A modest proposal: Make Independence Day a Month
July 4, 2022 may be the year that many Americans wake up to the tragic fact that Independence Day like virtually all holidays celebrated in America is under formal and informal attack at various levels in our culture from what we loosely call the left.
The left has told us what their beef is: America was founded by ‘evil white European CIS gendered men’ who either owned slaves or condoned slavery. Therefore, Independence Day is bogus and should go away.
Next to cancelling Christmas, cancelling July 4th would represent the ultimate victory of woke culture over tradition.
This nipping away at the foundational cultural norms surrounding how we celebrate Independence Day has now seen July 4th fireworks displays, parades and ceremonies cancelled due to violent attacks or the threat of violence across the country.
Cancel culture efforts start small – it’s the proverbial frog slowly boiling in the pot. It is the same playbook used to topple historic statues in the town square and has sought to erase the legacy of leaders ranging from Woodrow Wilson a bona fide One World progressive to Abraham Lincoln who ended slavery.
Censoring speech is another tool in the left’s arsenal. Lately, Democrat pundits and politicians in the U.S. openly admit that they are against free speech. It has to be looked at; it was never all that great, they say. Democrats and their allies in the media, big tech, and increasingly corporate America only censor speech they don’t like or agree with however, and then label it hate speech.
I was thrown into Facebook jail recently for saying, ‘women are nasty’ on a thread where women were nasty. A clutch of pro-choice females were attacking me for expressing pro-life views. I didn’t call anyone out by name. Someone reported my innocuous comment as hate speech. Facebook promptly restricted my account. We make a lot jail jokes but censorship is real and there is nothing we can do about it. For now.
Between growing complaints from the Karen brigade on social media and breaking news about a sniper who opened fire from a rooftop in the affluent Chicago suburb of Highland Park just 15 minutes after the annual Independence Day began, by midnight on the 4th it began to feel like 9/11. The bad news continued when topped off by reports that a major terrorist-style bomb attack had been thwarted in Richmond, Virginia.
A Ruckus of Karens
Karens are today’s gadflies. Their whole reason for being is to mewl and winge about every little thing in their lives. Pushy and obnoxious, they can tend to, well – make a ruckus wherever they go. Anyone on social media can spot a Karen. It is a phenomenon that may not require an explanation, but here is how one Urban Dictionary contributor puts it:
“A Karen is a blonde woman with ombre cascade hairstyle who wants to speak to the manager.
Friend1: Look! That woman over there who speaks to the manager. Her name must be Karen
Friend2: Yeah, 100%. I bet she owns a Volvo and has 3 kids.”
Funny but true.
Karens are those ‘white blonde women’ (no offense to white blonde women) on Nextdoor and Facebook whining that their dogs and kids are skittish when fireworks go off. Make it stop!
Small town fireworks displays are being cancelled. Is it a direct result of noise complaints? It’s hard to say. Fireworks are also be costly and can pose a safety risk to the people setting them off. Lately the focus seems to be on how fireworks noise can no longer be tolerated.
I would venture however that the Ruckus of Karens is so virulent and so pervasive that they may even be subliminally acting as a fifth column. I cannot come close to supporting that allegation.
I’m keeping tabs to see if the Karen Ruckus figures in the push to eradicate Independence Day. I would credit them with providing the social cudgel needed to enforce mask mandates. Heck, we probably got mask mandates because of Karens!
Attacks and Cancellations
The Chicago-area Highland Park sniper took the lives of seven people and injured dozens of others on July 4th when 21 year-old, Robert Crimo III positioned himself on a rooftop high above Highland Park’s annual Independence Day parade. As this tragic news broke, the nation was treated to hearing about a string of similar events that were taking place across the country. (Chicago Tribune article on Highland Park shooting here.)
In Akron, Ohio, protests over the police shooting of Jayland Walker, a 25-year old black, stopped its July 4th festival from taking place. Pro-choice groups in the wake of the Dobbs decision met up with Walker protesters in Columbus, Ohio the same day. The Party for Socialism and Liberation Columbus organized the demonstration. Note the mockery toward average citizens celebrating July 4th with ‘ice cream, fireworks, and cookouts’ in a write-up from Liberation News.
Around the same time, a terrorist bomb attack was thwarted in Richmond, Virginia. Reports tell us that the would-be attackers were here illegally and lived together. The two suspects have been arrested. And police say that the planned attack was not connected to shootings in Richmond on July 4th that wounded six people.
This is a small sampling of what I gleaned from the news on July 4th. It does not cover the regular weekend carnage we see due to gun violence in places like Chicago and New York.
It is hard to ignore the combined impact of these events on our national psyche. We know we are a changed culture since 9/11. We are under attack from within and without. We cannot paper over the facts. Of all holidays — the day Americans celebrate the birth of our nation — Independence Day is now on the chopping block? It is surreal. How can Americans even contemplate reducing the importance of Independence Day?
More is More
It is not lost on me that the one day we have to celebrate the founding of this great nation is just that: One. Day.
And it is one day that follows Pride Month. It is one day in contrast to the month-long Black History Month and the month-long Women’s History Month.
How did we come to ‘celebrate’ 30 days of black history, 30 days of women’s history, and 30 days of Gay Pride yet every other designated holiday in this culture is a single day and those are under pressure to be abolished?
Groups and organizations pooled their ideas and resources and petitioned local, state, and federal government to accept their proposals to designate an entire month as a way to underscore the importance of or to redress the wrongs done to blacks, women, and homosexuals–that’s how!
Presidents eventually weighed in. February, March, and June are designated as ‘observances’ of historical events pertaining to these groups. All started small. All grew in magnitude. All were controversial at the beginning and all are no less so now. The other common thread that enabled these observances to take hold: Corporate America sponsors and supports in myriad ways from launching their own awareness campaigns to using to promote products. Their donations pour into the coffers of hundreds of organizations dedicated to boosting these observances. It has worked.
As of today, our federal holidays are: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, President’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Father’s Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Indigenous People’s Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas.
Only a few on the above list may survive given the success anti-America initiatives have enjoyed so far. Juneteenth, added this year, is not without controversy either; it’s billing will be shared with Father’s Day – most years. Will it inevitably dilute Father’s Day? Probably.
Indigenous People’s Day is the same day as Columbus Day. We got it because the left destroyed the history surrounding the discovery of the America’s by Christopher Columbus. Never mind that Columbus Day was made worthy of commemorating due to the work of Italian-Americans who took pride in their national hero, Christopher Columbus. Indians were here first and they were slaughtered by white Europeans so redress came into play. Martin Luther King day will survive but sometimes I think even January 1st, New Year’s Day could be the next target. Yes, the Gregorian calendar is under assault.
Actual holidays are the result of an Act of Congress — all of them have been designated as such by Congress including Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.
This article, by the way, is not the article I wanted to write to celebrate the 4th of July. I wanted to talk about how great our founders were, how great our founding documents are. I wanted to talk about the history of fireworks that stretches back 2,000 years and how fireworks were used to celebrate everything from weddings to coronations. The Chinese kicked off this invention before Christ was born, then centuries later under Ghengis Khan, saltpeter gave it more oomph. The Italians started to perfect in the mid-1700s when commissioned by King Louis XVI for a Palace of Versailles display for his wedding to Marie Antoinette. Today Italians or Italian-Americans still dominate pyrotechnics. Why get rid of fireworks after 2,000 years? too noisy? No one likes fireworks? The dogs?
I wanted to talk about our rights to freedom of assembly and freedom of speech — how parades down Main Street USA matter and how the speeches to go with them matter too. I wanted to remind people that fireworks are mere metaphor for ‘rockets red glare’ – that we can enjoy illuminating the skies with sparkle and booms, not kill each other in the streets, not drop actual bombs on public events. Dogs will survive.
February, March, and June all observe historical events related to redressing equality for blacks, women, and gays. Can a case be made that we are losing America and that what was once mainstream is now the oppressed minority? Will ice cream, fireworks, and backyard cookouts become code for white nationalism? Will we be forced to give up any and all pride we have for this country and with it our history? Sorry to say, we are trending in that direction.
What would it accomplish if we somehow declared Independence Day Month? Can it be done? Should it be done? Who can we appeal to? I welcome your thoughts!
Nevertheless, here are some beautiful photos of this year’s 4th of July.
Happy birthday America!
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