© REUTERS/Bing GuanPeople queue for dine-in service outside the Baja Beach Bar in the Pacific Beach neighborhood of San Diego, California.
While Independence Day is typically a time for celebration in the US, it's taken a different turn this year amidst the Covid-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests.
The hashtag "F**ktheFourth" is trending on Twitter, with the "u" in the curse word cleverly switched out with a "v."
"There is NOTHING to celebrate today. America is a failed state," podcaster Ryan Knight tweeted, highlighting growing poverty in the US.
"What r we celebrating? Kids in cages? Police brutality? COVID? Poverty? No healthcare? Ur celebration is a sham. Ur greatness? Ur rejoicing is empty. Ur shouts of liberty & equality? Hollow. A thin veil to cover up crimes that would disgrace a nation of savages," another user added.
The frustration has been repeated by many others, who have kept the phrase popular on Twitter.
But as is typical in today's divided culture, conservatives have responded to the hashtag by expressing the opposite sentiment, highlighting the positives of the US and shaming those trying to cast the holiday in a negative light.
"The men who signed the Declaration of Independence put their families and fortunes on the line so that 244 years later a bunch of morons living in the greatest country to ever exist could tweet #F**kTheFourth. Imagine what they'd be thinking right now," tweeted Republican senate candidate JT Lewis.
"Now we have #F**kTheFourth trending, so this is a reminder of just how disgusting and ignorant/sh**ty the left truly is," actor and outspoken conservative Antonio Sabato Jr. added.
The divided messages follow a Friday speech given by President Donald Trump at Mount Rushmore, where he blasted "cancel culture" and "left-wing fascism" while protesters called the long-standing monument itself an example of historical racism in the US, a theme central to the demonstrations across the nation in the wake of the death of George Floyd.
Reader Comments
Is America heading for civil war? Of course it is...
In last week's article I discussed the issue of American "balkanization" and the rapid migration of conservatives and moderates from large population centers and states that are becoming militant...R.C.
I also read that he may have gotten on wrong way.
Now, finally, the city will be sued for not doing what taxes have been long ago paid to do. That might shut down the next CHAShit place a lot quicker. The city will use the 'assumption of risk'/comparative negligence defense, but they'll pay money to those bimbos, nonetheless.
R.C.
WTF can anyone do for these people?
" I am he, him, his, and F.U!" (to those fools.).
RC
Don't know what went on with the driver, but looking at the wider context of a couple of years worth of YouTube vids of crazed mobs of Antifa types attacking cars in Seattle, with the headline usually something like "Car RAMS peaceful protesters in Seattle", I can see why a driver in such a situation might be reluctant to stop.
Yeah, it's sad, but I can think of many other
whitegirls killed far more deserving of my feelings. Look at any list of female murder victims in America. I'd guess that blacks, as REAL murderers of innocent females (unknown to them, wilful homicide), are by some huge ratio far more likely than others to be REAL murderers, e.g., "Federal Statistics Show Blacks are 39 Times More Likely to Commit Violent Crime Against Whites Than Vice Versa". Blacks are seven times more likely than people of other races to commit murder, and eight times more likely to commit robbery. .[Link] R.C.IF those cars had been police cars, there's no way he would have done what he did.
It looks like he was afraid while approaching an illegal roadblock, (who wouldn't be?) saw a way through, then the crowd on his right stopped backing away and he was probably looking to his right. It seems the two he hit were confident that the vehicle would stop or completely unaware of it. (I believe there are other videos though.) He straightened out back towards the left, maybe? believing he had gotten past the crowds and the roadblock.
Sure looks like, from that, that If I was on the jury, I'd acquit or cause a mistrial.
R.C.
It is a terrible thing that happened to the girls but on the other hand, some people seriously need to learn about consequences
On the bright side, the driver's black and the bimbos are white.
Just remembered an old expression - "Go and play marbles on the motorway" .... it was a polite way of telling people to FOAD