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No, it’s not Saturday. It’s National Children’s Craft Day, National Learn About Butterflies Day,
National Potato Chip Day or National Write Down Your Story Day. There are many things we can blame on the internet, but
none of them compare to the infernal, diurnal stream of nonsensical days, weeks and months dedicated to everything from
the mundane to the downright bizarre, all of which are more unnecessary than the last.
I’m not against having a day of celebration every once in a while, but these special days, weeks
and months never end: According to the National Day Calendar, there are “nearly 1,500 National Days, National Weeks
and National Months” on their website.
We have taken the internet-centric concept of “national days” too
far.[1]
What is the most appalling of all however, are those “special” days, weeks and months that actually
contribute to dividing America, rather that contributing to uniting this nation. America doesn’t need holidays that advance
racial divisions or pit straights against gays
One newspaper reader put it succinctly when he wrote:
“The media and the government are actually promoting racism by continually mentioning or asking
if someone is black or white and pointing out their racial differences.
“When I am asked in a survey or census what race I am, I simply state ‘American.’ I don’t say
that I am a Welsh-American. Let’s drop the African-American, Italian-American, etc. If you are a legal U.S. citizen,
you are an American, period, and should be proud of it.
“Why does the media always have to point out that a police officer was white or black?
“If a white student becomes president of their class in school or receives an award, do they
state that the person was ‘white’ (if that is the case)?
“Stop promoting racism by continually emphasizing our ethnic differences.
[Emphasis mine]
“Can’t we be just Americans?” (Ref. 2)
Special days, weeks, and months that are designated to celebrate the various groups that make up
American society need to focus on the history and achievements of the groups rather than what differentiates them from
the rest of America.
Is it time to stop celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Month and Columbus
Day? Instead, should we start celebrating “We’re All
Americans Day”? I’ve nothing against Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders and Columbus. But, other than the fact
that Columbus discovered America which led to the
extermination of millions of Native Americans, taking an entire day to celebrate his discovery and the fact that he was
an Italian is a total waste.[3]
Columbus Day has gone out of favor in many locations in the U.S. and been replaced with
Indigenous Peoples' Day Another move to celebrate the differences that exist in American society rather than what
simply makes us all Americans.
Now, on the second Monday in October, many celebrate indigenous Peoples’ Day while others still go
for Columbus Day. Again, both should be done away with and replaced by “We’re All Proud to be Americans’
Day”.
We don’t need to keep calling attention to the following: "Today we understand that while [Columbus]
was an explorer and is credited with being one of the first Europeans to arrive in the Americas, we now know a great deal
about the history and the way that he and his people behaved when they came to this continent," said Shannon Speed, a
citizen of the Chickasaw Nation and director of the UCLA American Indian Studies Center. "Which included pillaging, raping
and generally setting in motion a genocide of the people who were already here. That's not something we want to celebrate.
That's not something anyone wants to celebrate."
The shift isn't happening without some pushback. For many Italian Americans, Columbus Day is their
day to celebrate Italian heritage and the contributions of Italian Americans to the United States. It was adopted at a time
when Italians were vilified and faced religious and ethnic discrimination. The first commemoration came in 1892, a year
after a mass lynching of 11 Italian Americans by a mob in New Orleans. Italian Americans latched onto the day as a way to
mainstream and humanize themselves in the face of rampant discrimination. It became a national holiday in 1934 to honor
a man who, ironically, never set foot in the United States. Columbus anchored in the
Bahamas.[4]
Juneteenth is an abomination! It is nothing but one more attempt to pander to Black America and
does nothing but further divide the races in this country! America already had Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. America has
Independence Day to celebrate the freedom of ALL Americans.
Some social media users have advice for companies exploiting the Juneteenth holiday to cook up
sales and merchandising tactics to appeal to Black people: You can keep it.
Recently, Juneteenth began to be nationally celebrated on June 19 to commemorate the date that
Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger told people in Galveston, Texas about President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.
President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act in June 2021, making June 19 a federal holiday.
Previously, the day was celebrated by Black Texans and Blacks in other southern states. But since becoming a federal
holiday, it has been exploited.
Some have given examples, telling companies to “keep your lady with an Afro tote bags” during Black
History Month. They have referred to such marketing tactics and campaigns as “cultural and financial exploitation.” Some
companies are only interested in maintaining Black American cultural traditions when they can profit from it.
When we celebrate holidays for one ethnic group, it means other groups of people are being ignored.
We should be celebrating American values for everyone, not just Black
people.[5]
Why do we celebrate the birth date of Martin Luther King Jr. on
16 January when we no longer celebrate the individual birthdays of
George Washington and Abraham Lincoln? We now celebrate these American presidents’ birthdays on Presidents’ Day.
Why not celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday on a new holiday titled Famous Americans’ Day?
February is celebrated in the U.S. as Black History
Month[6]. What is special about Black history? What about Greek history
or Italian history or Chinese history, etc. Why single out the history of one ethnic group? Shouldn’t we be learning about
and celebrating the contributions that have been made by all the peoples that have come to this continent (or were here
before the foreigners arrived)? What could be wrong with identifying February as American History Month?
America doesn’t need to celebrate Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Month in
May.[6] The observance only serves to alienate - rather than unite - and
should be done away with. Instead, all fair-minded Americans should accept everyone as an individual and work to put an
end to all hate crimes and prejudices. We should remember that we are all a part of the human race and we must stop the
hateful practice of pointing out irrelevant differences.
Gay Pride Day and other celebrations of sexual diversity need to be toned down or done away with.
Sexual diversity needs to be simply accepted as a fact and left at that. In an ideal America, we wouldn't be celebrating
diversity at all because in an ideal universe the question of who you wanted to love or sleep with would be a matter of
concern only to you and to your loved (or unloved) ones. As would your skin color; some people might like it, some people
might not, but it would have no significance whatsoever. Diversity of skin color is something we should happily take for
granted, the way we do diversity of hair color. No issue of social justice hangs on appreciating hair color diversity; no
issue of social justice hangs on appreciating racial or cultural
diversity.[7]
Let’s not forget that, “we are all still 326 million individuals even as a nation of one.
That’s because the America experiment was born on the premise that all humans are created equally when it comes to
inalienable rights but we are much like snowflakes in that no two are
alike.” (Ref. 8)
All but one of the 30 Major League Baseball teams hosted Pride Nights in 2023, most during
Pride Month. The Texas Rangers were the only team without a Pride Night. They have repeatedly said that they are committed
to making everyone feel welcome at all games. Hooray for the Texas Rangers!
The team has been consistent with its response when asked: “Our commitment is to make everyone
feel welcome and included in Rangers baseball. That means in our ballpark, at every game, and in all we do - for both our
fans and our employees. We deliver on that promise across our many programs to have a positive impact across our entire
community.”
Do the Rangers support the LGBTQ+ community? The Rangers were a sponsor of the NAGAAA Gay Softball
World Series in 2022 when the event took place in Dallas and Waxahachie. The club participated in the opening ceremonies in
Dallas and worked with the local organizers and NAGAAA officials on several initiatives for the event. The team has been
working on initiatives with local groups, including the Pegasus Slow-Pitch Softball Association, which promotes quality
amateur softball at all levels of play with a special emphasis on the participation of members of the LGBTQ+ community.
The Rangers have worked for several years with the Resource Center, which provides programs and assistance to LGBTQ+
communities and anyone impacted in North Dallas by HIV/AIDS through advocacy, health and education. Team employees
volunteer and support Resource Center events. An Inclusion and Community Impact Council was developed by the team to
foster conversations, ideas and programs to support employees internally and to the community externally. Rangers employees
participate in anti-harassment programs, and education programs offered by
MLB.[9]
The Rangers are doing what’s right – they support equality without sticking it in your face.
They support equality and do not promote differences and accentuate inequality.
Yeah, there should be no government recognition of "special months" like Black History, Pride,
Hispanic, Asian, etc. that only perpetuate differences that are dividing, not uniting the America people. Having these
special months does nothing but divide people on things out of our control.
I see the flag-wavers are out in force these days. No, not working-class people who hang the
national flag from their living-room window as an expression of pride in their nation. I’m talking about the Pride flag.
That omnipresent rainbow eyesore. A virtue-signal made cloth. The flag no one can escape. Yep, it’s Pride Month, which
means that everywhere you go for the next four weeks – the bank, the supermarket, the restaurant – you’ll have this flag
waved in your face to remind you not to be such a horrible, homophobic piece of shit.
Happy Pride Month![10]
Enough! I support the rights and equality of members of the LGBTQ+ community but I don’t need to
have them stuffing their agenda down my throat. I don’t need a Pride month and I refuse to celebrate it. It only further
divides and alienates this country. Let’s all work to end the hateful biases and prejudices that have bedeviled us for too
long. Instead, let’s work to define all citizens of this country as Americans - period. Never mind those designations that
only serve to divide us.
Gay Pride has become annoying. It’s so gratingly ubiquitous. You can’t move without bumping into
the rainbows these days. The Pride flag will flutter from town halls across the country. Some buildings will fly the flag
for the whole month. It’s cultish.
The most virtuous Gay-pride supporters don’t only wave the Pride flag – they wear it. Remember
Justin Trudeau’s Pride socks? The New York Times gushed over his ‘socks diplomacy’.
Pride flag-waving is now virtually mandatory. If you fail to wave the flag you’ll be looked upon
as suspect. The Pride flag is a statement of virtue and civilization. Fail to fly it and you risk being considered
prejudiced, hateful, unsafe.
Waving the Stars and Stripes is national chauvinism, the woke left says. And sometimes it is, yes.
But what we have in the omnipresence of Pride flags is something worse: identitarian chauvinism. The Pride flag is the
perfect hollow symbol for our hollow times. It speaks to the dominance of individual identity. The national flag terrifies
the woke elites because it’s a statement of collectivity, of connection, of a yearning for social solidarity. The Pride
flag thrills them because it’s a statement merely about the self. Pride in oneself is the highest virtue in the identitarian
era – very odd to those of us who were taught that pride is a sin. They celebrate it, they fund it, they cultivate it,
because a hyper-individuated populace that spends more time marveling over their own navels than they do making political
connections with their colleagues or neighbors is a very desirable thing to the rulers of society.
This all feels a million miles from the Stonewall riots in New York City in 1969. The winning of
gay equality was one of humankind’s greatest leaps forward of the past 50 years, and it was made possible by the pissed-off
gays and lesbians who fought riotous battles with the NYPD more than 50 years ago. Yet where that was a collective blow for
freedom, Pride in the 21st century is conformist, censorious and dull. It’s me, me, me. It demands validation rather than
liberation, recognition rather than rights, conformism rather than choice. Pride has become a needy, therapeutic festival,
a lonely crowd, demanding constant approval in order to salve the psychic uncertainties citizens experience in the
identitarian era. Stonewall wasn’t for this.
Many of the demands of the LGBTQ+ community have crossed over from the reasonable to the ridiculous.
In some ways, the movement has gone from fighting for equal treatment for gay men and lesbians to demonizing women who
believe biological sex is real and raging against lesbians who think it is batshit crazy to say men can be lesbians if they
‘feel’ that they really are women. It has spun so far into the vortex of identitarian gibberish that it now actively
undermines gay people’s interests. Its embrace of the regressive, post-truth idea that sex is a spectrum, and that people
with penises can be lesbians, and that a woman who gives birth should have the right to be registered as her children’s
father, grates against the very foundation of gay rights – namely that this is a same-sex attraction, and that the people
who experience this attraction ought to enjoy full freedom in society.
Pride is a weird thing to celebrate. Humility and a willingness to discover new ideas and to
understand different ways of living and thinking are far better tools for building social connections and social solidarity.
St Augustine said that “Pride hates a fellowship of equality under God, and wishes to impose its own dominion upon its equals,
in place of God’s rule”. That’s what exists in the sea of Pride flags – a bristling against the ideals of fellowship and
equality and a submission to the deadening cult of hyper-individuation. Take those Gay Pride flags down and stop
the observance of Pride Month![10]
On the 4th of July each year, we celebrate the nation’s forefathers gaining independence for America.
But, independence is functional only in societies with sufficient respect for cooperative interdependence - where citizens
have shared aspirations and a strong sense that they all sink or swim together. This encourages them to come together to
agree on the most basic rules, norms, taboos and laws that govern their lives.
Without it, an unchecked thirst for independence and competition leads to a selfish free-for-all,
a Hobbesian existence that is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
Our focus is then on “me” when it needs to be buffered by a commitment to “we.”
Today, America is sorely lacking unity. We have plenty of “me” time, and ample “us versus them”
which has left our sense of social cohesion so withered that The Economist Intelligence Unit downgraded the
U.S. to a “flawed” democracy, and its ranking on the 2021 Global Peace Index fell to 122nd out of 163 nations.
What we need to correct this trend is a new national holiday - an American Interdependence
Day - a celebration of the “us” in the U.S. and acknowledgement of the fact that our individual fates are inextricably
linked.
At the same time, we need to abolish all those celebrations which emphasize and glorify our
differences, e.g., Juneteenth, Gay Pride Month, etc.
Great societies celebrate unity. Cultural anthropologists have long documented the power of a
society’s rituals, symbols and ceremonies for both shaping and reflecting its character. Decades of research on the world’s
great societies has pointed to the central importance of celebrations of unity.
Given the set of forces pitting Americans against one another today, a significant reset is
warranted. That is, a national reckoning when we are asked to stop, reflect and remember our mutual goals and aspirations
as well as our own contributions to keeping America the shining light in a disruptive and contentious world.
A national holiday like American Interdependence Day will not heal our more selfish
instincts or deeper divisions, but it might well offer a symbol and a catalyst to set us off down a better path
together.[11]
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References:
- Happy National Potato Chip Day! No seriously, you need more ways to waste your time, Brendan Clarey,
USA Today,
14 March 2020.
- LETTER: Stop emphasizing differences , Floyd L. Cranmer, Jr., courierpost.online,
31 December 2014.
- The 10 Stupidest American Holidays, Brian Moylan, www.gawker.com, 10 October 2011.
- Columbus Day Or Indigenous Peoples' Day?, Leila Fadel, npr.org, 14 October 2019.
- 'Keep your lady-with-an-Afro tote bags': Social media calls out Juneteenth pandering, Saleen Martin,
USA Today,
18 June 2023.
- Monthly Observances and Celebrations, diversity.fsu.edu, Accessed 22 June 2023.
- The Trouble With Diversity, Walter Benn Michaels, The American Prospect, 13 August 2006.
- Remember what brings us together, not what divides us, Dennis Wyatt, The Ceres Courier,
27 January 2021.
- Why are the Texas Rangers the only MLB team without a Pride Night?, Associated Press,
www.stltoday.com,
24 June 2023.
- The unbearable annoyingness of Pride, Brendan O’Neill, www.spiked-online.com, 2 June 2021.
- Divided States of America: Why we need an Interdependence Day to restore national unity,
Peter T. Coleman,
USA Today, 3 July 2021.
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