Riveted By The Sociological Significance Of It All

IN BOX: Big July 4 fireworks show cancelled but @Macys will stage “high-elevation unannounced fireworks displays from select locations across every borough” from 6/29-7/4 so “New Yorkers to experience fireworks without creating crowds.” Each will be 5-min.

— Joel Siegel (@joelmsiegel) June 23, 2020

HAVE THEY NOT HEARD?!?…

Watching the strategically-placed-pallets-of-bricks theory of the fireworks crisis emerge and start getting taken seriously by people has been an absolute wonder.

— Tom Gara (@tomgara) June 21, 2020

if you think people are setting off more fireworks because they’re bored and it’s fun you shouldn’t also be confused about why people are creating elaborate conspiracy theories about it, which is another fun activity when you don’t have anything else to do

— Brandy Jensen (@BrandyLJensen) June 22, 2020

The Great 2020 Fireworks Protests have been happening in a bunch of cities (including Boston), all of them suspiciously within driving distance of major fireworks distributors looking to dump inventory made for public celebrations that aren’t gonna happen this summer. (At least two beach towns within driving distance here, Hampton Beach NH and Salisbury MA, usually have big weekly fireworks displays every summer, which have been cancelled. And that’s not to mention the dozens of ambitious backyard amateurs determined to one-up the neighbors, even if it involves setting the deck / lawn / random bystander on fire.)

But, of course, New York is where every Truly Important Media Personage lives, so that’s where an excess of hanabi (fire-flowers) becomes A Thing. Per the Washington Post (Style section) — “Who will solve the great fireworks mystery, and will we ever sleep again?”:

… Did you have “mystery fireworks” on your 2020 bingo card, after murder hornets and federal agents attacking peaceful protesters with tear gas so the president could pose in front of a church with a Bible? Congratulations. Yes, there are a LOT of amateur fireworks this year. Several cities where fireworks are restricted or illegal have reported an anecdotal increase in fireworks complaints. In New York, there are 80 times as many complaints as the city received in early June 2019. The New York City Police Department says it has logged more than 12,500 911 calls about fireworks this month.

Askin has no idea where all these fireworks are coming from. She has called the police, the mayor’s office and her state senator, to no avail. She’s used to unsanctioned city fireworks in the summer, but it feels different this year. She’s heard similar reports from friends in other cities.

It’s a mystery — and yet, midway through a year that has been marked by a deadly pandemic, massive protests and widespread anxiety about the future of American democracy, it seems like a fairly natural development…

Setting off illegal fireworks has been a beloved summer pastime in many city neighborhoods for years. As some neighborhoods have gentrified, newcomers may be more likely to be bothered by the noise. And with everyone spending a lot more time at home these days, and a pandemic and unemployment pressing on our nerves, maybe we’re all just a little more sensitive.

But the intensity of this year’s amateur fireworks, in the context of recent clashes between police and racial justice demonstrators, have made some people suspicious.

The weekend after Juneteenth — a big fireworks day in many cities — a theory exploded on Twitter. The author Robert Jones Jr., in a tweet thread that received tens of thousands of retweets, proposed that the fireworks were “a coordinated attack on Black and Brown communities by government forces; an attack meant to disorient and destabilize the #BlackLivesMatter movement,” he wrote.

Jones and commenters suggested that police and government were supplying the fireworks to black communities, to desensitize them to explosion noises so that “when they start using their real artillery on us we won’t know the difference.” They point to a New York Post story showing New York firefighters setting off fireworks at a station close to midnight last week. Also: unverified reports on social media of mysterious men selling fireworks at steep discounts, and pallets of professional fireworks being left in minority neighborhoods for teens to discover. (New York is planning a multi-agency task force to investigate the spike in fireworks there. A D.C. police spokeswoman said the department is not distributing fireworks.)…

Gosh, bored adrenaline junkies setting off newly-cheap fireworks during a slow shift. However could *that* happen?

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Open Thread: FIREWORKS! (But Literally)Post + Comments (128)