Hey Happy 4th of July everyone!

The Boulder said:
You think I'm being serious?

Why so serious, Neptune?
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nah mate, i'm not serious
 
it was a good victory and all back in history but quite frankly it just doesnt seem that great as a holiday anymore.

Doesnt even feel special, just some day with fireworks.
 
Bulbasaur said:
i dont understand that reference

but i don't think patriotism should be tolerated on any day of the year
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SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU COMMUNIST TERRORIST SOCIALIST IF YOU DON'T LIKE AMERICA GO BACK TO YOUR OLD COUNTRY!
 
NO, NO PERSONAL OPINIONS

but since its you ill make an exception
 
Joey Tribbiani said:
so America, how was the 4th of july this year?
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It was a nice day. I spent most of it cleaning for my grad party, there were like fireworks going off like every 30 seconds around my neighborhood (got a little annoying), had a family barbeque in the evening as it started to rain during our outdoor meal (had canopies up though, no worries), and spent the evening relaxing.

I definitely liked the patriotism. I mean, I know America is seen by a lot of other countries as being some egotistic country (I don't blame them; there are many people that make those things true while some people are completely opposite), but cherishing a day in our country's history that makes us be able to enjoy the stuff that we have today really is something nice to do. Whether you agree with patriotism or not, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't enjoy a major turning point in history.

But it's kind of just like a family gathering for the most part in my family, with fireworks here and there.
 
cryoAwakening said:
Whether you agree with patriotism or not, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't enjoy a major turning point in history.
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How would you respond if it were a cynic and pessimist that hated the holiday for that very reason?
 
Unknown Entity said:
cryoAwakening said:
Whether you agree with patriotism or not, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't enjoy a major turning point in history.
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How would you respond if it were a cynic and pessimist that hated the holiday for that very reason?
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Well...I'm not exactly sure how I would respond. But it was a day that lead to USA become an independent nation. A very weak, broke, and struggling new nation that was on the verge of falling under and without some of the supporting countries like France, we would have lost and it is still up for debate whether it was a fluke we won or not, but still independent. I'm not going to go into more history topics, but I know that many left for religious freedoms, a lot more potential as a person in terms of wealth amongst other stuff, etc, and thanks to the Declaration of Independence - a major turning point in the Revolutionary War - we were able to really make those more promising. It's hard to say what would have happened had none of that never happened. For all we know, America could have just been a old term that was once a possibility and life is much better in that alternate route than this one, or maybe life could be hell in the alternate route and many major changes made not just here but across the world that had made life more meaningful to people non-existant.

I really don't want to delve into this topic, because there is just a lot of mumble-jumble for the most part because all it is just opinionated speculation, and there are too many scenarios to really make a valid point.
 
There were some REALLY cool fireworks last night. I'm betting they were expensive.
 
I went to see the fireworks in Pittsburgh last night. They were great.

As far as patriotism, I don't see what's so intolerable about being proud of the fact that a bunch of cute little colonies was able to stand up for their freedoms and turn against their oppressive government, growing into the nation it is today a couple hundred years later. To me that seems quite the accomplishment. I mean, people celebrate their birthdays all the time as if they had a choice to be born or if it was a major accomplishment for them, so what's wrong with celebrating the beginning of an entire effing nation?
 
For me personally, I don't observe Australia Day due to it celebrating a nation built on invasion, genocide, ongoing racial disparity, and ignoring responsibility for these crimes.
 
France has Bastille Day in the 14th, which is like 4th of July here
 
Crocodile Dippy said:
For me personally, I don't observe Australia Day due to it celebrating a nation built on invasion, genocide, ongoing racial disparity, and ignoring responsibility for these crimes.
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probably why i dont like july 4th here much, we pretty much did the same thing and everyone just forgets about it like it was some mediocre meal or something.

It's disgusting.
 
It's not like 4th of July is celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence (which is a glorified complaint letter), since the actual date is later.

And it's not like the American Revolution was really a revolution. We still retained our style of government (democracy), so we simply shifted who's in charge into different hands. Otherwise, people's lives aren't really changed. The powerful people in the U.S. were still powerful and those without a political voice had barely any more.

If you want a real revolution, think of the French Revolution.

Crocodile Dippy said:
For me personally, I don't observe Australia Day due to it celebrating a nation built on invasion, genocide, ongoing racial disparity, and ignoring responsibility for these crimes.
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I strongly dislike Columbus Day for the same reason. It's a day that promotes genocide and neglect for other cultures. And exactly what does it celebrate? Columbus didn't discover the Americas, not even for Europe. It's disgusting how they glorify Columbus with lack of respect for the Native American tribes that had suffered due to his legacy. Textbooks about Columbus need to be rewritten to show reality.

Besides, we don't even skip school on Columbus Day. :/
 
If I could go back in time and explain to the founding fathers what Facbook is in five hours, I do not think they would want to visit our time.
 
Bulbasaur said:
america is not something you accomplished, nor was the decision to be born there yours. taking pride in the fact that you accidentally ended up in a country where someone else once did something without your help or input is nonsensical

furthermore, patriotism promotes factionalist thinking and the inability to acknowledge a nation's flaws

plus everything dippy said, because all that shit is 100% true of america too
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Well, in that sense, celebrating your family heritage and ethical background, whether it be tradition or picked up a few generations ago, is basically intolerable and sickening since it's just like patriotism. It is something that you have no control over, are born into without your option, and was brought upon by someone else that was not influenced by anything you said. Nothing is wrong with knowing your history and acknowledging it, since we mostly learn our History to "learn lessons from past mistakes so we can better improve ourselves and others and to prevent mistakes from happening again."

As for the second statement, that is all a matter of perspective. Yes, there will be people that use stuff like this to make it seem like America is better than everyone else and all the faults are to be overlooked". The holiday should be seen as the 18th century: a movement made to push for new hopes and new possibilities and to correct the faults of what they felt ailed them by trying to create a new country. It shouldn't be seen as a victory for power, but a victory for starting a growth for new changes to help fix anything they felt was wrong with the government and such. That's my personal opinion, so disagree or agree or whatever, but I do think that the defintion of why we celebrate stuff like Fourth of July has been like a game of telephone; no one knows exactly why we celebrate it. Hell, kids and even adults often don't even know why we celebrate it, which is definitely not something to be proud of.

But with patriotism, it's just how you use it. You should be proud of your country for all the great things that has happend from it, in moderation. Everyone and everything needs improvement, and I know that America is definitely really bad with extreme patriotism - which sucks with how others see many of us that really don't agree or act like some people do here. Doesn't excuse the fact that we - the US - are really bad with many things though.
 
Man, all of those fireworks incidents made me realize how scary fireworks are.
 
I think the problem here is that many people have the wrong concept of patriotism. Recently in Mexico, schools begun to differentiate between two "patriotic" attitudes. The first one, and the one they are trying to change, is to simply wave flags, yell "WE ARE THE BEST AND EVERY OTHER COUNTRY SUCKS DICK", and drink tequila until you pass out; the other concept, the one that's being implement now, defines patriotism as being a good citizen, fulfilling your civic duties, acknowledging your culture but embracing others as well, respecting others, and wanting to work to make the country you live in a better place. I firmly believe that, if more countries could take the latter in lieu of the former, the world would be a better place.
 
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