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Tuesday 14 February 2012

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm well aware that not everyone celebrates Valentine - some even hate it - but I think that even if you are not currently in a relationship, Valentines day doesn't necessarily have to be about showing you love someone. It could be anything you want it to be. The Chocolate Day, the Lolita Day or the Spoil Myself Day. I constantly hear people say they hate it, but I wonder what it is they really hate. Is it so bad not to be in a relationship? I mean, loads and loads of people out there are in relationships with people they don't love. Not really. Many never knew real love and mistook it for lust. Or the need for attention.

Either way, I don't think there are any valid reasons to hate Valentine's Day because of what it stands for. (Of course, this excludes if you have something truly sad to connect to the 14th of February. Not getting roses doesn't count.) But I'm straying from my point. I love Valentine's Day. :) And not because of gifts or flowers - no I love it because this time of the year so many cute things appear in the stores! <3 Everything from soft toys to cute underwear. <3 The perfect time to stock up on cute Lolita-things. :) And a lot of delicious cookie-recipes pop up. Yum! <3 And they sell adorable pastries in the cafés and bakeries. <3

I was also listening to Morning Musume (Morning Girl/s) this morning, it's been a while. I love this conceot. No, I really do. Western pop idols are not very good role models in my opinion. Anybody that sexualises themselves, do plastic surgery, drink, smoke, use drugs and or cover their whole faces in make up are hardly approriate role models for young girls. I just find it so sad when children look up to people like Britney Spears or Amy Winehouse, bless her soul. They just seem like such sad, unhappy people.

I'm not saying that Japanese pop artists are not exploited - of course anyone in such a position show up everywhere, on posters and concerts and lunch boxes... - it's part of the whole thing. But let's look at the concept instead. What do the children see? For idol groups such as Morning Musume, a lot of the western behaviour is not accepted. If any of the girls are caught smoking or drinking - or even visiting inappropriate places - they'd get replaced because they would not be good role models anymore. I think that's very important, and I find it sad that us westerners always try to spoil talent. I cry when I see parents sexualising their young daughters in children's fashion contests. I'm sad when I see people who used to be children's idols end up dying in the most grotesque way because of drugs or alcohol or both. I just want to close my eyes and ears and don't have to listen when I hear scandal upon scandal and I know - that sooner or later the children that loved the music will grow up and realise just what kind of role model their idol was.

No. That's why I think this is so much better. Morning Musume just being an example, of course. An example of healthy, happy young women that sing of happy things, that tell children that smoking and drinking is bad, and that you should be kind to everyone. I think that's so much better.

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