Does anyone else feel like fireworks are a complete waste of money and a ridiculous amount of unnecessary Pollution?
Does anyone else feel like fireworks are a complete waste of money and a ridiculous amount of unnecessary Pollution?
300 million lbs of fireworks and 2.7 billion dollars gone in a cloud of smoke.
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I don't like the loud noises, the smoke, or the debris leftover.
Maybe 200 years ago they were impressive. All the color and whatnot up in the sky. But we live in a modern age. We have things way more entertaining than colorful explosions that don't have such immediate drawbacks.
It's also supremely annoying and like a microcosm of everything wrong with humanity that some folks will be like "I don't like them for a set of valid reasons" and a bunch of people will be like "but I like them so I don't see the problem and won't stop"
So you consider it to be “everything wrong with humanity” that people can’t just snap their fingers and stop other people from doing things? That one person’s concerns don’t equal another person’s lifestyle change, and that’s the dark side of humanity?
It actually kinda sounds like you’re saying freedom, as a phenomenon, is what’s wrong with humanity.
If you look at it one way, “freedom” is a word for the concept that “A person’s reasons are always legitimate”.
So really, some people claimed legitimate reasons for stopping others from using fireworks, and other people claimed legitimate reasons for saying no thank you and continuing.
No, the thing that's wrong with humanity is having someone say "hey this thing that's not a big deal for you (fireworks) really sucks for me (PTSD, pollution, it frightens my dog, etc). Can you refrain?" and people go "nah. I don't care about you. I wanna see some pretty lights"
What are these legitimate reasons for fireworks?
They're entertaining, special, and impressive
"but I like them so I don't see the problem and won't stop"
Well yeah, when it's 2-3 days a year it just makes me want to say "Womp Womp" about the complaints. Not everything has to be something you like
So you're lacking in empathy. Acknowledging something is an important first step.
I imagine that if you had a dog you wouldn't be "womp womp" about torturing it two or three times a year.
Or if you had a friend with PTSD, you wouldn't go out of your way to aggravate that a couple times a year.
Certainly not for an extremely mild form of entertainment.
I imagine that if you had a dog you wouldn’t be “womp womp” about torturing it two or three times a year.
Or if you had a friend with PTSD, you wouldn’t go out of your way to aggravate that a couple times a year.
These were not the arguments you presented. Those arguments I am more empathetic to. You said:
I don’t like the loud noises, the smoke, or the debris leftover.
To which I want to say "Womp Womp"
People don't like the loud noises because they terrify their dog or trigger PTSD.
That's not as simple as not liking it, that's having a specific complaint. Which wasn't what was said
You are technically correct in that my language was imprecise and I haven't made the clearest, most well organized, argument here. Probably because this exchange has been ongoing over a couple days.
Regardless, if one side was like "That's really annoying to me, could you not please?" responding with "womp womp" is extremely rude and selfish.
On top of that, fireworks give people "genuine" problems on top of simply not liking it
In summary: Fireworks upset people for reasons ranging from "I just don't like loud noises" all the way through "they're basically torture for my dog". When people are like, "I don't care I'm gonna do it anyway," that's garbage behavior.
Regardless, if one side was like "That's really annoying to me, could you not please?" responding with "womp womp" is extremely rude and selfish.
It is narcissistic of me to assume something annoying me should influence the behavior of strangers, and get them to stop doing something. A lot of things annoy me, and I'm all for criticizing and complaining about them(I do that a lot)- but someone not caring about my complaints and continuing to do what they enjoy is their right, and they aren't a bad person for not caring that it annoys me.
I'm sensitive to smells, we all recognize how unreasonable it would be for me to demand my neighbors don't smoke weed because it bothers me at home, or I can smell cigarettes on the bus. Similarly, yes demanding people stop doing something they enjoy with their family because you have to wear headphones for a couple hours once or twice a year is something that I want to say "Womp womp" to
but someone not caring about my complaints and continuing to do what they enjoy is their right, and they aren’t a bad person for not caring that it annoys me.
I think we're going to have to agree to disagree. To use your example, if my neighbor was smoking in a place that it was stinking up my bedroom, and I asked them to stop doing it there, and they were like "nah I like it here" I'd consider them a huge asshole. Just do it over there not by my bedroom or something.
One confounding issue here is that fireworks affect a pretty big area. The whole neighborhood is probably going to hear them.
I don't know anything about you so this might not land, but I wonder if there's an urban rural divide on this. Folks that live in a more dense area might on average be more considerate of their neighbors. I've known people who live out in the woods that are big on "I do what I want on my property!" Though plenty of people everywhere are assholes, so who knows.
I think we're going to have to agree to disagree. To use your example, if my neighbor was smoking in a place that it was stinking up my bedroom, and I asked them to stop doing it there, and they were like "nah I like it here" I'd consider them a huge asshole. Just do it over there not by my bedroom or something.
Telling them they can't smoke in their own home, or can't ride public transit after smoking is ridiculous.
One confounding issue here is that fireworks affect a pretty big area. The whole neighborhood is probably going to hear them.
So does the smell of weed. That was a hypothetical example as luckily my neighbors don't smoke, but my grandparents neighbors do, and it stinks up the car whenever I drive past that whole block- so it definitely is something that effects a large part of the neighborhood.
I've known people who live out in the woods that are big on "I do what I want on my property!"
I live in a city, I had an argument with my partner last night because he was against getting a fire alarm(not mandated in our country) because it could wake up the neighbors at night. Which I believe is a totally acceptable cost, but he does not.