No Stupid Questions

Not American. But I don't even know when my country's national day is. I know there's one because they always do a military parade with the king and always something goes wrong, and we laugh about it. But I can even tell what day it is until I see it on the news.

I'm going out to a march on the 4th of July. We're protesting for independence from America

Sounds like a great day for a false flag attack to solidify the masses against a perceived threat.

What, exactly, should I be proud of?

A nation that is moving backwards on human rights, increasing wealth inequality, and got really “mask off” about supporting genocide. A nation that is inherently dysfunctional and wreathed in corruption.

I haven't "celebrated" the fourth in nearly a decade for this reason. On top of that fireworks are pretty bad for everything and those with PTSD.

Patriotism leads to nationalism and racism. Fuck patriotism.

I'm not doing anything for the forth. Fuck America, I am not celebrating my country, because my country wants me dead. Fuck em.

Aww. Please celebrate - don't give the orange turd the satisfaction of destroying yet more American culture. Also, I won't be happy posting my favourite annual meme:

I find it reassuring that some people are not proud of grabbing random people off the street to send them to their death with a smile.

There's nothing left to be proud of. Just vague platitudes about freedom and performative military worship that have been socially beaten into people since 2001. I have no faith remaining in my fellow countrymen. I am unable to clearly see a future for myself living here as I am now. What is left to be patriotic about?

All the true patriots are dead. They were buried long ago. Modern patriotism is a marketing gimmick. I refuse to be a party to it.

Havent felt proud to be an American in a long while. I'm proud of loving thy neighbor as myself, not lining the pockets of billionaires. I hate that I'm powerless to do much. Representative democracy? My ass. No one represents me. They're all aristocrats. "it's one banana, Michael. What could it cost, $10?"

I'm not bitter about it at all. /s

I think that’s normal considering everything going on.

By the way, I live in the CA bay area. Interestingly I went grocery shopping today and no kidding -I felt like I was in a small town in the midwest or something. I looked around and it was mostly older white people shopping, like you couldn’t help but notice. I told my bf, wtf are we in Idaho or something lol this doesn’t feel like the bay area?

I think there’s a combination of people being tired of increasing inflation and burnt out by the barrage of shit going on in the news. I don’t imagine minorities, particularly immigrant families are feeling very patriotic right now. Or people are straight up worried about ICE kidnappings. Which by the way, I heard from a neighbor that ICE has been walking into the hospital she works at and waiting outside to snatch people. Terrible…

FYI the Women's March org is hosting "Free America" protests for the July 4th weekend. See the Women's March site here. Some other groups may be organizing protests too, but from what I've read the WM ones are probably the biggest.

If there's not a scheduled protest nearby there's always the option to make a sign and take to a street corner for a solo protest. If you're feeling especially ambitious there's always making a giant sign to prop up against the chain link at an interstate overpass (I've never done this but it looks fun).

Yep. Staying home, donating, or protesting if something’s going on. It’s just a long weekend to me now. No flag flying at this home for sure… unless it’s a No Kings flag.

I've never felt patriotic. It's not like I chose to be here and, frankly, the more I learned about the rest of the world, the more I dislike about my own home.

Also fireworks are boring af unless you're manipulating them to be more dangerous and blowing things up. Like hammering down a whistler and tossing it into a porta potty where an ICE agent is taking a shit.

The ONLY reason I give a shit about July 4th this year is that it’s a long weekend and the last chance we’ll have to spend with family before we move out of state in two weeks.

I’m even glad it’s supposed to rain the entire time, so I won’t even feel pressured to celebrate with fireworks!

Kinda interesting how you US-Americans have a certain day for being even more patriotic than the average US-patriotism rest of the time. As a German I personally haven't felt patriotic at any point in my life and most of the people I know (probably more left-leaning than German average) always looked at your patriotism (espacially on July 4th) with a certain lack of understanding. Why even be patriotic? Why always raise the US-flag? Why are there Florida men running through hurricanes with an US-flag? I know independence and stuff, but still why celebrate your patriotism even more on a specific date, even as a more left-leaning person?

I get double pay for the holiday, yay!

4th of July? You mean the Ungrateful Colonists Insurgence Day?

I'm surprised there aren't massive protests scheduled for July 4.

I believe you're supposed to fly a flag upside down in times of distress.

I think it would be wildly powerful for some cities to flip their flags for the 4th.

I live abroad, so I can just ignore the whole stupid thing. 😄

Going to be spending the 4th building guillotines in my garage

I think you mean No Kings Day.

I'm feeling patriotic enough to burn US flags and I'm not even from the US!