Happy Valentimez!
Aw, good ol' love. I read today that being in love, even just seeing a photo of your sweetie, triggers a chemical reaction in your brain similar to the effects of cocaine. Which is sort of amazing, in part because to measure and quantify the release of dopamine, the subjects being studied must have been wired up to a remarkable degree. I suspect I would find the metal helmet and leads distracting from my more amorous thoughts. I certainly have in the past...
My point is, however, that drugs would go a long way towards explaining some of the behaviors this holiday causes. I'm a big fan of affection and romance, but it would never in a million squillion years occur to me to make a public display of my personal life. Nor do I respond well to emotion being artificially imposed on me. This is not to say that I have any sympathy towards the "it's too commercial" crowd. (Sac up, Linus - this is capitalism - wear a helmet.) It's more that I am highly susceptible to marketing, but I am also fully aware that I am falling for it. Then I resent the advertising that I am powerless to resist, and it leads to shame and anger. Hmmm....substitute the word "man" for "advertising" in the last sentence, and the Valentine's circle is complete.
As cynical a person as I can be, I love love, and hope that everyone finds real true love, because it changes your whole life. Evidently it changes you into a crackhead, according to some smarty-pants scientists, but let's leave them out of this. Except! I just had a great image of two scientists working together on this project and sublimating their love into the research. Or! A couple in love coming in to be attached to the helmets, and the girl not responding to her man's picture with a dopamine release and the boyfriend being furious because she's not really in love with him, and then she sees the scientist guy, and it's love at first sight and her dopamine is off the charts and the girl scientist freaks out because she has pined for science guy for the past five years, researching the love she dare not express. Uh, what was I talking about?
Oh yeah - Happy Valentine's Day.
My point is, however, that drugs would go a long way towards explaining some of the behaviors this holiday causes. I'm a big fan of affection and romance, but it would never in a million squillion years occur to me to make a public display of my personal life. Nor do I respond well to emotion being artificially imposed on me. This is not to say that I have any sympathy towards the "it's too commercial" crowd. (Sac up, Linus - this is capitalism - wear a helmet.) It's more that I am highly susceptible to marketing, but I am also fully aware that I am falling for it. Then I resent the advertising that I am powerless to resist, and it leads to shame and anger. Hmmm....substitute the word "man" for "advertising" in the last sentence, and the Valentine's circle is complete.
As cynical a person as I can be, I love love, and hope that everyone finds real true love, because it changes your whole life. Evidently it changes you into a crackhead, according to some smarty-pants scientists, but let's leave them out of this. Except! I just had a great image of two scientists working together on this project and sublimating their love into the research. Or! A couple in love coming in to be attached to the helmets, and the girl not responding to her man's picture with a dopamine release and the boyfriend being furious because she's not really in love with him, and then she sees the scientist guy, and it's love at first sight and her dopamine is off the charts and the girl scientist freaks out because she has pined for science guy for the past five years, researching the love she dare not express. Uh, what was I talking about?
Oh yeah - Happy Valentine's Day.
posted by Maureen at
8:45 PM
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