Slightly Hysterical "History" about the American Independence Day

Being an aspiring historian with expertise in Colonial America makes the 4th of July a very interesting holiday. Already knowing all the history and tiny details surrounding our nation's birthday allows me to sit back and watch everyone else who is still attempting to learn that history. In most cases, this turns out to be pretty funny, especially since people generally have a great deal of pride they are trying to protect. One cannot seem weak or unintelligent in today's world, so they pretend and think no one else is smart enough to know the difference.

Entertaining historically inspired situations that enlivened my weekend:

- Turning on the History channel Thursday night I learned that the Masons founded the United States of America and are still working on achieving their "New World Order" which consists of them running the world their way. The sad part of this is that many people think that if it's on the History channel, it must be true. I can only imagine how many conspiracy nuts were created by the airing of this fictional documentary.

- In a separate documentary I also learned the the secret society of the Skull and Bones at Yale is the primary rival of the Masons and that they are far more successful in terms of infiltrating the political system than the Masons currently are. This one might actually be true... ;)

- A guest at a get-together I attended was downright upset when the host said that the 4th of July wasn't as big in her family as the 24th of July. He promptly freaked out and refused to listen to the rational reasons the host was struggling to provide. The real reason why her family (and mine as well) celebrates the 24th more exuberantly is not because of Pioneer Day exactly. It really has to do with the fact that our hometown city celebrates Fiesta Days on the 24th, and boy, as a child that was one of the best days of the year! (I actually told this guy we weren't patriotic just to make him mad...)
*Note to readers: Patriotism is NOT a religion and saying you enjoy a different holiday more than Independence Day is NOT blasphemous, nor should people be offended by it. Personally, I might actually argue that it's blasphemous to be so patriotic.
***For more info on my personal opinions on Independence Day, please refer to my blog post of July 5, 2007.

- Later, this same guest was again upset at my husband (a genius of a historian) when Alexander told him that the 1812 Overture, that annually plays as the background music of the fireworks in DC, was actually written about the war between France and Russia and not the tiny skirmish in the US that happened to be a spill-over from the European War. Quote of the night: "No, it was written by a Russian, but it was about the American War of 1812. That was an important war. Why else would they play it at the fireworks?"
Why indeed? For the record, Alexander and I really hate American-centric thinking. We laughed the whole night home about his assumption that a Russian would care enough about some random new country thousands of miles away to write an entire, beautiful orchestration for it.

- While watching a re-run of the finale of the DC fireworks, the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps came out to play in typical colonial fashion. They were dressed to the nines in wigs, tricorn hats, and button-up shoes. Their uniforms were spot-on perfect, but they were wearing red coats. In light of the fact that the only thing most Americans know about the colonial British are their "Red Coats" I thought it was slightly funny. When I decided to make a joke about how ironic the outfits were, the same passionate person mentioned above thought it would be a good idea to argue with me. Second quote of the night: "What are you talking about? The Americans were such a rag-tag army that they wore anything they could get their hands on, so you can't say they never wore a redcoat."

Hmm, well, in actuality, the musicians of the army wore opposite colors of the regiments they were assigned (the revolutionaries wore blue accented with red, so the band wore red accented with blue) so the uniforms really were perfect. Despite this (since I doubt he knew this history) his argument is still lacking. While it is probable that the American army wore whatever they could find, if they had picked up a British red coat they probably would have turned the coat inside out so as to guarantee they weren't shot by their own side. Plus, I seriously doubt an entire regiment would be wearing only the red coats that they salvaged off the battlefield. Regardless, in light of the average American's knowledge or colonial uniforms, I still felt validated for making fun of it.

Anyway, despite my semantics and urge to debate, it was a fun weekend and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. We stuffed ourselves to the brim with hamburgers, bratwurst, Kalua pork and snow-cones and went to bed each night happy, contented and worn-out. I need more weekends like this. :)