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2016 - and Parades - and change
January 1, 2016 at 1:32 pm
Happy 2016 Everybody!
I turned on the TV to the Rose Bowl parade. The floats are quite amazing. (Downton Abbey!) The amount of time and money required to create those things is mind-boggling. The Thanksgiving Day parade was similar - kind of boring - one long commercial for shows and artists, really.
The world has changed since I was a little girl. It has changed a LOT in the last 100 years. In the past, people would gather to see a spectacle - something they didn't see everyday, like a band and circus clowns and acrobats and displays. Now none of these things are particularly exciting. We sit in the comfort of our own homes, turn on the television, and see things that are much more interesting at the click of a button.
So, who thinks that parades will die out? Who thinks that they will continue, but change in format somehow? Inquiring minds want to know!
"The family that prays together...is brainwashing their children."- Albert Einstein
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RE: 2016 - and Parades - and change
January 1, 2016 at 8:36 pm
Parades are fun.
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RE: 2016 - and Parades - and change
January 1, 2016 at 8:40 pm
I see no point in them. I would rather have large public gatherings in which people could discuss the problems of their society, but that's just me.
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RE: 2016 - and Parades - and change
January 1, 2016 at 9:19 pm
I haven't been to a parade since I was a kid, but ooff and on, I have enjoyed watching Macy's on TV, as well as the Rose Parade. It's tradition and warmth. It's kind of a white person thing to do, but, well, yep, I'm a whitey.
As I get older, my tolerance for crowds plummets, so I'm not sure I'd ever try to live the childhood dream of going to Macy's. Also, I feel like I want a parade to be a fluid thing, with marching and driving and not much else. I don't like how Macy's appears to pause so a singer can do his/her thing. I noticed a "stage" put out on the Macy's route that was essentially a mat. It just looked ugly on TV.
My favorite things in any parade are the marching bands and emergency vehicles. So, I like the small town/suburban parades that are so popular back in, say, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York State, etc. Having the local HS band, maybe Rotary or Shriners or others with their fancy old cars. Maybe the local fire department with its parade truck that used to be a pumper, or whatever.
I actually haven't been to a parade since the mid-80's, in Ludington, MI, if I remember. I was maybe 10. But I love watching it on TV or YouTube.
Both hometown parades:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECUk0yeTKV0
and fire musters:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYLO2QHFWx0
"For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan
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RE: 2016 - and Parades - and change
January 1, 2016 at 10:13 pm
Small town parade with local high school marching band, equestrians, local fire rescue crews throwing candy to the kids, clever to lame floats for local businesses and clubs and churches, it's always fun.
When I was a kid, they'd close off main street and let the traffic backup for a couple hours, nowadays, they have the parade on a side street.
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RE: 2016 - and Parades - and change
January 1, 2016 at 10:22 pm
The word 'parade' has a negative connotation for me, very unpleasant associations, culturally speaking.
Boru
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RE: 2016 - and Parades - and change
January 2, 2016 at 12:32 pm
(January 1, 2016 at 10:22 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: The word 'parade' has a negative connotation for me, very unpleasant associations, culturally speaking.
Boru
You have me curious Boru - if you feel like elaborating. Military? Political groups turning violent? Religious processions? 
Running with the bulls in Pamplona? 
"The family that prays together...is brainwashing their children."- Albert Einstein
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RE: 2016 - and Parades - and change
January 2, 2016 at 1:58 pm
Option #2. I grew up in Northern Ireland, were parades were demonstrations of either Republican or (more usually) Loyalist patriotism. Loyalists tend to parade in Nationalist neighbourhoods, for the express purpose of irritating nationalists. These demonstrations often lead to violence by both sides, though I'm given to understand that things are not as bad now as in the past.
Boru
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RE: 2016 - and Parades - and change
January 2, 2016 at 2:36 pm
(January 2, 2016 at 1:58 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: Option #2. I grew up in Northern Ireland, were parades were demonstrations of either Republican or (more usually) Loyalist patriotism. Loyalists tend to parade in Nationalist neighbourhoods, for the express purpose of irritating nationalists. These demonstrations often lead to violence by both sides, though I'm given to understand that things are not as bad now as in the past.
Boru
Wow. Sorry you went through that. Parading through Nationalist neighborhoods - - just asking to be attacked. Sounds like gang warfare. I would have hidden indoors, cussing out both sides. I wouldn't like parades either. Thanks for giving another viewpoint.
"The family that prays together...is brainwashing their children."- Albert Einstein
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RE: 2016 - and Parades - and change
January 2, 2016 at 3:22 pm
Yeah, I've heard that, too, with regards to NA. And some footage of such a parade almost looked like a bleaker, creeper version of an American neighborhood parade, IIRC.
"For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan
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