煙花正在轟鳴，比以往更早、更響

煙花正在轟鳴，比以往更早、更響

I will state this up front: I hate fireworks. They are loud and they are dangerous and they are polluting and they scare my dogs and my kids and me. This year, I hate them more than ever; for reasons nobody quite understands, they are ubiquitous weeks before the Fourth of July. According to Gothamist, noise complaints related to fireworks in New York City are up a crazy 4,000% over last year. But it’s not just New York; according to the Associated Press, “They’ve become a nightly nuisance ringing out from Connecticut to California, angering sleep-deprived residents and alarming elected officials.”

我先聲明一點(diǎn):我討厭煙花。它們很吵，很危險(xiǎn)，還會(huì)污染環(huán)境，嚇到我的狗、我的孩子和我。今年，我比以往任何時(shí)候都更討厭他們;出于沒(méi)人能完全理解的原因，它們?cè)?月4日之前的幾個(gè)星期里無(wú)處不在。據(jù)Gothamist網(wǎng)站報(bào)道，紐約市與煙花爆竹有關(guān)的噪音投訴比去年激增了4000倍。但不僅僅是紐約;據(jù)美聯(lián)社報(bào)道，“從康涅狄格到加州，它們已經(jīng)成為每晚擾民的聲音，激怒了睡眠不足的居民，也讓民選官員感到不安。”

Setting off fireworks in New York.Stephanie Keith/ Getty Images

This is all after a dream-time when some urbanists fantasized that we would learn from the lockdown and appreciate the quiet streets and clean air. Instead, some say the boom in fireworks is all about making noise and blowing off steam after being locked inside. Kaitlyn Tiffany of the Atlantic writes about fireworks retailer Randall Horvath, who notes that his sales are up 60%:

這一切都是在一些城市規(guī)劃專(zhuān)家幻想我們可以從封鎖中學(xué)習(xí)，欣賞安靜的街道和干凈的空氣之后發(fā)生的。相反，一些人說(shuō)，燃放煙花爆竹是為了制造噪音，并在被鎖在室內(nèi)后釋放蒸汽?！洞笪餮笤驴返膭P特琳•蒂芙尼在文章中提到了煙花零售商蘭德?tīng)?bull;霍瓦特，霍瓦特指出他的銷(xiāo)售額增長(zhǎng)了60%:

Horvath suspects that amateur pyrotechnics have become popular because fireworks shows have been canceled, vacations are off, and there’s nothing to do. People have been stuck inside. They want to set things on fire. He also suggested that the companies that make fireworks for professional displays—such as the shows put on by cities or amusement parks—have turned to the consumer market. “These people have to make money,” he said.

霍瓦特猜測(cè)，業(yè)余煙花表演之所以受歡迎，是因?yàn)闊熁ū硌荼蝗∠耍倨谝步Y(jié)束了，而且沒(méi)有什么事情可做。人們被困在里面。他們想放火。他還建議那些為城市或游樂(lè)園舉辦的專(zhuān)業(yè)表演制作煙花的公司應(yīng)該把目光轉(zhuǎn)向消費(fèi)市場(chǎng)。“這些人必須賺錢(qián)，”他說(shuō)。

More fireworks in Brooklyn. Stephanie Keith/ Google images

Meanwhile, other theories abound. Author Robert Jones Jr. thinks it is a “false-flag” operation and explains on Facebook:

與此同時(shí)，其他理論也層出不窮。作家小羅伯特·瓊斯認(rèn)為這是一種“假旗”行為，并在Facebook上解釋道:

The goal, we think, is multifaceted:

我們認(rèn)為，目標(biāo)是多方面的:

1. Sleep deprivation as a means to create confusion and stoke tensions between Black and Brown peoples.

剝奪睡眠是制造混亂和加劇黑人和棕色人種之間緊張關(guān)系的一種手段。

2. Desensitization as a means to get us so used to the sounds of firecrackers and other fireworks that when they start using their real artillery on us we won't know the difference. It's meant to sound like a war zone because a war zone is what it's about to become.

脫敏作為一種手段，讓我們?nèi)绱肆?xí)慣于鞭炮聲和其他煙花爆竹的聲音，以至于當(dāng)他們開(kāi)始對(duì)我們使用真正的火炮時(shí)，我們將不知道區(qū)別。這聽(tīng)起來(lái)像是一個(gè)戰(zhàn)區(qū)，因?yàn)樗磳⒆兂梢粋€(gè)戰(zhàn)區(qū)。

My colleague Russell McLendon has explained how fireworks are bad for the environment and I have previously listed nine reasons to rant about them. They have always been political; John Adams called for the celebration of Independence Day “with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”

我的同事拉塞爾·麥克倫登已經(jīng)解釋了煙花是如何對(duì)環(huán)境有害的，而我之前也列出了對(duì)它們咆哮的九個(gè)理由。它們一直都是政治性的;約翰·亞當(dāng)斯呼吁慶祝獨(dú)立日“從現(xiàn)在起，從美洲大陸的這一端到另一端，用盛大的儀式和游行、展示、游戲、運(yùn)動(dòng)、槍炮、鐘聲、篝火和彩燈，永遠(yuǎn)下去”。

But that was just one day, not a month, and now they are divisive and conspiratorial. A tenth reason to rant.

但那只是一天，而不是一個(gè)月，現(xiàn)在他們分裂和陰謀。這是咆哮的第10個(gè)理由。