trying to think if there is any reason at all to celebrate "independence day" this year. can

[niyad]

anybody give me a really good reason what I, as a woman in this woman-hating country, have to celebrate?

[Glorfindel]

1. Can't think of one offhand. There again, I'm a devout Monarchist (truly)

I think we'd be better off to ask Her Majesty to forgive us and bring us back into the Commonwealth. I'm also fairly sure that the country also despises gay men (eww...) and veterans (suckers!), so I really won't be celebrating, either.

[edgineered]

2. Our government has a tacit

approval of injustices on a national scale; in other places it is law.

I'm sorry, I'm not trying to minimize or make light of the facts. It took some thought to come up with a positive(?), but you did ask - it's not much, but it is not in the w(R)ong column.

[niyad]

3. isn't it a sad commentary that it took time to come up with it?

[edgineered]

4. I agree, it is sad. But I tried.

In rural Collie(red) County exists a hell beyond belief. It is an echo chamber for every discrimination there is. Yesterday a guy was talking about his wife's toe nail fungus and her insisting on getting treatment. After a short discussion the two agreed treatment was stupid. Do you know why?

Because she can do what all the other women do - paint her toenails!

So yeah, I'll repeat myself, it is sad.

[niyad]

5. I know, and I appreciate the effort. that was why I said it was sad.

geez, and I thought some of the people in this oh-so-red county were a little "off"!

[niyad]

8. yes, because that negates all the truly woman-hating crap going on in this country.

watching the reichwingnutjobs attacking these women is no indication of woman-hating, I guess.

[Bettie]

7. I'm going to our town's parade

Because my two older boys are playing in the marching band.

And we'll watch fireworks because the kids like them.

But, I agree with you. It is hard to feel free in a country that hates us.

[niyad]

9. have a very safe day

[Bettie]

12. Thanks, I hope to have a decent day

Actually, I hate parades. Have since I was a little kid.

Hoping your day is good as well and that you are able to think of it on a micro scale with the people who love you.

[SummerSnow]

11. Well, come to think of it our freedoms, rights, and independence are being

taken from us.

[KittyWampus]

13. I qualified for Medicaid in NY because of Obamacare. My teeth got cleaned & I'm going for

fillings next week.

I'll be able to get new glasses.

My broken toe didn't cost me anything.

[randome]

14. New neighbors moved in 2 months ago. They have an American flag flying every day.

They seem pleasant enough but...perhaps it's uncharitable of me but the first thing I think of these days when I see someone insisting on their patriotism is...right-wing freaks.

I listened to another old radio broadcast of The Adventures of Superman the other day. 1948. They gave interesting public service messages back then. One of them was that the favorite colors of a grifter are often red, white and blue.

So much has changed since then. And so much remains the same.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]No squirrels were harmed in the making of this post. Yet.[/center][/font][hr]

[Liberalynn]

15. Can't think of one either

The government it celebrates was killed long ago, May it RIP

As a subtle form of protest instead of wearing Red White and Blue today I am wearing a purple Susan B. Anthony shirt that has her quote "Failure is Impossible.:

[niyad]

19. great thought--purple, white and gold are the suffragists' colours.

[rug]

16. If you think the United States is a "woman-hating country", you have no reason to.

But as it is, the country, the entire country with all its diverse people, is not.

[Liberalynn]

17. I see what you are saying

but I look at the 4th as a day where a government was born. A government that was supposed to cherish the ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Today that government is fading away more and more. Maybe it will be reborn maybe it won't.

People say the words in the pledge "with liberty and justice for all" some mean them but many do not. Someone is electing the racists, sexist, bigots.

Look the perfect ideal government doesn't exist but ours doesn't even keep up on the pretense of working towards the ideal anymore. Where is the outrage where are the protesters?

I love and honor the people who fought and still fight to better the situation, but I won't celebrate a government that is no longer truly for all the people and by all the people. Then again it really never existed in the first place.

[rug]

18. I don't disagree with any of that. But the country is made up of people not the government.

I really, really dislike the faux patriotism, the military cult, and the routine accepted discrimination of all sorts of minority groups, all of whom collectively ARE the people. There is a palpable disconnect between corporate-driven government policies and the needs of the people.

So, I just play Woody on the Fourth and try to remember this country is made up of a lot more than what we hear today.

[niyad]

20. right. you don't think there is a war on women in this country? cannot be paying

attention, then.

[rug]

30. By whom? The entire country?

[Jenoch]

21. When I'm feeling bad about myself

I think about how there are many, many others who have things even worse. The majority of the women in the middle east have lives much worse than they are in the U.S.

[niyad]

22. that is fine to a point. however, the founding documents in each case are a bit different,

and this country is falling WAY short of its promises and principles.

and it isn't that I feel bad about MYSELF. I am outraged at the hatred for women exhibited at nearly every turn by the government, by companies, by religions, by misogynists of every stripe.

[Jenoch]

31. I asked my wife about this and she said

she does not feel the hatred and would not wish to live in aby other country. She did say something about not living in Minnesota during the winter..

[quinnox]

23. You don't have to celebrate it

if you don't want to. That is part of the beauty about America.

[niyad]

25. wow, that never would have occurred to me. perhaps you could address the point?

[quinnox]

26. I did address it. It isn't my place to give you reasons to celebrate.

Every person has individual freedom in how they approach holidays like this one.

If you want to sit around and be miserable all weekend, you have every right to do so.

[niyad]

27. no, actually you didn't. but then, that is not surprising. keep trying, though, I really

need the laughs.

[quinnox]

28. Ok, I'll explain it one last time

You ask, "Give me reasons to celebrate!"

My answer - "You don't have to celebrate."

You may not like my answer, but it is an answer nonetheless.

[lunatica]

24. We can improve and will

That's the thing about this country. Things change and many things improve and we evolve. We women put a stop to the crap in the 60s and the 70s. If you think about it this misogynistic kneejerk reaction actually makes sense coming from old white men who don't just automatically have their way anymore. I just wonder why it's taken them so long. Maybe they needed to have Limbaugh and Hannity hating on President Obama, Democrats and women for the last two decades to give their hatred a backbone.

Just remember what Martin Luther King Jr. said?
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”

[pipi_k]

29. Really?

You feel like the entire country hates women?


OK then.

As for myself, I celebrate the fact that we don't have to cover our bodies and faces in public. That we can move around in public without having to be escorted by some man. That we don't get stoned to death for "adultery", even if we actually commit it.

And we don't get stoned or beaten to death for the "crime" of being raped, either.

We can drive ourselves around.

We can be doctors and teachers and scientists and astronauts, etc.

And even where sexism exists, at least the issue isn't being swept under the rug by the entire country.

I certainly don't feel like the entire country hates me, and I celebrate the parts of it that don't.