A Reluctant Defense of Father's Day

Tomorrow's only my first Father's Day, but already this article, Father's Day: A Reluctant Defense, rings true:

Let's say the CEO of Dunkin' Donuts proclaimed National Donut Day and said it can only be celebrated by eating gobs of donuts bought from DD. This wouldn't make the holiday less legitimate or inauthentic than government-invented days like Memorial Day or Veterans Day. Why defer to government-created days because those who proclaimed them are selfless public servants but reject commercial days on grounds of the profiteering motivations of the capitalist class?

It is common for people to dismiss Father's Day on grounds of its commercial nature. There's nothing at all wrong with that, just as there is nothing wrong with dismissing an ad for dishwashing soap as silly. Anyone living in a commercial society develops a sense of skepticism that is essential for navigating economic life. At the same time, one never hears someone say: "I don't celebrate Veterans Day; it is a phony holiday invented by the state to trick us into celebrating the government's wars." Someone who did say that should be a friend for life!

The beauty of a hypothetical holiday of purely commercial origins (National Microsoft Appreciation Day) is precisely that we can see straight through them. That is why they are unlikely to catch on. In fact, if there is a nationally recognized holiday of purely commercial origin, I would like to know about it.

Government holidays, on the other hand, do take hold, because the government claims to speak for the entire nation. It can subsidize the holiday by shutting all government offices (while still paying employees out of public funds). It can spread posters all throughout its monopoly postal service. It can distribute propaganda through public schools and "public service ads." This is real manipulation at public expense.