The bombs bursting in air...

Eliot RosewaterEliot Rosewater Posts: 2,659
edited July 2007 in A Moving Train
Talking with a great friend of mine today who said, "I thought it was interesting last night while I sat back and watched fireworks that we are perpetuating the feeling of patriotism through the symbolism of war. With 'Bombs bursting in air' we celebrate our country. It seems like a more peaceful sort of symbolism might be more appropriate."

I couldn't help but agree with him.

With that in mind, I think I'm going to add all fireworks to my list of boycotts.
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Comments

  • surferdudesurferdude Posts: 2,057
    I thought it was interesting last night while I sat back and watched fireworks that we are perpetuating the feeling of patriotism through the symbolism of war. With “Bombs bursting in air” we celebrate our country. It seems like a more peaceful sort of symbolism might be more appropriate.

    With that in mind, I think I'm going to add all fireworks to my list of boycotts.
    They're just fireworks, get over it. They're not even an American invention. You should be glad that Ameica is secure enough/morally superior in itself that it can use technologies from other countries to help celebrate it's birthday.
    “One good thing about music,
    when it hits you, you feel to pain.
    So brutalize me with music.”
    ~ Bob Marley
  • I had a similar thought last night about fireworks sounding like bombs and war. I was saying it was like we were in some colonial war with all the fireworks going off in the distance.

    I don't think I'd ever boycott fireworks, they're too fun. And other than their sound, they aren't too violent.
  • even flow?even flow? Posts: 8,066
    I thought it was interesting last night while I sat back and watched fireworks that we are perpetuating the feeling of patriotism through the symbolism of war. With “Bombs bursting in air” we celebrate our country. It seems like a more peaceful sort of symbolism might be more appropriate.

    With that in mind, I think I'm going to add all fireworks to my list of boycotts.


    Was your flag still there?
    You've changed your place in this world!
  • surferdudesurferdude Posts: 2,057
    IWith that in mind, I think I'm going to add all fireworks to my list of boycotts.
    And just so you're not a hypocrite you should be boycotting all combustion based forms of transportation and goods made or transported by such means. After all a combustion engine works by having fuel burst in explosion thus providing the power.
    “One good thing about music,
    when it hits you, you feel to pain.
    So brutalize me with music.”
    ~ Bob Marley
  • There could certainly be more peaceful ways, I'm sure! Tell that to my dork ass brothers who think it's hilariously enjoyable to shoot bottle rockets towards me and watch me run across the yard screaming. :p Beer and fireworks..what a nice little combination.
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • tybirdtybird Posts: 17,388
    There could certainly be more peaceful ways, I'm sure! Tell that to my dork ass brothers who think it's hilariously enjoyable to shoot bottle rockets towards me and watch me run across the yard screaming. :p Beer and fireworks..what a nice little combination.
    I bet that is some funny shit to watch.........from a safe distance. ;)
    All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a thousand enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you, digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks and your people shall never be destroyed.
  • know1know1 Posts: 6,794
    I thought it was interesting last night while I sat back and watched fireworks that we are perpetuating the feeling of patriotism through the symbolism of war. With “Bombs bursting in air” we celebrate our country. It seems like a more peaceful sort of symbolism might be more appropriate.

    With that in mind, I think I'm going to add all fireworks to my list of boycotts.

    I watched them and, while I guess they are supposed to have something to do with bombs, they didn't seem to hold that symbolism at all for me or anyone else at my party. We just thought they were pretty and cool.
    The only people we should try to get even with...
    ...are those who've helped us.

    Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
  • tybird wrote:
    I bet that is some funny shit to watch.........from a safe distance. ;)

    It was even funny to me at the time...after I was finished hiding behind various trees in the yard, I was giggling my ass off. :p But this morning I was thinking...seriously WTF! :D
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • even flow?even flow? Posts: 8,066
    There could certainly be more peaceful ways, I'm sure! Tell that to my dork ass brothers who think it's hilariously enjoyable to shoot bottle rockets towards me and watch me run across the yard screaming. :p Beer and fireworks..what a nice little combination.


    Any home video of your bros firing them out their asses? ala - jackass ;)
    You've changed your place in this world!
  • Solat13Solat13 Posts: 6,996
    The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

    Written by John Adams on July 3rd, 1776.

    He thought that the 2nd would be the actual holiday when the Continental Congress voted a separation from England. The Declaration of Independence was not signed until the 4th.

    I think the idea of fireworks comes from his idea of illuminating the sky from one end of the continent to the other more than the whole bombs bursting in air, but hey that's just me. I mean the idea of bombs bursting in air didn't come about about until Francis Scott Key a generation later.
    - Busted down the pretext
    - 8/28/98
    - 9/2/00
    - 4/28/03, 5/3/03, 7/3/03, 7/5/03, 7/6/03, 7/9/03, 7/11/03, 7/12/03, 7/14/03
    - 9/28/04, 9/29/04, 10/1/04, 10/2/04
    - 9/11/05, 9/12/05, 9/13/05, 9/30/05, 10/1/05, 10/3/05
    - 5/12/06, 5/13/06, 5/27/06, 5/28/06, 5/30/06, 6/1/06, 6/3/06, 6/23/06, 7/22/06, 7/23/06, 12/2/06, 12/9/06
    - 8/2/07, 8/5/07
    - 6/19/08, 6/20/08, 6/22/08, 6/24/08, 6/25/08, 6/27/08, 6/28/08, 6/30/08, 7/1/08
    - 8/23/09, 8/24/09, 9/21/09, 9/22/09, 10/27/09, 10/28/09, 10/30/09, 10/31/09
    - 5/15/10, 5/17/10, 5/18/10, 5/20/10, 5/21/10, 10/23/10, 10/24/10
    - 9/11/11, 9/12/11
    - 10/18/13, 10/21/13, 10/22/13, 11/30/13, 12/4/13
  • even flow? wrote:
    Any home video of your bros firing them out their asses? ala - jackass ;)

    You know...I wouldn't put that past them but no, no videos. :D
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • CosmoCosmo Posts: 12,225
    I wonder if the Iraqis ran outside, looked in the sky and said, "Oooooohhhh!!! Aaaaaaahhhh!!!" during 'Shock and Awe'. And I wonder if their future 'Independence Day' celebrations will be marked with fireworks to remind them.
    ...
    My guess... not. They will probably go with the obligitory firing of automatic weapons into the air... you know... like at weddings.
    Allen Fieldhouse, home of the 2008 NCAA men's Basketball Champions! Go Jayhawks!
    Hail, Hail!!!
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    Fireworks bore me.
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • bootlegger10bootlegger10 Posts: 16,053
    I thought it was interesting last night while I sat back and watched fireworks that we are perpetuating the feeling of patriotism through the symbolism of war. With “Bombs bursting in air” we celebrate our country. It seems like a more peaceful sort of symbolism might be more appropriate.

    With that in mind, I think I'm going to add all fireworks to my list of boycotts.

    I think part of the 4th of July holiday is remembering the sacrifice that was made by the Continental Army. The Revolutionary War will always be a part of our history. People thought freedom was something worth fighting for, and they went out and got it. We shouldn't neglect that act and forget it ever happened, we should be proud of what they did. Besides, who wants to sing a song about peace? Oh yeah.....HIIIIPPPPPPIIIIEEESSSS. Ha, just kidding.

    If our country was freed by sitting at a table and working things out with the British, then we should sing a song about compromise. That was not the case. We fought for it (rather the colonists fought for it).
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    Democracy delivered by the bomb and the gun is terror else where in the world I'm from.
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • Ahnimus wrote:
    Democracy delivered by the bomb and the gun is terror else where in the world I'm from.


    But that's just different. We're the good guys!
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    But that's just different. We're the good guys!

    "Dancing in the moonlight" I remember that line from a song. I can't think of what it is though.
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • Ahnimus wrote:
    "Dancing in the moonlight" I remember that line from a song. I can't think of what it is though.

    :)

    Dancing in the Moonlight ~ Smashing Pumpkins

    When I passed you in the doorway
    You took me with a glance
    Should have took that last bus home
    But I asked you for a dance
    Now we were steady to the pictures
    I always get chocolate stains on my pants
    Father says "he's going crazy"
    Says I'm livin' in a trance,

    Dancing in the moonlight
    It's caught me in it's spotlight,
    It's alright, it's alright, the moonlight
    This long, hot summer night

    It's three o'clock in the morning, I'm on the streets again
    Disobeyed another warning, Shoulda been home by ten
    Now I stay out 'till Sunday, I have to say I stayed with friends
    It's a habit worth forming, It's a means to justify the end

    Dancing in the moonlight
    It's caught me in it's spotlight,
    It's alright, it's alright, the moonlight
    This long, hot summer night

    I'm walking home
    Last bus is long gone
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    I was thinking of the King Harvest version (the Original)

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=FU2t57w6UmA
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • Ahnimus wrote:
    I was thinking of the King Harvest version (the Original)

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=FU2t57w6UmA

    Yeah, I knew it was a cover but forgot who did it. I'll always remember it by the Pumpkins version. :)

    edit: well no, the song you posted is completely different but I'm still pretty sure the Pumpkins covered their version.
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    Yeah, I knew it was a cover but forgot who did it. I'll always remember it by the Pumpkins version. :)

    I had to trace it back from a few artists, from Pumpkins to Toploader to Van Morrison (who never actually did it) to King Harvest.

    As per Wikipedia:

    This song has been been covered by a number of artists. These include:-

    Aswad on their 2002 album Cool Summer Reggae
    Liza Minnelli on her 1973 album The Singer
    Baha Men on 1994's Kalik
    Masters Of The Obvious
    The Keane Brothers — who created a disco version in 1979
    Aerosmith
    Toploader on their Onka's Big Moka album
    Orleans
    My Morning Jacket
    Jack Wagner
    Ted Raimi
    Fool's Garden

    This list doesn't mention Smashing Pumpkins or King Harvest, although the wiki does reference King Harvest as being the original.

    Anyway, that would be a better way to celebrate independence, dancing in the moonlight.
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560

    No way!

    Did you know that the song "Angel" by Shaggy is a combo of "Angel of the Morning" by Merrilee Rush and "The Joker" by Steve Miller Band?

    I knew that the chorus was basically "Angel of the Morning" but didn't realize that the beat was "The Joker"
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • Ahnimus wrote:
    Anyway, that would be a better way to celebrate independence, dancing in the moonlight.

    What a lovely idea. :) The sky was so clear last night and the stars were bright.
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • Ahnimus wrote:
    No way!

    Did you know that the song "Angel" by Shaggy is a combo of "Angel of the Morning" by Merrilee Rush and "The Joker" by Steve Miller Band?

    I knew that the chorus was basically "Angel of the Morning" but didn't realize that the beat was "The Joker"


    :D You like music a lot, too?

    I'll check that out...I spend so much time on youtube. :p
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • Ahnimus wrote:
    No way!

    Did you know that the song "Angel" by Shaggy is a combo of "Angel of the Morning" by Merrilee Rush and "The Joker" by Steve Miller Band?

    I knew that the chorus was basically "Angel of the Morning" but didn't realize that the beat was "The Joker"


    It is! I hadn't heard that Shaggy song in forever! That's a nice mix actually. :)
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
  • Eliot RosewaterEliot Rosewater Posts: 2,659
    surferdude wrote:
    And just so you're not a hypocrite you should be boycotting all combustion based forms of transportation and goods made or transported by such means. After all a combustion engine works by having fuel burst in explosion thus providing the power.
    Seriously, is that the best you can do? Why are you so argumentative? Oh yeah, I must've offended you on another thread. Well, I'm sorry if I've offended you.
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    It is! I hadn't heard that Shaggy song in forever! That's a nice mix actually. :)

    It is, but he's such an unoriginal bastard, lol :)
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • NCBRINCBRI Posts: 1,902
    Went to see fireworks here in Chapel Hill last night. Like most places, they played music during the display. There were a couple of songs that were thrown in that I thought were interesting choices: War, Revolution, Rockin in the Free World :)

    As much as I liked their little statement with these songs, it was pretty dissapointing to look at the little flags they gave out and see "made in china" printed across the bottom red stripe. :rolleyes:
    Brian
  • Ahnimus wrote:
    It is, but he's such an unoriginal bastard, lol :)

    :D But always fun to dance to. So there's that.
    If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.

    Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
    -Oscar Wilde
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