Editor’s note: this is a post about American Independence Day celebrations
existentialmemes
Alright, I’m going to launch explosives around your house. For several hours. Yes it is dangerous and terrible for wildlife and the environment. And yes your pets will get sick from eating the debris and you will feel terrorized inside your own home.
No you can’t opt out of it. Everyone is doing it and frankly it’s weird that you don’t want to.
No you can’t be the one launching the explosives you need a license for that. You can however launch these marginally smaller ones though. Yeah just whenever you want. 2am sounds great.
So anyway, fireworks were a mistake and it’s never too early to start reminding you of that.
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I truly hate fireworks so I agree passionately
I’ve had yokels launching aerial fireworks that were extremely loud and bright within city limits when it is expressly against city ordinance to do so for 2 weeks before and 4 weeks after the 4th of July. My windows shook over and over until 3 a.m. I had to work at 7 a.m. the next morning. My cat hid in the downstairs shower because it was the quietest place in the house every night. People who do this have ZERO regard for others. I expect the night of 4th of July to sound like the war of 1812. Not every night for two weeks leading up and 4 weeks after every night past midnight. Have some respect for your neighbors by stopping by 11 p.m. or Midnight the rest of the nights. Nobody wants to hear fireworks after midnight except you.
very polarizing it seems… how much damage do fireworks do?
Surprisingly few, only 15 people died last year and there were less than 15,000 injuries
yeah idk. i like trains and they killed 286 people last year
https://oli.org/track-statistics/collisions-casualties-year
idk if I like fireworks even 1/20th as much as trains
My neighbor sets of fireworks all summer. But they really go nuts on the 4th.
Not once have I felt “terrorized”.
Cam we stop with the over dramatization of everything. And don’t give me ‘well some people might have PTSD from being deployed’. My brother in law is one of those. You don’t need to white knight for them, or wrapping their experiences for you agenda. They know the 4th is coming, they know what to expect.
Why does no one ever consider the people who don’t mind it? I mean shit, some people like blowing up fireworks 365 days a year, so I guess it’s always fine!
Gonna set up a shooting range in my front yard, and if anyone complains I’ll just direct them towards the comments in this thread
Not once have I felt “terrorized”.
Had a shooting in my neighborhood a few months back. Multiple neighbors reported it, but the police dragged their feet to investigate because it was being written off as “just someone playing with fireworks again”. Family annihilation. Really grizzly depressing stuff.
Anyway, you still see folks popping off in the group chat every time we hear a loud bang, because everyone’s trying to figure out if it’s fireworks or more gunshots.
On the flip side…
We’ve been able to do these for nearly a decade. They’re less expensive. They’re more artistic. They don’t have all that ugly smog the next day. And you don’t need to terrorize every dog in the neighborhood to put them on.
I don’t make a big deal about them them on the 4th on for New Year’s. They can be fun and people love the experience.
But they also terrify my dogs, so the other 363 days of the year I’ll call the cops.
Hey everyone, shut the thread down. This one individual doesn’t feel bothered or affected by fireworks. Therefore if you have PTSD, severe anxiety, or your pets panic over loud sudden noises, it’s perfectly okay because this one person’s anecdotal experience overrides everything you feel.
Their opinion is not overriding your own or anyone else’s. They dont mind the fireworks and you do, why make it out like they’re trying to silence you?
They said can we stop over dramatizing it, which is minimizing other peoples experience of being startled, scared, or in cases of ptsd actually terrified. It’s like if I said “I was in a car crash and was fine, can we stop the dramatization of car crashes?”
Celebrate the fourth by blowing up a piece of it with fireworks
I like fireworks. I don’t like when people continue to set them off at odd hours weeks after the 4th.
I think complaining about fireworks on a day of celebration is some grumpy old NIMBY shit.
I agree. There’s a time and place. It’s the 4th, and maybe new years
Honest question: What the fuck do American’s have to celebrate?
Not being British. It’s all we got left
Yeah caring about the environment is nimbyism…
You ever taken a look at your local level politics? It’s mostly NIMBYs trying to use environmental law not to protect the environment, but to protect their property value and keep out “undesirables.”
They’re also trying to shut down night clubs, roadblock any method of transportation that isn’t car-oriented, enact curfews, and generally just suck all the joy out of life like these no-fireworks having fun police.
The primary perpetrators of environmental law in my city are people who genuinely care about it.
Fire works are not the same as the other things you have listed(well, not the car part); as they do actually have a substantiable effect on the environment and local air quality.
My argument is what the fuck are you celebrating? Did you get enough of your freedums this year?
Okay, now say that about literally any holiday aside from the one you personally dislike and see how it holds up.
Halloween. Celebrating recruitment into the skeleton army. Duh? What an insane take. My valid criticisms are invalid since other holidays exist.
You used a bullshit apples to oranges comparison for your bullshit criticism. You didn’t say New Years or Juneteenth, actual fireworks holidays, because it highlights how stupid your “get over it” argument is.
I’m just going to chalk this up to either you misreading, misunderstanding, or just being a fucking idiot.
My argument is what the fuck are you celebrating? Did you get enough of your freedums this year?
I really have no idea what you were saying then. Are you saying people shouldn’t celebrate the 4th because a rapist is currently in charge? Or that doing it every year ad infinitum is too much?
Either way I stand by what I said. Let people have their fireworks and stop being a grumpy old fuck about it.
Sure buddy.
As a white property owning male it’s my day of freedom 🦅🦅🦅
We used to hide in the basement with our pup and watch a movie. She could still hear the fireworks, but it seemed to take the edge off.
Current pup has gone deaf in his old age. Before then, he’d growl and bark at both thunder and fireworks. Now he just sleeps through it.
have a hound that couldn’t give two fucks about the cacophony. also have a staffie that will try to dig through the linoleum in the basement trying to get away from the cacophony. fucking bullshit rah rah patriotism, and some poor kid is gonna get third degree burns or lose most of a hand, whoopee 'merika
Fireworks are generally not allowed near airports, so getting a room at an airport hotel might be a good way to g give you and your pup some peace and quiet. Just a tip.
haha I live miles from Boeing field and SeaTac. Nope.
Fireworks apparently cancelled at SeaTac?
https://jetmagazine.co.uk/seatac-fourth-of-july-celebrations-canceled-what-happened/
I’m a lot less irritated by the pro displays because they happen on the holiday.
It’s the endless boom of assholes setting off mortars that shake the windows for weeks before and weeks after.
Nothing to celebrate anymore.
Heh, I live in a racially mixed neighborhood where the Mexicans help the rest of the us find the “good stuff”. I have been in an actual war zone but my neighborhood is at WW1 level amounts of black powder and badly made improvised explosives with copper, magnesium, and titanium sprinkled in for seasoning. Last year there were teenagers with eight inch mortars which I cannot convey how insanely illegal those are.
Kind of amazing we haven’t set the neighborhood or even a single house on fire now that I think about it.
PSA do not mess with additives other than Titanium for salutes. Ideally do not mess with improvised explosives at all but if you really are hell-bent on upping the noise, a string-bound blackpowder maroon is the way to go. Hello interpol my old friend.
The real way to get on the list is to give advice on how to acquire salt peter or acquiring in bulk precursors like ammonium nitrate (or is it nitrite, not going to look that up)
Not so much illegal as commercial. For professional use only.
14th of July is the day in France for fireworks, there’s the fireworks set by the city for 30min and after that everyone goes back home, dont have people setting them off all night 🤷
Y’all are why the right thinks the left is full of whining pussies.
Hey guys, caring about how other people feel about traumatic experiences makes you a pussy.
Call me a pussy then.
If caution, awareness, and altruism makes me a whining pussy, then I boldly accept it as my moniker.
Why should I care what they think?
These idiots keep me up all night, but at least I’m super tired when I get called in to check out what’s left of their hands or face. Great situation all around, so fun, every single year.
meanwhile the right has a lock on stumpy claw hands, emergency room visits and hearing damage.
oof, those silly libs afraid to live a little
No, they think that because they’re morons
Two things can be true
Celebrating america’s freedom by triggering all of our traumatized veterans with inescapable rapid-fire explosions for three weeks straight!
Who the fuck even thought of this?
It makes more sense when you realize that Americans don’t actually give a shit about their veterans, they just like virtue signalling like they do. The VA would be in much better shape if they actually cared.
Oh, trust me, I know. Especially republicans…
Who the fuck even thought of this?
No one has ever accused Americans of being smart.
This is america, everyone here actively hates our own veterans. You got the right (red) who likes them while they’re overseas killing middle easterners, you got the right (blue) who doesn’t think about them at all, and you have the left who think we’re the villains in every armed conflict since WWII (“Kuwait? What’s that?”)
Caring about veterans makes you a tiny minority in this country
I love fireworks shows done responsibly, our local show is on a beach away from most of civilization and wild life.
That said I think a drone show is cooler, better for the environment, and would love to see densely populated towns replace them with drones.
On a beach… Away from wild life? What?
No you don’t understand, they simply moved outside of the environment.
A wave? In the OCEAN? Chance in a million.
Beaches around here are out in the open with a treeline that isn’t close to shore, most animals aren’t going to be around due to the threat of predators, with the exceptions of insects.
The area is similar to Peggy’s Cove in Nova Scotia, though not as far removed from everything and on a lake, rather than on an ocean.
Yeah, I would never expect wildlife to be around a lake, probably no impact at all
Blowing up drones is cooler than blowing up fireworks depending on the drone
Thank you. Fuck fireworks and the apes who enjoy them.
That aside, what do you even have to celebrate? Fuck you if you’re proud of any of this.
I’ve never thought about the country when lighting off fireworks. It is just the time of year to do it.
All of the points OP put down to not light off fireworks I completely agree with. Maybe “apes” is the correct description because that boom boom sparkle really fires off the seratonin in me.
I’ve never thought about the country when lighting off fireworks. It is just the time of year to do it.
So you’re a mindless sheep with lack of critical thinking skills?
i lIgHt fIrEwOrKs oN DaY BeCaUsE OtHeR PeOpLe lIgHt fIrEwOrKs oN DaY
You’re a very charming person with rational, valid takes all over this thread.
That’s a bit harsh. I already admitted to being a fireworks gooner in the original comment.
Once we actually get rid of slavery and stop lynching black people I’ll set off a firework or two
I’d happily see consumer fireworks banned. If people like them so much then there are plenty of organized displays which have way better shit than you can buy at Walmart, and I know roughly when they’re happening so I can turn the TV up loud, close my windows and keep my pets from being too traumatized.
What I can’t stand is the random 3AM explosions that sounds like the start of WWIII. If you’re one of those people, fuck you. Sincerely.
Well, you could always be the reason they get banned… just gota get creative with it?
I promise you if that ban happened people will buy gun powder and build their own. Now they’re more dangerous and made in Jimmy’s garage
You may say ban blackpowder, but then you run into the 2nd amendment lobby
Idiots making home-made explosives sounds like a problem that can solve itself eventually.
You’d be quite surprised. Making fireworks isn’t all that complicated.
Of course more would die, but not enough to eliminate the practice
Yeah, just look at how well the Dutch firework ban works. Or how well the German one during covid lock downs worked.
Although in those cases the fireworks were only imported illegally from other EU countries, and not homemade, so it’s not a perfect comparison
The Dutch firework ban is only starting this year. During covid there was a ban and while it wasn’t totally quiet, it was a lot more doable. A lot less people in the hospitals too: about one third of the previous year. Most people do follow the law.
I get really tired of people saying it won’t work anyway. The only reason to say that is to oppose a ban. Instead try to persuade Poland and Italy to stop selling bombs to citizens.
Yeah the free sale of blackpowder is the issue, and that is tied to our general gun control issues. Our Supreme Court has been taking a hard stance on pro-gun rights
