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.
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?
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
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.
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.
At what point is consumption fine to do? If we’re to reduce the consumption and harm, what level is it acceptable to have some consumption and harm for what we want out of life?
Weirdly enough, I think the things you enjoy you’ll find are acceptable to compromise over and the things you don’t like are unacceptable. You have a bias as well.
So when the tone of this post, others comments and your comments leave no room for compromise, and people start whipping out the straw men and exaggerations, you’ll have to excuse me if I don’t take your “we can do better without doing perfect” as something said in good faith.
The line is arbitrary but “have things that sound like explosions for 2 weeks that might happen at any point for 24 hours a day that causes massive stress to animals and some people” should be crossing that line. Same for the animal industry and supporting AI when the data centers are causing huge issues.
I think almost anyone would agree if there was a set firework show, that lasted 30 minutes to an hour, and no other explosive fireworks outside the show (sparklers etc are totally fine), you would have 1/100th the people complaining. I am not personally massively affected by fireworks but I don’t think that’s an unfair compromise at all.
Weird that the anti fireworks people don’t advocate for that then
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
Maybe you can put up a scarecrow in the range, too, since you like straw men so much.
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.
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.
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.
Way to ignore the problems with deforestation, exploitation, animal deaths, slavery and human death you’re totally fine with that’s related to those things. Just because it’s not in front of you doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. I’m sure the child slaves who mine for rare earth minerals have PTSD episodes, but because it’s far away and brown people, and you happen to like video games, suddenly they aren’t problematic?
Oh yeah, it isn’t because it isn’t inconvenient to you, personally.
You certainly seem working to compromise when it’s something you like, but are weirdly hard line when it’s something you don’t.
I live on a farm. I raise livestock. I literally own land with woodland on them I use for heat, production, and regrow everything I cut down that isn’t naturally felled by hurricanes. My work and my land contributes to society.
What have you done?
If you could for one second stop talking out of your ass, you might make a respectable point. But I’m sure it’s real easy to act how you act from the middle of an apartment downtown in a city.
Whipping out your privilege of owning a lot of land doesn’t suddenly make those kids not dying in mines for your electronics and trees not getting cut down for your books.
So nice try but that’s got nothing to do with this conversation, and owning a farm doesn’t make you right all the time, nor a better person.
I kinda doubt you’re on a farm, honestly, if you have that much of an opinion about fireworks. You don’t have them blasting off from your neighbors right next to your house till 3am like people in the city do.
Why do you think I moved to a farm?
Just because you don’t give a rats ass about other people because them being miserable or having medical episodes obviously comes second to you having your “fun” setting off explosives in populated areas.
You’re just an asshole.
Makes two of us then, and between fireworks and consoles, pretty sure children don’t die in the mines for gunpowder
The tearful narcissist “Why won’t you let me hurt you because I like it?? YOU’RE BEING AN ASSHOLE.”
You’re not enjoying this? Well I am so fuck you.
I love speeding down the highway. That pedestrian I hit ruined my fun.
An extremely American holiday
Name anything enjoyable that isn’t harmful in any way shape or form.
Fuck off with your chud logic, Ben Shapiro
Sorry, I didn’t like that comment, so I should be able to dictate what you say. You know, because the person who doesn’t like something gets to control everyone else.
Coherent thought, bro 👍
Hey, don’t blame me for your lack of reading skills.