Are there any positives to fireworks? Got a ton of them going off near my house. Some people say it’s for Diwali, some people say a town near us is celebrating some anniversary. Both seem equally unlikely, but in any case, it’s just loud as shit, fucks up the air quality, scares all the animals, every fucking dog in my neighborhood has started barking. Subjective I suppose but they’re really not worth all the negatives.
Edit: turns out that some dude around here, his dog had a seizure bc of fireworks tn. I think the dog is okay but yeah, fuck fireworks
firework pros:
- pretty lights oooh ahhh
firework cons:
- scare animals
- noise pollution
- fucks with nocturnal species like bats
- dangerous if used by randos
- interrupts sleep
idk it's hard to say if they're good or not
- dangerous if used by randos
But theyre used by randos 99% of the time.
In downtown Sacramento the people on my street had straight up professional full sized fireworks, I don't even know how a regular person gets ahold of those.
i once spent a particularly memorable 4th of july watching a former marine melt into a ptsd induced puddle
it was like gravity was physically bolting him to the floor, he just writhed and whined and cried on the outside deck all night
even aside from the (admitted) murders he did he was a big ol' piece of shit so that was pretty good
i'm a very strong supporter of fireworks, but they suffer from many of the structural problems that make so many neutral-cool things problematic in capitalist/yankee/etc. systems.
think of these when they were invented. the only ways we had to brighten our cities at night were candles and oil, small, not very bright. the buildings were not very tall, and quite flammable. the cats that decided flammable weapons used in sieges would look sick domestically were being extremely unsafe but turned out to be extremely right. man made thunder and lightning happening above your head (usually) not killing you. completely delightful. cities used to be a lot quieter without cars, planes, and industry. occasional loud noises were more unique and novel.
modern suckage: loudness, the city is fucking loud and 80% of the things that are loud are not spectacular in any way, just irritating. quiet being the special state to seek out is a reversal of what has existed for most of human history. urban sprawl, i can hear but not see most occurrences of fireworks in my vicinity--then what's the point? it's like hearing just the bass through the wall of a neighbor listening to music, even if it was music you liked it is not enjoyable dismembered. alienation/lack of community, fed by the physical distance of sprawl: very often fireworks are still attached to festivities, but not strictly public ones anymore. you couldn't use the shared space of your medieval neighborhood to independently fire off rockets without being reprimanded or it becoming a public event; modern suburb castle doctrine freaks seem to think they can and are largely allowed to subject several kilometers to their displays with no obligation to party with the people that have to witness it
Always shoot fireworks far away from populations.
Firework:
Show
Unpopulated area:
it probably is Diwali.. fireworks have been on sale all over the Indian grocery stores for the past couple weeks
have never known a kid or animal that didn't need to be taught not to fear them so 🤷 while I think they're pretty, they don't seem worth the terrible things they put so many of my comrades through
Fireworks should be banned, for a multitude of reasons, but damn if I won't miss them. I have fond memories watching fireworks. I guess I live in a community largely build around fireworks displays, so to me it's all about meeting in the park, grabbing some too expensive food from a cart vendor and watching fireworks with friends.
I like to burn things and blow things up.
But like, I don't do it. It's really wasteful.
I wouldn't mind it so much (even in the city), but for stints it was constantly through the summer, nonstop around July 4th. Even all the stuff about environmental health, stress to pets, ptsd having people, etc, maybe settle for just a few times a year?
I like using them to blow up my little green army men in my sandbox.
The other day some dipshit set off a firecracker right in front of me and I really should’ve beat his ass.
