The War on Independence Day
July 2, 2012 Leave a Comment
Looking forward to the Fourth of July? Going to celebrate with cookouts and fireworks?
Oh, are you ever part of the problem.
You’d think, with all the ultra-nationalism surrounding Memorial Day and Veterans Day, that Independence Day would get the same respect. But we don’t even call it that most of the time. If a store saying “Season’s Greetings” or “Happy Holidays” is enough to constitute a War on Christmas, than surely this indicates a War on Independence Day:
There is no other holiday that we identify primarily by its date. There’s September 11, but that’s more because we never came up with an adequate name or description for the events of that day, and we can’t be as collectively traumatized by our own declaration of independence as we are by a terrorist attack, can we? When did this tendency to say “the Fourth of July” or “July Fourth” instead of “Independence Day” begin, and why?
If it was the movie on the left, why didn’t the movie on the right cancel it out?
There’s at least one company that remembers the reason for the season. They sent me an e-mail yesterday morning about their respectful celebration containing the following graphic:
Not a flag or revolutionary document in sight, but explosions and coupons because America.
Just to get the point across even more blunty I might start calling it To Hell With You, Britain, Though We’ll Still Watch Your Television and Listen To Your Music Day.