By: Zixian Huang
Many Americans have conflicting opinions about celebrating the Fourth of July, or Independence day.
“I got everything from, ‘America is the greatest country in the world, and we have to celebrate the American dream,’ to ‘This country has a lot to work on, and America isn’t so free, and I don’t feel like celebrating.’ I honestly didn’t expect to get the variety of answers I got.”
That was Conner Miskowiec, a content creator in Phoenix, who made a video series about him asking strangers if they were going to celebrate the Fourth of July.
Some people strongly support and enjoy celebrating Independence Day.
Isaac Norbe (40), a marketing expert who lives in Seattle, loves the Fourth of July. “It’s actually called the Fourth of Jul-Isaac,” he joked, “It’s about celebrating your community and the community you create with the people around you.”
As a child, Malaya Tapp loved celebrating the holiday with her family. “We would go to parades and see firework shows and hang out with friends,” she said. “It was always such a fun holiday.” But, as she got older, events like the BLM movement and frequent shootings on the news recently made her lose a lot of her patriotic feelings.
However, some people may not enjoy the holiday, because of unfortunate previous experiences or just pure dislike for the nation. A survey by YouGov showed that only 56% of adults in the US planned to celebrate the Fourth of July this year.
29-year-old tech product manager in Manhattan, Marissa Vivori, recalls the last time she celebrated Independence Day. She was traveling to the Hamptons via train, and “I didn’t get a seat and I was standing in the aisle, and the toilet overflowed, and we all had to hold our bags.” She also never loved the holiday. ““I remember even as a kid feeling bad for the animals during the fireworks,” she said. This year, Vivori will be going to a bar in New York City on the 4th instead.
Allison Bartella, a publicist in Brooklyn, never liked the holiday either. “I feel like it’s kind of the New Year’s Eve of the summer. […] Expectations are high, and they are usually not met.”
Sources: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/02/style/rethinking-july-4th-celebrations.html