Did Friedrich Nietzsche Loved Valentine’s Day?

Even though he’s no longer with us and given his views on human liberation and salvation, did Friedrich Nietzsche ever looked forward to the annual arrival of Valentine’s Day?


By: Vanessa Uy


“Everything done out of love is beyond good and evil.“ Thus spake Friedrich Nietzsche, but have you ever wondered if he ever looked forward to the arrival of Valentine’s Day during his lifetime given his liberating view on the nature of love? Given that during Victorian Times, the wanton commercialization and the overblown vulgar - make that ithiphallic - display of “Romantic Love” have yet to reach our contemporary idiocy in exploiting something that’s both sacred and beautiful. Then ipso facto Nietzsche must have seen Valentine’s Day during his lifetime as just another holiday, but did he really?

When Friedrich Nietzsche got preoccupied about the nature of “societal deception” during the “Gay Nineties” – i.e. the 1890’s. He often quotes about one does not want to be deceived, under the supposition that it is injurious, dangerous, or fatal to be deceived. Plus that other one that goes: “Do not allow yourselves to be deceived: Great minds are skeptical.” If all of this sounds like the inspirational sales pitch of your typical business savvy divorce insurance sales agent, then Friedrich Nietzsche must have been very concerned on how one of mankind’s most beautiful and transcendental life-experiences – namely love – is prone to corruption and manipulation. Given his concern for humanity going down the path that’s riddled with heartache and emotional blackmail, should Friedrich Nietzsche be honored during Valentine’s Day? Well…

Given that the people who supported the massacre at Wounded Knee in the name of Manifest Destiny – or the disastrous Operation Iraqi Freedom of recent times – are still in control when it comes to these things. Friedrich Nietzsche being a “heroic fixture” during Valentine’s Day is something that won’t happen within the foreseeable future. Which is kind of sad really, given that Hallmark, a greeting card company who has their own TV channel can’t capitalize on this. Imagine Nietzschean Valentine’s Day greeting cards, or a mini-series about the life of young Friedrich Nietzsche starring Orlando Bloom being aired on Hallmark’s prime-time scheduling block during Valentine’s Day.