Bullshit flagwaving, being proud of things you have nothing to do with, being proud of an idea and not of what is actually going on or what happened to get there
It’s quite common for folks to say they believe in “the promise of America” with the failure to achieve said promise left as an exercise for the reader.
Despite all the bullshit happening now, I still believe the promise is worth fighting for and I’m personally not ready to give up on it.
The thing is, it's not just the bullshit that's happening now, the bullshit has been happening all along, they were just much better at being covert or weren't quite as blatant with their greed. I don't know about that, everything I was taught in school about this country turned out to be complete crap, and the people who are supposed to be angry at the kind of tyranny going on right now, who were waving don't tread on me flags my whole life, are the ones most vehemently supporting it. So I dunno what we got left. I have hope left in people, not ideas of nations blurred by history and endless retellings of how it came to be.
It’s true - but more people like us, who initially trusted what we were taught, are finding out the truth all the time.
And I see voices that have been much more marginalized than me “believe in the promise” after being much more negatively affected by the truth than me.
If they still believe in it, how can my barely marginalized ass give up on it? That’s essentially giving up on their struggle and their determination. I cannot turn my back on the sons and daughters of enslaved, LGBTQ+, indigenous and on and on folks.
It means douchebags in lifted trucks proudly displaying their complete ignorance of proper flag etiquette.
It means my cat hiding under the couch all night.
It means glazing the very institutions of authority we purportedly were to have wrested ourselves free from 250 years ago.
It means ugly, flagrant displays of nationalism from people who don’t actually believe in liberty and justice for all.
But on the bright side I get a day off and I like fireworks and it won’t cost me anything to go watch them. So I will, and I’ll pretend they’re in celebration of something noble.
It's weird to me that everyone just assumes that American Independence was a good thing.
It's also hilarious to me that everyone assumes "their" state was proudly patriotic when several states were pretty damn loyalist.
I also think everyone else really should question their Independence Days. Usually all the happened for the majority of people is that a little less of their labor went to a foreign crown and went to their local rapacious land-owning aristocracy instead. Big fucking deal.
One of our other friends from the US wanted to do something for the 4th, and literally none of the other people from the US she asked were game (including my partner and I lol).
For me, it's a celebration of capitalism and nowadays fascism. It's celebrating a country that doesn't want me to be alive. It celebrates a country that forces me to still pay taxes but won't let me renew my passport. It may have had a genuine start, but it's been perverted like a teddy bear in a Trump beauty pageant changing room..
Hey Firewitch, I really understand why you're feeling this way. Trans+ people are the new scapegoat, and it's seen as somehow moral and justified to "have concerns" about your very existence. The kind of people who hate difference (gay, black, disabled etc) have a group they can pretend they're attacking cos they care, when really it's cos they HATE. Plus you're Latina which is another level of shit. !WomensStuff@piefed.blahaj.zone is fully and totally behind the trans+ community and although we don't allow politics cos it's a safe space you can always get support for your feelings. We got you ❤️
I'm curious where abouts they do it all week. I commiserated about them doing it last night to some friends, and I'm sure I'll hear some tomorrow. But my area is like the center of the center of red land.
South central Wisconsin. I don't mind so much the fireworks during typical waking hours, it's the (probably) drunks who decide to set them off out of nowhere in the wee hours.
I grew up in and currently live in rural Midwest. People here don't need a reason to set off fireworks randomly. But they'll definitely capitalize when yoh do give them a reason.
It's mostly teenage boys and their 40+ yo washed up beer-gut dads
The celebration of the independence of the United States of America, and starting a young country full of culture. It does not help though that we share a land filled with idiots who really don't understand the definition of the Merica Irony and just blind patriotism. I love this country, because at the end of the day, I compared most of the countries and holy shit we may not be doing good at all but fuck me, the level of crazy I be seeing out there is nuts.
A public holiday to not be at work and some light programming. All I want is to watch some fancy pants band play 1812 with the canons and im happy. I dont care much for the holiday itself, its just a day to mark the calendar. Not getting to do any of that this year... Its dangerously hot, I am working and im not watching the PBS programming from Washington out of spite.
They’re broadcasting the shindig from Williamsburg instead. 👍 Last night they did the usual concert at the capitol and showed the fireworks from Mt Vernon.
I don’t know if anyone is broadcasting the nonsense from the mall —I wouldn’t be surprised if dumbfuck has it on pay per view or something. (Cspan will probably have the speech, but I'm not watching that dreck, either.)
It's a holiday to venerate an ideal steeped in words like "Freedom", "Self-Determination", and "Exceptionalism" but is really just commemorating when a bunch of white male landholding slave owners decided they hated being taxed enough to go kill tax collectors and sold the public on the idea with propaganda. The entire system they put in place has built in mechanisms to ensure that true democracy is impossible (and was never really the point) and that the monied interests continue to exert outsized influence over policies and laws that benefit and enrich them.
And also a day when it's guaranteed that at least a measurable percentage of people will wake up tomorrow unable to count to ten on their remaining fingers.
It means it's going to be hot. I suppose that tells you what hemisphere it's in.
I'm aware it's also the 250th anniversary of the United States this year, but I don't really care. If they were doing great things, I'd say I'm happy for them.
I'm sat at a cafe supporting a local, women-owned and LGBTQ+ owned business on my laptop browsing Lemmy. I should be writing. That's what I do on cafe day. I'm just not in the mood.
It’s a day of celebration! Our city hosts various public summer gatherings and activities in the annual Summer in the City program, including open-air events at the Ville de Luxembourg.
Nothing. A young clearly immature nation barely out of their teen years making a ruckus about being 'independant'. Well, prove it! Be an adult for once!!
I was referring to current governments, and even noted that revolutions change that.
"Aquisition of Sovereignty" doesn't fit that definition.
"Date of last Subordination" is closer, but still not correct (US is #3 oldest in this category btw)
Check the 2nd section titled "List of countries by current form of government". Aka, exactly what I was referring to. And it turns out that the only country the US government is younger than is San Marino.
Turns out that colonialism, 2 World Wars, and the Cold War weren't particularly conducive to longevity of governments
Just went through each table on your link sorting by founding date, and only 1 was older than the US: San Marino, whose furrent government was formed in 1600.
Typically about a week of fireworks going off at all hours, one good show of fireworks at the local park, and dinner with my parents. Usually they're hosting a party but not this time around.
I've never been particularly nationalistic enough to celebrate much more than that.
I take my young kid to go see fireworks. We go to a beautiful place and he gets to stay up late. Last night he kept turning to me going "whoa! Mommy did you see that?"
66 Comments
PonyOfWar@pawb.social · 34 pts · 40d
It means that we're 4 days into July. Probably some more heatwaves ahead.
joeljoelle@piefed.blahaj.zone · 28 pts · 40d
Bullshit flagwaving, being proud of things you have nothing to do with, being proud of an idea and not of what is actually going on or what happened to get there
ccunning@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 40d
It’s quite common for folks to say they believe in “the promise of America” with the failure to achieve said promise left as an exercise for the reader.
Despite all the bullshit happening now, I still believe the promise is worth fighting for and I’m personally not ready to give up on it.
joeljoelle@piefed.blahaj.zone · 5 pts · 40d
The thing is, it's not just the bullshit that's happening now, the bullshit has been happening all along, they were just much better at being covert or weren't quite as blatant with their greed. I don't know about that, everything I was taught in school about this country turned out to be complete crap, and the people who are supposed to be angry at the kind of tyranny going on right now, who were waving don't tread on me flags my whole life, are the ones most vehemently supporting it. So I dunno what we got left. I have hope left in people, not ideas of nations blurred by history and endless retellings of how it came to be.
ccunning@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 40d
It’s true - but more people like us, who initially trusted what we were taught, are finding out the truth all the time.
And I see voices that have been much more marginalized than me “believe in the promise” after being much more negatively affected by the truth than me.
If they still believe in it, how can my barely marginalized ass give up on it? That’s essentially giving up on their struggle and their determination. I cannot turn my back on the sons and daughters of enslaved, LGBTQ+, indigenous and on and on folks.
zxqwas@lemmy.world · 24 pts · 40d
Just some foregin country's national day.
BurntWits@sh.itjust.works · 20 pts · 40d
It means Canada Day was three days ago.
NotSteve_@lemmy.ca · 7 pts · 40d
What a crazy Canada Day too in Ottawa! Flooded so bad everything was cancelled and people were kayaking in the streets
Witchfire@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 40d
gigastasio@sh.itjust.works · 19 pts · 40d
It means douchebags in lifted trucks proudly displaying their complete ignorance of proper flag etiquette.
It means my cat hiding under the couch all night.
It means glazing the very institutions of authority we purportedly were to have wrested ourselves free from 250 years ago.
It means ugly, flagrant displays of nationalism from people who don’t actually believe in liberty and justice for all.
But on the bright side I get a day off and I like fireworks and it won’t cost me anything to go watch them. So I will, and I’ll pretend they’re in celebration of something noble.
Bruncvik@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 40d
Nothing, other than the joke that England is responsible for more independence days than any other country.
schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works · 9 pts · 40d
It's weird to me that everyone just assumes that American Independence was a good thing.
It's also hilarious to me that everyone assumes "their" state was proudly patriotic when several states were pretty damn loyalist.
I also think everyone else really should question their Independence Days. Usually all the happened for the majority of people is that a little less of their labor went to a foreign crown and went to their local rapacious land-owning aristocracy instead. Big fucking deal.
moondoggie@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 40d
It means I’ve been hearing random fireworks for the past two weeks.
starlinguk@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 40d
The end of US subsidies for renewables.
sudoMakeUser@sh.itjust.works · 12 pts · 40d
Nothing. The whole world doesn't revolve around one shitty country.
psx_crab@lemmy.zip · 12 pts · 40d
It's a day.
Witchfire@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 40d
I'm a trans latina who fled the US.
One of our other friends from the US wanted to do something for the 4th, and literally none of the other people from the US she asked were game (including my partner and I lol).
For me, it's a celebration of capitalism and nowadays fascism. It's celebrating a country that doesn't want me to be alive. It celebrates a country that forces me to still pay taxes but won't let me renew my passport. It may have had a genuine start, but it's been perverted like a teddy bear in a Trump beauty pageant changing room..
LadyButterfly@reddthat.com · 5 pts · 40d
Hey Firewitch, I really understand why you're feeling this way. Trans+ people are the new scapegoat, and it's seen as somehow moral and justified to "have concerns" about your very existence. The kind of people who hate difference (gay, black, disabled etc) have a group they can pretend they're attacking cos they care, when really it's cos they HATE. Plus you're Latina which is another level of shit. !WomensStuff@piefed.blahaj.zone is fully and totally behind the trans+ community and although we don't allow politics cos it's a safe space you can always get support for your feelings. We got you ❤️
Treczoks@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 40d
Happy insurrection day, ungrateful colonists.
radiofreebc@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 40d
As a Canadian, absolutely nothing.
mrdown@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 40d
The rise of a new evil empire
Speiser0@feddit.org · 8 pts · 40d
It's just 4.7. for me. My lemmy feed looks like it's some US holiday, I wouldn't have known otherwise.
SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip · 7 pts · 40d
A week of assholes with fireworks.
YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 40d
I'm curious where abouts they do it all week. I commiserated about them doing it last night to some friends, and I'm sure I'll hear some tomorrow. But my area is like the center of the center of red land.
SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip · 2 pts · 40d
South central Wisconsin. I don't mind so much the fireworks during typical waking hours, it's the (probably) drunks who decide to set them off out of nowhere in the wee hours.
mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works · 0 pts · 40d
I grew up in and currently live in rural Midwest. People here don't need a reason to set off fireworks randomly. But they'll definitely capitalize when yoh do give them a reason.
It's mostly teenage boys and their 40+ yo washed up beer-gut dads
Kolanaki@pawb.social · 7 pts · 40d
Obnoxious patriotism.
DudeWhoYapsTooMuch@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 40d
The celebration of the independence of the United States of America, and starting a young country full of culture. It does not help though that we share a land filled with idiots who really don't understand the definition of the Merica Irony and just blind patriotism. I love this country, because at the end of the day, I compared most of the countries and holy shit we may not be doing good at all but fuck me, the level of crazy I be seeing out there is nuts.
JakoJakoJako13@piefed.social · 7 pts · 40d
A good meal and hiding with my dog.
Bahnd@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 40d
A public holiday to not be at work and some light programming. All I want is to watch some fancy pants band play 1812 with the canons and im happy. I dont care much for the holiday itself, its just a day to mark the calendar. Not getting to do any of that this year... Its dangerously hot, I am working and im not watching the PBS programming from Washington out of spite.
TryingToBeGood@reddthat.com · 3 pts · 40d
They’re broadcasting the shindig from Williamsburg instead. 👍 Last night they did the usual concert at the capitol and showed the fireworks from Mt Vernon.
I don’t know if anyone is broadcasting the nonsense from the mall —I wouldn’t be surprised if dumbfuck has it on pay per view or something. (Cspan will probably have the speech, but I'm not watching that dreck, either.)
neonchaos@piefed.social · 6 pts · 40d
It's a holiday to venerate an ideal steeped in words like "Freedom", "Self-Determination", and "Exceptionalism" but is really just commemorating when a bunch of white male landholding slave owners decided they hated being taxed enough to go kill tax collectors and sold the public on the idea with propaganda. The entire system they put in place has built in mechanisms to ensure that true democracy is impossible (and was never really the point) and that the monied interests continue to exert outsized influence over policies and laws that benefit and enrich them.
And also a day when it's guaranteed that at least a measurable percentage of people will wake up tomorrow unable to count to ten on their remaining fingers.
cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 6 pts · 40d
It means it's going to be hot. I suppose that tells you what hemisphere it's in.
I'm aware it's also the 250th anniversary of the United States this year, but I don't really care. If they were doing great things, I'd say I'm happy for them.
I'm sat at a cafe supporting a local, women-owned and LGBTQ+ owned business on my laptop browsing Lemmy. I should be writing. That's what I do on cafe day. I'm just not in the mood.
Slovene85@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 40d
Well, you did write a comment, so ...
neidu3@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 40d
A movie starring Tom Cruise.
Also:
MarieMarion@literature.cafe · 5 pts · 40d
My old ballet teacher's birthday.
notsosure@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 40d
It’s a day of celebration! Our city hosts various public summer gatherings and activities in the annual Summer in the City program, including open-air events at the Ville de Luxembourg.
jpreston2005@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 39d
A vestigial holiday that no longer holds meaning the further we drift from the free and open society that the founders envisaged.
It now stands for the act of burying ones head in the sand while we ignore the rise of fascism and the corporate capture of our government.
The only truly patriotic way to celebrate this holiday would be through public acts of civil disobedience and protest.
Pull down a flock camera for the fourth, and in so doing, align yourself with the true ideals of our once great country.
magnetosphere@fedia.io · 4 pts · 40d
Not as much as I’d like it to.
kindnesskills@literature.cafe · 4 pts · 40d
Only one thing: Sun's out = gun's out!
(Meaning biceps of course. We have very well working gun laws in my country, and very hot summers nowadays)
TheLeadenSea@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 40d
My sister's birthday!
Clutter@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 40d
Nothing. A young clearly immature nation barely out of their teen years making a ruckus about being 'independant'. Well, prove it! Be an adult for once!!
mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 40d
Uh... The US government is one of the longest continually running ones. Most other countries were either formed later or had some major revolution.
The only 2 older governments I can think of are the UK and Japan
orb360@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 40d
There are plenty older https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_modern_sovereign_states_by_date_of_formation
StarvingMartist@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 39d
It's the 22nd oldest country
mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works · -1 pts · 38d
Not according to that wikipedia page
StarvingMartist@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 38d
Literally where I got that information
mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works · -1 pts · 38d
Your reading comprehension is lacking.
I was referring to current governments, and even noted that revolutions change that.
"Aquisition of Sovereignty" doesn't fit that definition.
"Date of last Subordination" is closer, but still not correct (US is #3 oldest in this category btw)
Check the 2nd section titled "List of countries by current form of government". Aka, exactly what I was referring to. And it turns out that the only country the US government is younger than is San Marino.
Turns out that colonialism, 2 World Wars, and the Cold War weren't particularly conducive to longevity of governments
StarvingMartist@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 38d
My dude I ain't reading all that, you're putting way too much energy into this interaction
mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works · 0 pts · 38d
Are there?
Just went through each table on your link sorting by founding date, and only 1 was older than the US: San Marino, whose furrent government was formed in 1600.
Clutter@sh.itjust.works · 0 pts · 39d
My dude, There's a pizza place at the corner of my street older then the USA.
mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 38d
Ah, yes. How could I forget the most notorious country: your local pizza place
Clutter@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 38d
If a pizza manages to be there for that long... Can you image the country around it?
Listen, I know, but we here are just getting so fed up with American exceptionalism. Especially in the Trump empire timeline.
Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 40d
Typically about a week of fireworks going off at all hours, one good show of fireworks at the local park, and dinner with my parents. Usually they're hosting a party but not this time around.
I've never been particularly nationalistic enough to celebrate much more than that.
derAbsender@piefed.social · 3 pts · 40d
This time: saturday
RoddyStiggs@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 39d
It used to be fun. Then Al Gore "lost" the election and ever since it's just been progressively more embarrassing.
RebekahWSD@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 40d
I eat hot dogs and think evil thoughts about people in power and also hate fireworks set off by dipshits.
Nefara@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 39d
I take my young kid to go see fireworks. We go to a beautiful place and he gets to stay up late. Last night he kept turning to me going "whoa! Mommy did you see that?"
cepelinas@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 40d
A cold day in comparison.
xcutie@linux.community · 3 pts · 40d
Nothing. Until the movie Independence Day, I never knew it was a thing.
0ops@piefed.zip · 3 pts · 40d
I get a day off work
Wrongdoer2@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 40d
It reminds me of a good song from Katy Perry
fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 40d
Legally being able to blow stuff up.
JayGray91@piefed.social · 1 pts · 39d
Anime style art of women in American flag bikinis and swimsuits
lIlIlIlIlIlIl@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 40d