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PaperclipPerfector  4mo ago (text post)   3419 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 6, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

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Why has there been a coordinated push over the last few years to get people to stop using fireworks because it’s supposedly bad for veterans and dogs? I smell a psy-op.

I'm neither a veteran nor a dog owner, but I think we need to do something about fireworks because of the usual reason - jerks are ruining it for everyone. I would be perfectly okay with fireworks on July 4, stopping at a reasonable hour (say 10-11 pm) so as not to disturb those trying to sleep. Instead what we get is about 2 months of fireworks on either side of the holiday, frequently going past midnight.

I honestly don't know what to do - normally you might say "make it illegal", but the mortar fireworks are illegal in this state already. But since people can drive 4 hours to Wyoming to get fireworks there, the law doesn't accomplish anything. It's a shame, because I actually love fireworks and it would be really cool to have them in the neighborhood if people were responsible. And to be fair most people are. But as usual, the irresponsible minority is causing problems for everyone.

stopping at a reasonable hour (say 10-11 pm) so as not to disturb those trying to sleep. 10pm?! This gets you less than an hour of darkness where I live.

On July 4th itself, we should at least induldge till 2:00am., with maybe till midnight on the day before, through the next closest weekend.

And yet people have jobs, which they very frequently have to be at the next day. July 4 doesn't usually fall on a weekend like it did this year. It's not reasonable to insist that people can't get sleep when they have to be up the next morning just so that people can get hours upon hours of fireworks. 11 pm, even in your time zone, would be over an hour of darkness. 10pm would be similar in places I've lived. My stated timeframe of 10-11pm is a perfectly reasonable one imo.

July 4th is more important than jobs. Not being facetious.

Not even close. A person's livelihood is far more important than any given celebration, let alone this one which isn't even that important.

Not to dig in, but I can't let the hyperbole slide. A night of interrupted sleep on a national holiday, is not a threat to 'a person's livelihood'.

So whether livelihood is more important than a celebration (and it is), is an irrelevant point here.

Celebrating July 4th is a more important social tool than ensuring total sleep quality on a single night of the year.

I disagree that it's hyperbole, I chose that for a reason. You can't know what's going on in a person's life. Maybe they have an asshole boss who hates them and is looking to fire them at the first opportunity. In that case, interrupting their sleep may well be endangering their livelihood through no fault of their own. Thus the comparison I made.

If one has talked to all of their neighbors within range of the fireworks and found that they aren't causing problems (commendable if so), then fine. But realistically the people who set off fireworks until 2 am aren't doing that, they are taking the stance of "I don't care about the impact to you, I want to have fun". That is selfish and not ok in my book. Heck, that doesn't even accomplish social cohesion like you are arguing for - it causes divides between neighbors (because one of them is being an asshole to the others), not brings them together.

they are taking the stance of "I don't care about the impact to you, I want to have fun".

You have discovered the entire point of Independence Day, which celebrates exactly this on a nation-state level.

The crazy part is that the problem is obviously not the scheduled 20 minute municipal fireworks show that ends at 10:00 once a year. If you have sensitivities, you can just go on a drive for half an hour. The problem is the assholes setting off fireworks for months on either side at unpredictable timings. The first is enjoyed by many, the second is enjoyed only by the few setting them off. The first is legible, the second is not.

What is to be done? Clearly we must do something, and shuttering the scheduled show is something, so we must do it. How much will this help the people with sensitivities? Not at all, of course, because they suffer due to the second thing, not the first thing. But we're obviously unwilling or incapable of doing anything more about the second thing, so we'll pretend that this somehow makes it better.

To me it pattern matches with a bootleggers and baptists situation, but I can't immediately tell who the bootleggers are here. Is DJI behind this?

To be clear I in no way support stopping municipal fireworks shows. I'm referring purely to people setting them off in the street in front of their house, which has a significant component of antisocial jerks in my city. Official fireworks shows (municipal or otherwise) are perfectly fine and need no action taken at all.

What is to be done? Clearly we must do something

Why must we do something?

Or are you describing someone else’s thinking? Sorry, it just isn’t clear to me if the quoted bit is your own thinking on the subject.

That's the thinking of the people pushing for shutting down municipal fireworks shows.

Meh. Where I live there are four days a year when it’s legal to shoot fireworks(two state independence days, fourth, and new years). There will be fireworks shot off the day before and after, of course, but not for months at a time. Not worth worrying about.

Well I envy you the restraint of your neighbors. I am not so fortunate.

Remarkable considering you (I think?) live in a Hispanic neighborhood. In my heavily Hispanic neighborhood, I can expect to hear fireworks every night for many months around July 4.

I live in southern California and fireworks are going off for about a week prior and a week after the fourth pretty consistently. Though there's not a large Hispanic population in my immediate area but in any case it certainly is not just the day before or after. Last week I thought there was a series of gunshots going off until I realized the fourth was coming up. It doesn't bother me terribly except when its past midnight.

I saw a news story yesterday about California getting its biggest wildfire of the year so far starting last Wednesday. It struck me that if they ran a fake story about a huge wildfire starting the week before the fourth it might help people who start fires with fireworks show some restraint, but then I thought who am I kidding? It's possible people might think protecting the nerves of animals and veterans is a better way to tell people to stop than just telling them they might start a fire.

I've also been seeing the "worst wildfire of the year" in California articles. I keep thinking how LA almost burned to the ground in January and wondering how worst is being measured.

"Worst" is measured in acres, in this case, 70,800 of them.

I live in a mixed neighborhood. It will, like most such neighborhoods, be clearly Hispanic eventually, but for now thé children playing soccer/basketball in the street are white.

In Texas fireworks go on sale thé day after Christmas, February 25th, April 16, and st John’s eve(or respect life day as a state holiday). They are hard cut off on New Year’s Eve, Texas Independence Day, San Jacinto day, and Fourth of July. This controls thé festivities. Possession or personal use of fireworks out of season is a minor thing- but dealers operating out of season it is not. Hence fireworks run out by, like, today.

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