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.

  • bassgirl09@lemmy.world
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    18 hours ago

    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.

  • CaptPretentious@lemmy.world
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    20 hours ago

    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.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      18 hours ago

      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.

    • starman2112@sh.itjust.worksOP
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      19 hours ago

      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

    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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      19 hours ago

      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.

    • PhoenixDog@lemmy.world
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      20 hours ago

      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.

      • Ostrichgrif@lemmy.world
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        18 hours ago

        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?

        • starelfsc2@sh.itjust.works
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          7 hours ago

          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?”

  • nullspace@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    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.

      • nullspace@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        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.

        • Fredthefishlord@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          22 hours ago

          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.

    • zane@infosec.pub
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      2 days ago

      My argument is what the fuck are you celebrating? Did you get enough of your freedums this year?

      • nullspace@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Okay, now say that about literally any holiday aside from the one you personally dislike and see how it holds up.

        • zane@infosec.pub
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          1 day ago

          Halloween. Celebrating recruitment into the skeleton army. Duh? What an insane take. My valid criticisms are invalid since other holidays exist.

          • nullspace@lemmy.world
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            1 day ago

            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.

            • zane@infosec.pub
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              1 day ago

              I’m just going to chalk this up to either you misreading, misunderstanding, or just being a fucking idiot.

              • nullspace@lemmy.world
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                1 day ago

                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.

  • smh@slrpnk.net
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    2 days ago

    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.

  • DevDave@piefed.social
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    2 days ago

    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.

    • FellowEnt@sh.itjust.works
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      23 hours ago

      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.

      • DevDave@piefed.social
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        16 hours ago

        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)

  • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz
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    2 days ago

    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?

    • qaeta@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      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.

    • PhoenixDog@lemmy.world
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      20 hours ago

      Who the fuck even thought of this?

      No one has ever accused Americans of being smart.

    • starman2112@sh.itjust.worksOP
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      23 hours ago

      This is america, everyone here either doesn’t care about or actively hates our own veterans. You got the right (red) who only 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

  • Noodle07@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    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 🤷

  • chunes@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    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.

    • BigDiction@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      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.

      • PhoenixDog@lemmy.world
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        19 hours ago

        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

        • nomy@lemmy.zip
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          16 hours ago

          You’re a very charming person with rational, valid takes all over this thread.

        • BigDiction@lemmy.world
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          17 hours ago

          That’s a bit harsh. I already admitted to being a fireworks gooner in the original comment.

  • the16bitgamer@programming.dev
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    2 days ago

    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.

      • the16bitgamer@programming.dev
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        2 days ago

        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.

  • agent_nycto@lemmy.world
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    20 hours ago

    I know you think your heart is in the right place but can we please have at least one nice thing? One fun thing? Feel at least one nice thing about where we live? Just one thing that we don’t get guilt tripped over, when bigger, worse things are happening by bigger, worse people? Do you have to try to ruin something to make yourself feel better, more lefty, more woke? Or do you have to ruin things for other people because you personally don’t like it?

    • starman2112@sh.itjust.worksOP
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      20 hours ago

      If your “one nice thing” is setting off explosives outside my house strong enough to rattle the fuckin dishes in my cabinet, then no, you can’t have one nice thing. There are so many fireworks out there that don’t ruin your neighbors’ evenings. Get fountains and sparklers and bottle rockets. Your fun should not come at someone else’s expense

      • agent_nycto@lemmy.world
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        12 hours ago

        All fun comes at someone’s expense. Sparklers and fountains are made in factories, probably sweat shops, then sold by underpaid people while other folks benefit. No ethical consumption under capitalism after all.

        I can, like you, make anything you enjoy shit.

        • starelfsc2@sh.itjust.works
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          7 hours ago

          This is called the nirvana fallacy. Yes you can go forever and you should reduce your consumption as much as possible. That doesn’t mean I have to buy the specifically really loud animal-terrifying cabinet shaking wake people up who have work tomorrow variety of fireworks, and that doesn’t give my neighbor carte-blanche to do whatever they want no matter how much it bothers me. It’s possible to do better without doing perfect.

        • starman2112@sh.itjust.worksOP
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          10 hours ago

          Good point. I’ve always wanted to build a shooting range in my own front yard, and you’ve convinced me to finally set it up. If my neighbors complain, I’ll just explain that there’s no ethical consumption under capitalism and that all fun comes at someone else’s expense

    • AntiOutsideAktion@lemmy.ml
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      20 hours ago

      The tearful narcissist “Why won’t you let me hurt you because I like it?? YOU’RE BEING AN ASSHOLE.”

    • PhoenixDog@lemmy.world
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      20 hours ago

      I know you think your heart is in the right place but can we please have at least one nice thing? One fun thing?

      When your one nice and fun thing directly removes someone else’s nice and fun things, your nice and fun thing sucks.

      Your enjoyment of things cannot exist by removing other people’s happiness. Fireworks trigger severe PTSD, cause pets a lot of anxiety, and can literally kill them.

      If your fun activity is killing dogs and sending humans into a massive panic attack, your fun thing kind of fucking sucks ass and you should stop doing it.

      • agent_nycto@lemmy.world
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        12 hours ago

        Every single thing you enjoy is harmful. Every joy you have can have some level of guilt associated with it. Fireworks aren’t an exception, you just don’t like them so you justify that dislike by pointing out the harm, and ignore the harm you do every day with the things you, personally, enjoy.

        • PhoenixDog@lemmy.world
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          12 hours ago

          Me reading on my deck, or playing video games in my office doesn’t cause someone else to have a massive panic attack or traumatic PTSD episode you wanker.