UAE netizens express anti-Valentine sentiments over Internet

On a day of teddy bears, heart-shaped chocolates, and flowers, some netizens in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) took their anti-Valentine’s Day sentiments to the Internet, saying the holiday is nothing but a commercial scheme.   In its report on Tuesday, news site Gulf News, quoted blogger Muhammad Aldalou, who posted a link to his latest entry on newzglobe.com with a note “Valentine’s day: Dollar signs instead of hearts.”    Aldalou’s piece, posted on Monday, reduced Valentine’s Day into something that has been “emptying wallets for years.”    “Whether you are a business analyst, a chef at a local restaurant or a hopeless romantic with your head in the clouds, one cannot deny the intensity of Valentine’s day as a commercial asset in the Middle East and North Africa,” he wrote. “Of course, it is already established that occasions such as Valentine’s Day are heavily commercialized and spending usually hits the roof,” he added.   He went on to give a breakdown of expenses for gift-giving on this day, saying: “The average spending amount in the region on Valentine’s day is $280. Saudi Arabia has the highest Valentine’s spending average and Morocco has the lowest; but even Morocco’s average is $180.”   Meanwhile, Dina Al Naib, founder of a non-profit organization there, wrote that Valentine’s Day is “nothing more than a Hallmark Holiday!”    Over at LinkedIn, Caroline Tapken of the CTT Consulting FZ LLC said: “We don’t need an overpriced meal and expensive roses once a year to tell someone we love them! It is good for business though, as many disagree with me.”   In an interview, Nadeem Mansour, a Palestinial technical sales engineer in Abu Dhabi, told Gulf News that he has “nothing against Valentine’s Day but I feel it’s overrated.”   “It’s simply one day of the year and if you care for someone you should care about them every day [and] not make a big deal out of it,” he said.   For Austrian Sabrina Winter, February 14 “should be more about celebrating bonds than spending a lot for everything—although exchanging gifts is alright.”   Appreciation?   In an interview with Gulf News, Dr. Gabrielle Adams of the Dubai campus of London Business School said one reason why people dislike Valentine’s day is “the high expectation regarding the exchange of costly gifts.”   Adams, an assistant professor of organizational behavior, “co-authored a study that analyzed the correlation between the value of a gift and the level of appreciation.”   The study, according to Gulf News, found “that receivers don’t appreciate expensive gifts that much more than inexpensive ones.”   In an interview, Adams noted that the exchanging gifts may or may not trivialize the day for people.   “I think this could go either way: either the ritual is what gives the holiday meaning, or the ritual ‘cheapens’ the holiday,” she said. “Ultimately, whether the gifting ritual gives or detracts meaning from Valentine’s Day will depend on how the couple views the holiday.” - VVP, GMA News