Bella, just because you may be aromantic and don't have the experience of what it's like to be "a swooning romantic" doesn't mean that you're correct about romance. Your experience is valid but the conclusions you draw about romance as a whole are not.
The narratives and toxic beliefs about romance in Western society are not the same thing as romance itself. Capitalism did not create romance. Capitalism created various expectations in the West for how romance should be performed but that's by no means the same thing as romance itself.
People have fallen in romantic love since the dawn of history. One of the oldest known love poems was written 4000+ years ago in ancient Mesopotamia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istanbul_2461
The famous queer poet Sappho (the most influential historical lesbian of all time, from whom derives both the term "sapphic" and "lesbian") wrote many beautiful poems about her romantic love for women, thousands of years ago too.
https://www.uh.edu/~cldue/texts/sappho.html
Ancient Hindu mythology has one of its central stories the romantic love of the god Shiva and the many aspects of his wife (Shakti/Devi/Parvati/Kali etc).
One of the most famous love stories in history was that of Cleopatra and Mark Antony.
Romantic love is a force that was not created by capitalism. The trappings of capitalism such as a big wedding, a diamond ring, roses on Valentine's day etc - they do not define romance.
It's like saying "gender was an invention of capitalism because how we express gender in the West is often through buying things" - that's not to say that capitalism created gender though. Likewise capitalism did not create romance.
I agree with you that romantic love isn't essential to have a fulfilling and love-filled life - you can have deep, profound love for friends, family, children etc and not feel any lack. Saying that isn't to say that romantic love is a bad thing though if you do feel it. Because if you do, and it's a healthy romantic love, it can be for those who feel it, one of the greatest experiences in life.
