Down With Romance

Sure, the annual reports about Saudi efforts to throw cold water on Valentine's Day are always good for a chuckle. But make no mistake, the celebration poses a huge threat to the Wahhabis because it represents everything sharia reviles--individual choice; the headiness of "romance," which tends to interfere with abject submission; and marrying for love, a concept that's antithetical to "you're getting hitched to your meeskite first cousin next month, so don't give me any back talk, bucko."