I've been a quiz bowl player and a moderator and from both ends of the spectrum, you hate it. As a player, it sucks having to listen to peals of information that are of absolutely no use to you. Either the stuff at the start of the question is too esoteric, or, as is the example here, it's general information that has nothing to do with the actual question ("The Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, an event commemorated on July 4 each day with Independence Day. Also in July, a holiday once known as Dominion Day...") As a moderator, you grow to hate these questions because, if you care about what you're doing, you'll sit down and practice reading them and preparing for them, and...yeah, it feels like an enormous waste of time.
I will say, for a player, the one redeeming value of them is the "WTF?" reaction you can get from the entire room if you manage to fire off the correct answer quickly. My shining achievement in quiz bowl one day: "After World War II, Captain Jonas Grumby and his friend Willy purchased a..." and I rang in immediately and guessed "Gilligan's Island." Other than that, yeah, screw this question style.