Fireworks, Military Might, and Conspicuous Consumption

I went to sleep on July 4th amid constant booms, claps, sizzles, and bangs – the sounds of urchins and their happy-to-go-along parents setting off fireworks all over the neighborhood. And of course, their post-fireworks litter was all over the ground this morning as I headed downtown. On the train, in the library lobby, and at a coffeeshop, I heard several people muse on fireworks, and nearly all of them made reference to our military might and the Iraq war, laughing and saying things like “It sounded like Baghdad,” “My street was like an Iraqi war zone,” and the most embarrassing, ignorant comment of all, “HahaâÂ?¦yeah, those kids are getting ready to kill some Arabs.”

And the rockets’ red glare
The bombs bursting in air
Gave proof through the night
That our flag was still there

We need look no further than our own national anthem to see that explosions in the sky are associated with military might, freedom, and the often brute American Way. So, on the Fourth of July and other holidays, it’s no wonder that crowds flock to see fireworks exploding: it’s considered patriotic entertainment, a visual show of unrestrained power and wonder. Furthermore, hundreds of thousands of Americans purchase their own fireworks for backyard thrills, recreating some of the alleged magic of larger displays and affording them some semi-barbaric “I made a big red boom” satisfaction. But underlying the loud, bright pomp of pyrotechnics is a violent, imperialistic sensibility fueled by conspicuous consumption and our obsession with military might.

When I brought this topic up to a friend, he said “You can’t seriously have an issue with fireworks; you’re just being unpatriotic.” And that’s exactly the kind of thinking (or lack thereof) I’m trying to challenge. Besides the fact that I personally find fireworks dreadfully boring, repetitive, and wasteful, there’s an undeniable mental association that Americans make between fireworks and military might.

Remember watching the “shock and awe” campaign at the start of the Iraq War – the bombs lighting up the sky while embedded reporters captured the firefighting on film? That sky assault looked a lot like a fireworks dsiplay, didn’t it? To some extent, I think our constant exposure to fireworks from childhood through adulthood makes our international displays of military might – whether you believe they’re justified or not – look more like entertainment than serious warfare. We bombed a foreign country, and people here were already so desensitized to (and entertained by) similar visuals that it was hard for them to comprehend the loss of life and the utter destruction. The “coalition” bombing probably looked to most Americans like a video game crossed with a holiday fireworks display, and therein lies part of the problem.

Worse yet, the imperialistic, pro-military tone of fireworks celebrations (whether city-wide or backyard) reeks of conspicuous consumption. Not only do we have the world’s most powerful bombs and rockets, but we’re so rich and self-indulgent that we can afford to spend – no, waste – millions of dollars on colorful fireworks just to entertain ourselves with ostensibly kinder, gentler explosions? Certainly there’s nothing better for us to spend our money on – big rockets for aggression and little rockets for celebration of that aggression. Although a civic Fourth of July fireworks display is not consciously aimed at proving America’s military might, it still implicitly celebrates that wielding of weaponry through conspicous consumption of pyrotechnic devices.

In short, fireworks echo our flashy national aggressiveness. They say, with a lack of refinement, “not only can we blow you up, but we’re gonna practice enjoying it with this here pretty bang.”