Otter's Rock

Today, 27 April, in South Africa is Freedom Day, commemorating the day in 1994 when the country’s first post-apartheid elections were held. When the country’s post-apartheid constitution was ratified in 1996, it South Africa became the first country in the world to constitutionally outlaw sexuality-based discrimination, in no small part thanks to the world of gay anti-apartheid activist Simon Nkoli.

(Source)

The formerly-Catholic Society of St Pius X triggered the schism by consecrating bishops without the Pope’s approval, a key part of the ceremony for Catholic believers.

Using Marie Skłodowska-Curie to shill your AI garbage is, uh, certainly a choice.

On one hand, keep her name out of your mouth

The RIGHT way to do this would have been to have a month-long event that went to twelve different cities, with Philadelphia hosting during July because that was our capital (insofar as we had one) in 1776; the other eleven stops could have their own significant-in-the-Revolution days (for example: Washington crossing the Delaware on 25 December, the start of the First Continental Congress on 5 September), and you could get commemorative items from your stop's specific event.

All fifty states AND FIVE TERRITORIES should have been invited to attend, not charged for it. And we should have done it Colombian Expo style: respected thinkers and educators speaking, concerts, "come look at our wild new inventions," and cultural events. If I was in the Oval Office my first thought for this would be to contact ethnic leaders to see who wanted to tell their story. Tribal leaders. Civil rights leaders. Local arts groups. Let us celebrate your food, your art, your dance, your place among our people; and let us also recognize that the flip side of the coin of amazing inventors and economic prosperity on a global scale has been devastation and exploitation. You can't tell the story without both. It's not fair to leave out things we've done for good (Mark Twain! Jonas Salk! Airplanes! Comic books! Musicals!), but it's equally unfair to leave out the lives we've taken and futures we've destroyed. We can't do better if we don't look at these things and say "no. Not again. Not on our watch."

The state fair format is extremely American; I think that was a good choice, I'll give credit for that where it's due. But "that was a good idea" is as far as it goes. Because this doesn't look like a state fair. It looks like a church revival on the third day when all the tents are out of food and everyone is hot and tired and wants less Jesus and more air conditioning.

In 1976, the Bicentennial was everywhere. There was merch. You could decorate your home with it. In the city where I lived, the Girl Scouts were asked by the city to go around painting all the fire hydrants red, white, and blue. American history was the hot topic in publishing and people were buying history books and even talking about them. One of the TV stations used commercial breaks to air "Bicentennial Minutes," 60-second spots in which actors from current shows (I specifically remember Loretta Swit from MASH and Nancy Walker from Rhoda) told us little snippets of social history, like the state of garbage collection in the Colonies, with appropriate visuals like political cartoons and paintings from the time period. High school proms had Bicentennial themes. You never saw so many people put flags out. Every town worked hard on their firework displays and some had more than one.

Yeah, we all knew it was overblown and a bit tacky but also people were into it. The energy rose for months to the climax and lingered into the next school year -- I remember all my pocket folders for that year were glossy prints of classic patriotic paintings, The Spirit of '76 and The Declaration of Independence and so on.

For the 250th, nobody cares. Because it doesn't feel like we're living in the United States of America, where freedom was for everyone and our freedoms were expanding every day and history was a vital living force.

You can't celebrate history without teaching it.

People were protesting stuff during the bicentennial too! DC had a Potomac Tea Party to protest only having a non-voting representative on Congress. The American Indian movement held multiple large protests! People mocked the commercialization by calling it the "Buy-cenetennial"! But the main planned events still occurred so that's what people mostly remember!

My guess is this year people are mostly going to remember the states' various celebrations because the federal one has been SO screwed by grifting and mismanagement. They have somehow made it so there is almost NO ONE on the national mall during PEAK TOURIST SEASON. You have to use specified entry points, there's armed national guards everywhere, and the electricity powering things like the ferris wheel and food booths has broken down multiple times already.

....which I forgot about completely before blithely going out in it yesterday to walk to a doctor's appointment and then had to like, sit down with my head between my knees when I got there. I was fully hydrated, had a water bottle with me, wore a hat, walked in the shade, and still by four blocks I was feeling Unwell. It's been ungodly hot out, admittedly, but I have felt more sensitive to it this summer than previous summers and now PERHAPS I KNOW WHY. (My dose was raised over the winter.)

But it can fix a lot of the stuff that's making you un-happy.

These are not the same thing, so it really matters that we understand what the definitions are for what we're dealing with.

Being happy has both internal and external causes, and it also has both internal and external deficits. If you don't have enough nourishing and tasty food, you will almost certainly be less happy. This is an external cause. If you are being abused, you will definitely be less happy. This is an external cause. If you have a lot of time to spend with wonderful people who care about you, you will probably be happy. This is an external cause.

But at the same time, a lot of the causes of happiness are internal. If you are a spiteful person, you are probably not going to be very happy no matter what your life circumstances are. On the other hand, if you are a cheerful person, chances are you will be happy even in circumstances that are objectively not great. These are internal causes. They'll be the same no matter what.

And the thing is, money can affect some (not all!) of the external factors of happiness, but does almost nothing about the the internal factors. Money can buy good food that you like. Money can buy escape from an abusive situation. Money can fix terrible living conditions. Money can give you the freedom to quit a shitty job with a horrible boss. Money can buy you time to spend with friends ... but money can't buy actual friendships. Not ones that are solid enough to increase your happiness in the long run. Sycophants are not the same thing as friends.

As for the internal factors that influence happiness ... there is a little bit you can do with money to affect them. Money can pay for therapy, which can help with the internal factors, but only if you're actually willing to do the work ... and if the problem is "negative personality," 'willingness to do the hard work of changing your outlook' is much more important than whether or not you have a therapist. (Obviously, if it's an actual problem like a mood disorder, that's different, and you are more likely to need a therapist--and a doctor who can prescribe meds. But there are a lot of people out there who don't have any kind of mental health problem, they'd just benefit from an attitude adjustment.)

When people say "money can't buy happiness" they're assuming a default state of being safe and having all your physical and social needs met, or at least within shouting distance of being met. Your life doesn't have to be perfect, but you're not being abused, your job is no more than averagely bad, you've got a safe and secure place to live, etc. And once you hit that point ... adding additional money will not affect your long-term happiness. The things that will affect your happiness are things like your relationships and your attitude. Which is why so many rich people are absolutely miserable--they genuinely think you can buy happiness, that an extra mansion or a fancy car or surrounding themselves with sycophants who will kowtow to their every whim will make them happy. And it won't! It just won't. Momentary pleasure isn't the same thing.