It feels really hard to celebrate my country right now.
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@RickiTarr right there with you. I'm choosing to be proud of the resistance to the king, and of people like this guy:
https://fastestslowguy.blogspot.com/2026/03/othaniel-youngs-revolutionary-war.html
@morgan Agreed, I am proud of those who work toward a better country
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@RickiTarr From over here, where all of my long life I've been ashamed of what my ancestors did during the fascist British Empire to hundreds of millions of people, I've always seen the USA as the same or worse. What we see happening in your country now is what I've always believed existed under the pretty PR cover. That has never stopped me from respecting certain Americans I've known who are genuine anti-fascists, and all my friends are among them.
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@RickiTarr it’s, bad right now. and yet we persist. not everything worth doing is always worth a celebration?
@mxsparks hugs
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@RickiTarr
I think our country has always been a bizarre mutation. There have always been awful things going on here, and also wonderful things.This is to say that celebrating the 4th has always been somewhat fraught for me, but I can’t deny that I’ve also always really loved some of what it is to be American.
Right now we have a kind of cancer, and I’m doing what I can to see that we survive that. And I see the others doing the same (that you mentioned), and I’ll always be grateful for people here trying to make things better.
And any point on a journey is just one of many steps. So the big numbers are curious to note, but not of great importance to me, either.
I guess my big point is: I hope you have a good weekend!
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It feels really hard to celebrate my country right now. How do I celebrate a country with detention camps? I know there are great people here, who are working toward a better tomorrow, but it feels nuts to want to shoot off fireworks right now. Add on this massive heat wave that most of the United States is going through, and I'm just feeling trapped. Of course, then I feel ungrateful, I have a place to live, I'm not in a camp, I have food, and friends. My mental health feels less than stellar right now. Anyway, sorry for the brain dump, I just wanted to be honest, it feels so complicated right now, what do we do, how do we help? I love you all. I hope you're safe, cool, and have a good weekend. Feel free to share your thoughts and feelings too, if you want.
@RickiTarr I know…
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It feels really hard to celebrate my country right now. How do I celebrate a country with detention camps? I know there are great people here, who are working toward a better tomorrow, but it feels nuts to want to shoot off fireworks right now. Add on this massive heat wave that most of the United States is going through, and I'm just feeling trapped. Of course, then I feel ungrateful, I have a place to live, I'm not in a camp, I have food, and friends. My mental health feels less than stellar right now. Anyway, sorry for the brain dump, I just wanted to be honest, it feels so complicated right now, what do we do, how do we help? I love you all. I hope you're safe, cool, and have a good weekend. Feel free to share your thoughts and feelings too, if you want.
@RickiTarr@beige.party I know this is easier said than done but it's trying to find a positive, even it really minor or the situation isn't great. It's how I'm currently powering through this year despite my concerned from massive spike of transphobia and far-right in the UK where I live.
I'm grateful that I started to know more queer people in real life as I have tried to push myself to socialised a lot more. As well as that, I been experimenting with clothes that's bit feminine but make outfit out of it which it felt like I'm getting closer the real me. -
It feels really hard to celebrate my country right now. How do I celebrate a country with detention camps? I know there are great people here, who are working toward a better tomorrow, but it feels nuts to want to shoot off fireworks right now. Add on this massive heat wave that most of the United States is going through, and I'm just feeling trapped. Of course, then I feel ungrateful, I have a place to live, I'm not in a camp, I have food, and friends. My mental health feels less than stellar right now. Anyway, sorry for the brain dump, I just wanted to be honest, it feels so complicated right now, what do we do, how do we help? I love you all. I hope you're safe, cool, and have a good weekend. Feel free to share your thoughts and feelings too, if you want.
@RickiTarr It’s very difficult to navigate from hour to hour as we watch this regime dismantle our constitutional republic. I just keep remember Benjamin Franklin telling the woman in Philadelphia. “a republic if you can keep it“. Many people denied that Project 2025 was real. It’s very real.
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It feels really hard to celebrate my country right now. How do I celebrate a country with detention camps? I know there are great people here, who are working toward a better tomorrow, but it feels nuts to want to shoot off fireworks right now. Add on this massive heat wave that most of the United States is going through, and I'm just feeling trapped. Of course, then I feel ungrateful, I have a place to live, I'm not in a camp, I have food, and friends. My mental health feels less than stellar right now. Anyway, sorry for the brain dump, I just wanted to be honest, it feels so complicated right now, what do we do, how do we help? I love you all. I hope you're safe, cool, and have a good weekend. Feel free to share your thoughts and feelings too, if you want.
@RickiTarr I've felt this way about the 4th for a long lime. I usually find ways to appreciate the part of the celebration that it about being with friends, and fume silently about the rest.
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It feels really hard to celebrate my country right now. How do I celebrate a country with detention camps? I know there are great people here, who are working toward a better tomorrow, but it feels nuts to want to shoot off fireworks right now. Add on this massive heat wave that most of the United States is going through, and I'm just feeling trapped. Of course, then I feel ungrateful, I have a place to live, I'm not in a camp, I have food, and friends. My mental health feels less than stellar right now. Anyway, sorry for the brain dump, I just wanted to be honest, it feels so complicated right now, what do we do, how do we help? I love you all. I hope you're safe, cool, and have a good weekend. Feel free to share your thoughts and feelings too, if you want.
@RickiTarr I’ve always been pretty indifferent—and thought it strange when anyone anywhere whenever has made an identity of the accident of birth within ephemeral political borders.
I’ve also seen pros (my privilege, good we’ve done, etc) while being keenly aware of cons for less privileged Americans—and global communities harmed by our self-serving policies.
If not for Trump’s co-opting of 250, I could genially acknowledge the positives. But now think it just memorializes a failed experiment.
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@RickiTarr now I have to add that some of this is inevitably the viewpoint of a child vs an adult, but it also is objectively a grim time
@Html_Entities @RickiTarr In 1976 we had something to celebrate. We had survived a corrupt president who tried to overthrow free elections. We were a little closer to the promises of the Declaration, having passed the Civil Rights Act. Roe v. Wade legalized a woman's right to choose. We were, for a brief period, not engaged in a war.
Now look at us. -
It feels really hard to celebrate my country right now. How do I celebrate a country with detention camps? I know there are great people here, who are working toward a better tomorrow, but it feels nuts to want to shoot off fireworks right now. Add on this massive heat wave that most of the United States is going through, and I'm just feeling trapped. Of course, then I feel ungrateful, I have a place to live, I'm not in a camp, I have food, and friends. My mental health feels less than stellar right now. Anyway, sorry for the brain dump, I just wanted to be honest, it feels so complicated right now, what do we do, how do we help? I love you all. I hope you're safe, cool, and have a good weekend. Feel free to share your thoughts and feelings too, if you want.
@RickiTarr to me, there is nothing to celebrate right now. It’s getting so bad I’m actively considering getting my Canadian citizenship after a law change and being dual to have an escape route for my family. It doesn’t matter if we flip anything, it’s going to take years to fix this mess. And the hopelessness one feels is enough to kill any even little bit of excitement for the celebration.
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It feels really hard to celebrate my country right now. How do I celebrate a country with detention camps? I know there are great people here, who are working toward a better tomorrow, but it feels nuts to want to shoot off fireworks right now. Add on this massive heat wave that most of the United States is going through, and I'm just feeling trapped. Of course, then I feel ungrateful, I have a place to live, I'm not in a camp, I have food, and friends. My mental health feels less than stellar right now. Anyway, sorry for the brain dump, I just wanted to be honest, it feels so complicated right now, what do we do, how do we help? I love you all. I hope you're safe, cool, and have a good weekend. Feel free to share your thoughts and feelings too, if you want.
there were darker eras. there will be yet darker times still
we do what anyone does in such times
we persist and resist
it doesn't have to be full-throated. something like your post as a clarion call of sanity is enough. muster the grace that we can, as you are doing now
the ideal of course is we coalesce some sort of means to not only fight back but win
we don't have to be desperate about it. we don't need anxiety. we simply smile and carry on and then discover stronger means
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It feels really hard to celebrate my country right now. How do I celebrate a country with detention camps? I know there are great people here, who are working toward a better tomorrow, but it feels nuts to want to shoot off fireworks right now. Add on this massive heat wave that most of the United States is going through, and I'm just feeling trapped. Of course, then I feel ungrateful, I have a place to live, I'm not in a camp, I have food, and friends. My mental health feels less than stellar right now. Anyway, sorry for the brain dump, I just wanted to be honest, it feels so complicated right now, what do we do, how do we help? I love you all. I hope you're safe, cool, and have a good weekend. Feel free to share your thoughts and feelings too, if you want.
@RickiTarr Yeah, I'm skipping the 4th this year.
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there were darker eras. there will be yet darker times still
we do what anyone does in such times
we persist and resist
it doesn't have to be full-throated. something like your post as a clarion call of sanity is enough. muster the grace that we can, as you are doing now
the ideal of course is we coalesce some sort of means to not only fight back but win
we don't have to be desperate about it. we don't need anxiety. we simply smile and carry on and then discover stronger means
@benroyce @RickiTarr Good on you both Ricki and Ben!
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@benroyce @RickiTarr Good on you both Ricki and Ben!
good on you cobalt. good on all of us. witnessing and persisting. we will find the will and the means to do even more. a seed to grow a tree from
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@RickiTarr It’s very difficult to navigate from hour to hour as we watch this regime dismantle our constitutional republic. I just keep remember Benjamin Franklin telling the woman in Philadelphia. “a republic if you can keep it“. Many people denied that Project 2025 was real. It’s very real.
The rich will own everything, and you will not be happy.
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It feels really hard to celebrate my country right now. How do I celebrate a country with detention camps? I know there are great people here, who are working toward a better tomorrow, but it feels nuts to want to shoot off fireworks right now. Add on this massive heat wave that most of the United States is going through, and I'm just feeling trapped. Of course, then I feel ungrateful, I have a place to live, I'm not in a camp, I have food, and friends. My mental health feels less than stellar right now. Anyway, sorry for the brain dump, I just wanted to be honest, it feels so complicated right now, what do we do, how do we help? I love you all. I hope you're safe, cool, and have a good weekend. Feel free to share your thoughts and feelings too, if you want.
@RickiTarr Thank you for verbalizing what so many of us are feeling.
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It feels really hard to celebrate my country right now. How do I celebrate a country with detention camps? I know there are great people here, who are working toward a better tomorrow, but it feels nuts to want to shoot off fireworks right now. Add on this massive heat wave that most of the United States is going through, and I'm just feeling trapped. Of course, then I feel ungrateful, I have a place to live, I'm not in a camp, I have food, and friends. My mental health feels less than stellar right now. Anyway, sorry for the brain dump, I just wanted to be honest, it feels so complicated right now, what do we do, how do we help? I love you all. I hope you're safe, cool, and have a good weekend. Feel free to share your thoughts and feelings too, if you want.
@RickiTarr We have not “celebrated” this holiday for several years, likely since 2001- introduction of Homeland Security, NSA, Patriot Act, Guantanamo, and slowly more and more of the authoritarian and less less of democracy.
This year in particular, I cannot stomach or witness the perversion of an America 250 celebration to a Trump and MAGA Freedom 250 celebration of White Power and Christian Nationalists. And praise to the almighty Orange Guy is mandatory in all the events. Can’t do it. Shocking displays that all around the world people laugh at this Emperor. No Kings?
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It feels really hard to celebrate my country right now. How do I celebrate a country with detention camps? I know there are great people here, who are working toward a better tomorrow, but it feels nuts to want to shoot off fireworks right now. Add on this massive heat wave that most of the United States is going through, and I'm just feeling trapped. Of course, then I feel ungrateful, I have a place to live, I'm not in a camp, I have food, and friends. My mental health feels less than stellar right now. Anyway, sorry for the brain dump, I just wanted to be honest, it feels so complicated right now, what do we do, how do we help? I love you all. I hope you're safe, cool, and have a good weekend. Feel free to share your thoughts and feelings too, if you want.
@RickiTarr I try to celebrate family, friends, and community. The things in life that tend to have the most impact on my daily life, and which I can try to affect positive change.
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