in prison. It does not specify to visit only those there for political or religious, or only the innocent. So I held that for a religious community to continue to show care for the wellbeing of this lady came under visit those in prison, and was a good example. Does Islam have something like the Corporal Works of Mercy? I am very interested to know. My overall point on that blog was that the community of course knew this woman had done wrong, but it was no weakness for them to show concern for her, but was rather a good example and a strength.
I think that it is important for people in the US to learn about other cultures. And important for us to speak up when we see ignorance in our fellow citizens so that we can help them learn. Shahrzad, thank you for being a window into culture, and please do not hesitate to correct me so that my understanding is better and I don’t mislead people when I speak up on other blogs.
Best regards, Mary
March 16, 2010 at 7:33 am
سلام بر خواهر گرامی،دخت ایران زمین ،شهرزاد خانم.
عاشق وطن دوستی و بچه مسلمونیت شدم!چند تا از مطالبی که نوشته ای خوانده ام.تا حالا که گل کاشتی.البته انگلیسیم اصلا خوب نیست و فقط در حد درک مطلب و کمی بالاتر.از این که درباره شهید می نویسی و پرچم قشنگ کشور را به نمایش می ذاری باید از شما تشکر کنم.
حالا چند نکته:
1. سعی کن ذهنیت مثبت درباره ایران واسلام در مخاطبت ایجاد کنی چونکه فضای رسانه ای علیه این دو به قدر کافی منفی هست.
2. باید بدونی که اگر خیلی بخوای از اسلام و انقلاب دفاع کنی سایتت مورد هدف کسانی قرار می گیره که از ایران و اسلام متنفرند.
3.باید بدونی و می دانم که می دانی خیلی از این کامنت های منفی که از طرف ایرانی ها گذاشته می شود به خاطر اینست که مادر کشور یهودی ،مسیحی،بهایی،ضد انقلاب و . . . داریم و لزوما هر فارسی زبانی که از اسلام سخن میگه ،مسلمان زاده نیست!
حرف های بیشتری دارم که بعد از اینکه نظر ت را دادی درمیان می گذارم.
منتظر نظرت هستم که به ایمیلم یا در وبلاگم (به صورت خصوصی) میگذاری هستم!نتیجه این تبادل نظر انشاالله مفید واقع شود.
مطالب من را منتشر نکن تو سایت و بگذار خصوصی باشد.
یا علی
March 24, 2010 at 11:19 am
salaam, Dear shahrzad
I reached your blog whlie searching for persian zodiac signs. many thanks for your realistic view and your honesty…
ok, that’s a good link to some excellent illustrations for persian zodiac. may be you use them some day in your blog!
bye.
http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2006/12/persian-zodiac.html
May 13, 2010 at 7:12 pm
Excellent Shahrzad. Iranians come from a sufficiently refined culture to teach us in the West that we don’t need of an excuse that consists of an insignificant 1/365-th of the year to make the most of the human beings we are towards our fellow human beings who we are commanded to love. The sound Islamic culture of Iranians can definitely set out to enlighten human kind on how to practice selflessness 365 days of the year.