The EIB St. Valentine’s Day Massacre

RUSH: A story from CNN out of London: “Valentine’s Day: Lonely Time for Singles — If you don’t receive a dozen red roses this Valentine’s Day, don’t fret, you’re not alone. The love season is a lonesome time for many — flowers, chocolates and red hearts flaunted around can make it hard to ignore your single status.” Ha! Ha! “As lovebirds enjoy a romantic meal together, you could be spending the night in front of the TV, with a meal for one.” Yeah. “Lora De Felice, 32, is doing just that. ‘I’m renting an action video, having Lebanese takeaway and switching my phone off. As a single woman, Valentine’s Day reminds me of what I haven’t got, a partner and a loving relationship.'”
Well, Lora, you need to call this program and call this program fast, because you are falling pray to a giant marketing trick. Do you know how many of these couples are out there having dinner tonight are doing it because they think they have to? How many boxes of chocolate, how many cards, how many dozens of roses are being sent not because anybody wants to, but because if they don’t they’ll catch hell because it’s Valentine’s Day and you’re “supposed to do it”? So this is a day of obligation. This is not a day of love, and you’re falling prey to it. If you’re going to run out and feel lonely on Valentine’s Days but you’re not lonely the day before or the day after, you’re falling for the trick. You’re falling into the trap.
This is another thing I refuse to play by. They want to schedule… We get too many obligatory holidays like this. This is not a holiday, but nobody will convince me that Hallmark isn’t behind this in a conspiracy going back to the 1400s, the descendants of the Hall family in Kansas City, they probably started all this. Then the Russell Stover people. They’re all from Kansas City, by the way. Then the Russell Stover people got involved, and then it all broke loose, then they found a saint to associate with it, and why am I not more romantic. (interruption) Who says I’m not romantic? What is romantic about acting romantic on Valentine’s Day when you are supposed to? What is it? I’m plenty romantic when the mood strikes me, but I’m not going to sit here and have my mood dictated by what I’m obligated to do because it’s Valentine’s Day.
Look at this. We got however many single people in this country are going to be in the fits of depression tonight simply because (interruption). Well Snerdley won’t and I won’t be. I’ve got some people coming over for dinner tonight, a couple family members are in town, but there’s not going to be any reference to Valentine’s Day, I’m telling you! I told them to get that out of the way before they show up. These are just little manipulative tricks that our society plays, and Lora De Felice? Somebody call her. She’s 32. Tell her it’s not worth it. It’s not worth getting depressed. Lebanese takeout is fine; action movie is fine, but if that’s what you want to do, then don’t let anybody tell you that what you’re doing is not good simply because you’re alone.

This is just all this manipulation going on. Really. Really, I’ve never really understood Valentine’s Day. I have never understood it. (interruption) Aaaaaah, as a teenager it’s different. You don’t know anything, and you think this kind of stuff actually works. This doesn’t work. The women expect this stuff. You don’t gain anything. All you do is fulfill an obligation.
“He sent me roses on Valentine’s Day.”
“Yeah? Yeah, and would he have sent them on February 14th if there weren’t a holiday?”
“But he did.”
“Yeah? Okay, fine, but obviously it doesn’t score you any points.”
Who ever remembers a Valentine’s present unless it’s an engagement? (sigh) Eh, sometimes you never forget those.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Dena in Madison, Alabama, I’m glad you called. you’re next on the Rush Limbaugh program. Hi.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. How are you?
RUSH: Never better. Thank you.
CALLER: I wanted to call you so many times on all your political views but now I’ve actually called and gotten through on such a trivial issue, but I had to call and say how much I agree with you about the whole Valentine’s issue.
RUSH: Thank you. Thank you.
CALLER: It is over the top. I am a married woman with — of course woman with — 15 years this April, and we dated for seven years before that, and I’ve never liked Valentine’s Day, and I think that the media and the marketing has gone way over the top with it, and this poor woman that this article is written about, I’m hoping that there are other mothers like myself, mothers of young girls that help teach their girls not to grow up and feel like this poor woman feels, because that is not what life is all about.
RUSH: The mass marketing, I don’t think there’s that. Obviously you’ve got the Valentine ads and you’ve got the Valentine’s this and so forth. I mean, if people want to fall into it and participate in it, it’s fine. The thing that touched me about the story is that here is a woman who is actually giving up the power of her feelings to a concept, and she’s allowing herself to feel alone on this one night because she’s not got anything going on, on Valentine’s Day, and I think that it’s a great illustration of how people get caught up in doing what they think they should be doing, being who they think they should be based on what others’ expectations of them are, or they in this case think they are missing out on something, because I will guarantee you this woman thinks every year…
It’s like New Year’s Eve. Everybody thinks that New Year’s Eve is the best party in the world and everybody is at the best party except them, especially if they’re alone or staying home, and they get all depressed because they think all these other people are out there having a grand time when not nearly as many as they think are, same thing with Valentine’s Day. The number of people eating dinner tonight in a restaurant because they actually want to be there as opposed to: “I’d better do this. I better make this reservation. Gosh, I hope I can get a table!” I would wager that the vast majority of flowers going back and forth today and candy grams and so forth and dinner reservations is because of, “I think I’d better do this,” sense of obligation. Meanwhile, this woman is sitting those people feeling all alone, and it’s just a shame. She doesn’t have to be.
CALLER: Yeah. I just hate it that thought process has to happen and I just can’t help but think that there are many more out there like that, and I just don’t want my daughter to feel like that when she’s growing up, you know, that someone telling her how to feel, and it’s just ridiculous. It really is. It’s a family thing for us. We do it as a family.

RUSH: Valentine’s Day?
CALLER: I’m sorry?
RUSH: You do Valentine’s Day as a family?
CALLER: Well, no. We let our children enjoy it. They get little Valentine’s cards and things like that, because it’s not —
RUSH: A-ha!
CALLER: No! No!
RUSH: So you have fallen for it! (Laughing)
CALLER: Nooo.
RUSH: You just have made it something else! (laughing)
CALLER: Not in the sense that you’re talking about. I don’t make my husband feel like he has to go out and buy me something.
RUSH: (chuckling)
CALLER: I just think that’s ridiculous.
RUSH: I’ll tell you what. Dawn asked me when I first went on my little monologue about Valentine’s Day, she — What was her question? “Why am I so unromantic?” Or am I (interruption). Well, Dawn, here’s the way I honestly look at this: “In the right relationship, every day is Valentine’s Day.” There, how’s that? That will make ’em melt. Yeah. (Laughing.) How many times will that be said tonight? Thanks for the call out there, Dena. I appreciate it.
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