Political beliefs are often blamed for the lack of patriotism on July Fourth but there’s a more obvious explanation to why some dread the national holiday and it’s rooted in how Americans choose to celebrate the country’s birthday.
While loud booms in the sky will evoke pride for many people on Tuesday, a silent mass aches inside their homes. A 2021 YouGov poll surveying over 6,000 people found that 1 in 5 Americans don’t like fireworks.
Their personal vendetta against fireworks goes beyond noise disturbance though that can be reason enough. Fireworks temporarily worsen air pollution, often trigger PTSD for veterans and gun violence victims and anger owners of frightened pets.
Madison May Jones, a 49-year-old veteran from Seattle, used to be a Fourth of July enthusiast but now she can not bear the holiday. She said she developed PTSD by working as an ironworker for nearly three decades, always fearing falling while working at extreme heights and panicking at any loud sounds.
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“When you have PTSD. It just throws you that paranoid state where it’s like it’s fight or flight,” Jones said. “When it goes bang, I twitch. I want to see where it’s at and I want to make sure it’s not coming after me.”
Jones said she doesn’t have a problem with controlled pyrotechnic events clarifying that her instinctual response is set off by the spontaneous nature of fireworks.
“I have to be warned about it now. It can’t be just a spur of the moment,” Jones said. “I really truly love the displays. I love to see things go bang. I like to see sky displays, catch on fire, whatever. But I don’t want it to be random. I have enough randomness in my life to begin with.”
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Arielle Bowers, 30-year-old from Tampa, Florida, finds July 4th to be an uncomfortable holiday she tries to avoid. As a child, she experienced tinnitus, a loud ringing in the ears, while enjoying the visual appeal of a firework.
Her discomfort made sense to her when she was diagnosed with ADHD as a teenager and realized she found fireworks overstimulating. Bowers added that she has PTSD caused by a medical incident and the death of a loved one has made her feel constantly on the edge anticipating danger.
“Holidays like Fourth of July can definitely bring those things to surface and just remind you how unsafe you really are even in your own home,” Bowers said. “You feel left out. You tend to not go to as many events with your family and your friends and you’re expected to just suck it up and deal with it because other people around you don’t experience auditory sensory issues the way that you do.”
Bowers said she and many others agree there should be adjustment to the celebration suggesting that there should be more noise-buffering devices to support people.
Sebastian Moreno, a 32-year-old from West Virginia, said he can’t distinguish the sound of fireworks or gunshots in his neighborhood. The U.S. saw how blurry that distinction could be around Independence Day last year when a shooting spree at a Chicago-area parade left seven dead and frightened crowds in Orlando and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania who mistook fireworks for gun shots causing panic and injuries.
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‘Enjoy what the day stands for’
Edward Avol, a University of Southern California professor and expert on outdoor air pollution, said most people choose to be enchanted by the colors, spectacle and glow of fireworks without acknowledging the chemicals and particles that create it alongside pollution.
The increased sulfur dioxide in the air caused by numerous fireworks can cause irritation or bronchospasm for many people with asthma, Avol said. He added that adding chemical particles into the air is counterproductive in the efforts to combat climate change.
“We don’t often think about all these things when we set up a bunch of fireworks. But these are all sort of associated effects, or those who have either compromised health or even those that are sitting in it just enjoying the spectacle,” Avol said.
It’s not just the sonic boom that makes fireworks distressing for Americans. Katrina Mitchell, a 35-year-old mother from a small town in Mississippi, can’t even stand to look at them — at least not outside. Currently in the process of being diagnosed with epilepsy, Mitchell said she experiences seizures when looking at flickering or blinking lights. She began learning about more about her condition through resource organization Epsy Health when she would lose awareness for a few minutes due to light.
At a Fourth of July event two years ago, she went unconscious for over five minutes while watching fireworks and wasn’t aware until her husband told her when it ended. After a doctor the day after confirmed that the firework caused a seizure, she decided to just watch fireworks from inside her house or to not look at them at all.
“I’ll just make sure I’m safe as far because I just I don’t want to be out like that again,” Mitchell told USA TODAY. “It’s fine, I’d rather be that way then you know having to go to an emergency room.”
While most of her July Fouth celebration is outside a house, Mitchell is accompanied indoors by at least her mother, who can’t bear the noise. Refusing let fireworks ruin her mood, Mitchell said she finds her own ways to celebrate.
“We’re going eat. I’m definitely going to enjoy that,” Mitchell said. “Relax, family time. Enjoy everybody being able to just enjoy what the day stands for and once it comes time I’ll just just start preparing myself.”
