Love? Is it Illegal?

Ah, tomorrow. February 14. St. Valentine's Day. A day to celebrate love. What a wonderful day. Who, I ask, can ever be against love? Think Saudi Arabia as reported by the BBC and linked at BoingBoing. They are banning tyhe sale of red items. After all, they might be immoral. Take a look:

Saudi authorities consider Valentine's Day, along with a host of other annual celebrations, as un-Islamic.

In addition to the prohibition on celebrating non-Islamic festivals, the authorities consider Valentine's Day as encouraging relations between men and women outside wedlock - punishable by law in the conservative kingdom.

The Saudi Gazette reported that some people placed orders with florists days or weeks before Valentine's Day in anticipation of the ban, which is a regular occurrence.

"Sometimes we deliver the bouquets in the middle of the night or early morning, to avoid suspicion," one florist said.

Talk about cultural gaps and even chasms. They go all directions. We think we know what the world is like- and then we are once again surprised. We should actually be surprised when we do get our understandings of other cultures right. But that is a human, not American problem.