# Texas: myths dispelled **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 10, 2004, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-myths-dispelled/228353 "2004-02-10T00:26:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![The\_General\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@The\_General\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_General_1)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-myths-dispelled/228353/61 "2004-02-10T19:30:04Z")
> [@Captain Lance Murdoch](#): > > I think (or at least I hope) the General may be yanking our collective chains a bit here. I mean John Wayne? He was from Iowa by the way. > > It’s easy to see a place like Texas in terms of stereotypes. And recent statistics showing the poor state of Texas schools, the staggering number of executions and the air quality there don’t help. Throw Dubya on top of all that and you’ve got a place that’s easy for outsiders to dismiss. > > I try to see the positive too, though. Robert Rauschenberg is from Texas. That alone is a pretty cool thing. Renee Zellweger too. I’ve heard great things about Austin. > > Anybody else care to add to the list? Finally, someone with a functional frontal lobe. Thank you, Captain, thank you. And the high number of executions is \*partly \* due to the fact that we have more people than most states, and thereby more criminals. The schools you are refering to are the Texas _public_ schools. Most people send their kids to private schools. There are a few state programs that help people afford to send their kids to good schools, which takes some cash from the public schools. I went to St. Michael’s Academy. College prep school. Grandad set up his will so that his cash had to be used for the education of his kids, grandkids, and (soon) great grandkids. Anyway, Austin does indeed have many good qualities, but they draw some weirdos too. Mostly because it’s the most liberal part of the state. And add Eisenhower and LBJ to the list of famous Texans. Friggin keyboard tried to put a “p” in “famous.” ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-myths-dispelled/228353/62 "2004-02-10T19:43:55Z")
> [@The General](#): > > Are you really that ignorant? You trust a man’s political enemies to form your opinions, and you have the bouncing brass balls to claim that it’s reliable? You seem to have missed the difference between oratory skills and mental capacity. Actually I think they trust a man’s ability to master his first language to form their opinions. > [@The General](#): > > Thanks to the wonder of public records, anyone with a little time on their hands can find out Bush’s IQ. Which is 147, with a 5 point margin of error. The technical limit at which a person is called a genius is 130. Deal with it, beeyotch. > Unfortunately, I have yet to find a website that carries this sort of public record. I had to go to City Hall. And exactly which public record displays one’s IQ? I’m crossing my fingers in the hope that it’s your voter registration, because I’m quite convinced yours would have been rejected if an IQ test is required there. > [@The General](#): > > I still think that mankind wasn’t meant to live in a place where water (which makes up most of you) freezes. Think about it. Water freezes. You’re made of water. Water freezes anywhere on planet Earth, and throughout the rest of the universe, as far as I know. I think you meant where water freezes _outdoors_ . Of course, you can’t have meant that either. Think about it. Water evaporates. You’re made of water. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-myths-dispelled/228353/63 "2004-02-10T19:52:51Z")
> [@ColonelDax](#): > > Correct me if I’m wrong here, but isn’t/wasn’t Texas history a required course at some academic level in all schools in the state? Anyone know if this is still the case? And does anyone know of any other U.S. state that requires or has required all students to complete a course dealing only with its own history? When I was in elementary school, we studied the history of Georgia. I would imagine that at some point all schools teach their state’s history. Texas has a unique history, but all other states are equally unique in their own ways. I was glad to see **Ringo’s** remark, which restored my faith in Texans. ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-myths-dispelled/228353/64 "2004-02-10T20:01:29Z")
> [@The General](#): > > Most people send their kids to private schools. Cite? Obligatory padding characters. ---
**Author:** ![Intent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5e9695/32.png) [@Intent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intent)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-myths-dispelled/228353/65 "2004-02-10T22:43:01Z")
Thank god the general doesn’t actually speak for the rest of us. A quick check of his public profile yielded the following tibbits of information. - Though The General dismisses college students when he describes Austin, he is in fact a college student. Hypocritical, much? - Even with all of his talk of how wonderful Dubya is, The General is a kid. He’s 19. He was not old enough to vote in the last election, or any before that. Again, he’s 19. Not even 20 years old. And barely 19 at that. Somehow, 19 years on this planet have given him the right to tell every Texan how they do think, or how they should think. - He proudly spouts about how much the Bushes did for our state, but he attended a private school? Guess we can all agree that their education programs stunk. (Though, in my personal experience, they beat Californias and Floridas into the dirt) - I really have to wonder about a person who posts their IQ in their public profile. Compensating for anything? Thank god mine is higher, since that is the sole way in which we judge a person. - Speaking of IQ’s, while I was unable to locate public record of the presidents, I did find a page relating SAT scores and IQ’s. This shows the presidents to be a 125. Lower than The Generals even. Scary thought. [http://www.sq.4mg.com/Presidents.htm](http://www.sq.4mg.com/Presidents.htm) ---
**Author:** ![The\_General\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@The\_General\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_General_1)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2004, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-myths-dispelled/228353/66 "2004-02-10T23:08:50Z")
I was dissing UT, not college kids in general. I’m at TTU. And seeing as your site lists Bush alongside the greats, and places him in the “Presidents with high SQ, Ambition, and Integrity” catagory, I see no reason to complain. Besides, when you consider that our last president dropped out of the Rhodes Scholar program (simply stopped going), we’re far better off than we were. I attended private school because my grandad set up his will so that all his money went towards the education of his grandkids. There’s a mountain of cash, and my parents can only spent it on tuition. What do you expect, they’re gonna leave it and send me to a public school? My high school and my college isn’t costing them a cent. Final point to this particular point-dexter, I fail to see the connection between voting and intellegence/perception. Perhaps you have found one. Explain. PS. I post my IQ because I am proud of my intellegence. False modesty is for actors and celebrities, and I am neither. also PS. Are any of you even aware that the weapons were found in Iraq? I realize that the mainstream media buried it, but people should know this before they talk politics. Yet another PS. I apologize for getting irritated when I am confronted with the same points repeatedly. But I will not hesitate to call you a dumbass if you don’t see my responses to the last person who said exactly what you’re saying. **And can you people please stick to the topic? I’m sure that at least one of you forgot; it’s state myths.** ---
**Author:** ![Soup\_du\_jour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Soup\_du\_jour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup_du_jour)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-myths-dispelled/228353/67 "2004-02-11T00:24:42Z")
Oh, and Tommy Lee Jones is a San Antonio native. Darn tootin’! ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-myths-dispelled/228353/68 "2004-02-11T00:52:29Z")
Okay, state myths…Is it true that you really are a world-class dumbass or do you just get your jollies playing one hyper-realistically on the net? ---
**Author:** ![Olive\_The\_Other\_Reindeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Olive\_The\_Other\_Reindeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olive_The_Other_Reindeer)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-myths-dispelled/228353/69 "2004-02-11T01:02:13Z")
> [@The General](#): > > Texas is one of the few states where you can start in the middle and literally drive for 8-10 hours in the direction of the nearest border and still be in the state you started in. I had a car like that once . . . . . ---
**Author:** ![caligynephobia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7feea3/32.png) [@caligynephobia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligynephobia)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-myths-dispelled/228353/70 "2004-02-11T01:18:57Z")
> [@The General](#): > > Bush got our votes because he did a damn good job here, and if you can run the second largest state without a hitch, you’re pretty qualified to run the rest of the country. Texas has never been better off than when Bush was running things down here. Well **The General** , you’ve highlighted another myth: That if the sole extent of an individual’s political experience is as a competent Governor of Texas, he or she is necessarily qualified for higher national office. Every student of Texas government learns that Governor of Texas _does not really have much juice_ (BTW, I believe most college students in Texas state universities are required a semester of Texas government if they want to earn a bachelor’s degree). As Governor of Texas, George W. Bush did fine. So did Ann Richards before him. Comparatively speaking, not difficult because not much is required. We’ve been a) fortunate to have it so good, or b)lucky it hasn’t been worse with GWB as president, depending on your perspective. Somebody may get meaningful executive experience as governor of some of the other states, but what voters should realize is that regardless of whether he/she is a democrat or republican, your prospective only-been-Governor-of-Texas presidential candidate is a Texas-sized unknown, because he or she did not get a whole lot of experience as Governor. This is not to speak ill of Texas government or politics, as there have been some great statesmen that’ve worked in Austin. Just perhaps the limitations of the Governor’s role WRT the Texas Constitution. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-myths-dispelled/228353/71 "2004-02-11T03:13:07Z")
> [@kniz](#): > > When I was in elementary school, we studied the history of Georgia. I would imagine that at some point all schools teach their state’s history. … FWIW New York didn’t have a section on the History of New York specifically, at least not when I went to school there back in the Late Middle Ages. Of course stuff was mixed in along the line: Revolutionary War battles, the Erie Canal, Immigration to New York City (Ellis Island) and so on. I really appreciate this thread, my wife and I are considering travelling to Texas to visit some of her relatives and I have never spent any time there. This discussion is - lluminating - in more ways than one. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-myths-dispelled/228353/72 "2004-02-11T03:14:30Z")
Or _illuminating_, even. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Jaade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@Jaade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaade)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-myths-dispelled/228353/73 "2004-02-11T04:18:30Z")
**General** , darlin’…since you’ve lived in Texas since you were 7, I’m sure that by now you have heard the sayin’, “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.” What _is_ the purpose of this thread? Is it really to dispell myths about Texas? From what I see, you are the embodiment of every ill-mannered Texan I’ve met (which have actually been few and far between). Insulting everyone here surely won’t draw them to you. I don’t mind that you have state pride. I do, too! I love Texas, and I love my home state of Georgia as well. ( **Mr. Blue Sky** , my hometown is near Savannah!) I’ll try to forget that you’ve dissed most of your southern neighbors over the course of this thread. In my opinion, for all of its faults and idiosyncrasies, the South is a place like no other place on Earth, full of charm and traditions. For the record, the Dukes of Hazard (that is the correct spelling, btw) was not set in “the South”, it was set in Georgia. (And yes, I took Georgia History in the 7th grade as well, so it’s not just a Texas thing.) True Southerners (and cowboys for that matter) are not braggarts, and I’m afraid that is what you appear to be in this thread, **General**. > [@](#): > > **Johnny B. Goode** > > I have a question: Is it generally true that Texans have a chip on their shoulders relating to the secession? Is there a lot more state-related pride in Texas than other states? If so, why do you think so? I truly believe that a lot of Southerners still have a “chip on their shoulders” relating to the secession. Not necessarily because of the things that the Confederates stood for at that time, but the way that things were handled, and the way the South was seen at the time, and in some places, the way we are still seen. I am of the opinion that most Southern states have a great deal of pride, more so than our northern counterparts. > [@](#): > > **The General** > > On to your ignorant claim about cowboys. Montana never had cowboys. Cowboys were specifically part of the Texas Cattle Drives. > > Oklahoma is not cowboys. My dad was born there, he was raised there, and he backs me up on this. > > Wyoming sort of has cowboys. Nothing even close to the Texas cowboy (a good quarter of my senior class owned horses, and at least 8 of them lived on one of the ranches outside town). This is one of your silliest statements. I’ve met cowboys from Oklahoma, Nebraska, Georgia, Texas, Washington, Montana and Wyoming. If you truly knew something about being a cowboy, you’d know that being a cowboy is a way of life, and doesn’t have a damn thing to do with where you were born. (And having horses ‘don’t’ make you a cowboy, son.) > [@](#): > > **Laughing Lagomorph** > > I really appreciate this thread, my wife and I are considering travelling to Texas to visit some of her relatives and I have never spent any time there. This discussion is - illuminating - in more ways than one. As you can see by the many protests here, most people in Texas, and in the South in general do not agree with people who think like **The General**. I hope you enjoy your stay in Texas, and if it’s near Houston, maybe we can have a Houdope in your honor! 🙂 ~J ---
**Author:** ![TitoBenito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2acd7d/32.png) [@TitoBenito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TitoBenito)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-myths-dispelled/228353/74 "2004-02-11T05:17:03Z")
> [@The General](#): > > I was dissing UT, not college kids in general. I’m at TTU. > \*\* Ok that explains everything. 😃 I figured you for an aggie at first, but even they have standards to uphold. By the way I also want to city hall and found George W. Bushes IQ (city hall has that kind of data) and your wrong it said ummmm 104. With these kind of research skills I should have gone to Tech. ---
**Author:** ![angelicate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@angelicate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/angelicate)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-myths-dispelled/228353/75 "2004-02-11T08:54:49Z")
> [@The General](#): > > The mere fact that you moved out means that you were probably from out-of-state originally. Or you couldn’t cut it here, and chickened out. Actually, my husband is in the Navy and his job took us out of the state. ---
**Author:** ![Grey4791](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grey4791/32/4042_2.png) [@Grey4791](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey4791)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-myths-dispelled/228353/76 "2004-02-11T11:51:38Z")
Being a native Texan, I have always taken a certain pride in being from this state. As a travel nurse, I have visited other states where regional pride seemed to be lacking and people seemed generally apathetic of their state’s history. I guess I always enjoyed the fact that our state used to be its own nation…we are allowed to hang our flag level with the US flag…and we can even split into 4 other states if we ever so desire, a legal fact that remains in our states constitution. I always thought that was pretty cool…although why would we ever want to do that? While I do not live there anymore, Texas will always be a part of me and I always tell people they should visit even if they’d rather not due to the bragodocia of my fellow Texans. I have enjoyed the other states I have visited as well, but I miss the manners and hospitality of back home…never seen it equalled anywhere else. My patients usually guess by the way I talk I am from Texas…they don’t even ask if I from the South, they automatically ask how long I have been out of Texas…lol. Some people assume all Texans are going to be in their face bragging about Texas, but I generally let good manners and kindness speak for themselves. The cockiness of the OP notwithstanding, this was an interesting thread. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-myths-dispelled/228353/77 "2004-02-11T15:32:38Z")
What was the score of the OU/Texas game this year? ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-myths-dispelled/228353/78 "2004-02-11T16:23:38Z")
> [@The General](#): > > Are you really that ignorant? You trust a man’s political enemies to form your opinions, and you have the bouncing brass balls to claim that it’s reliable? Jump to conclusions much? I don’t need to seek out the opinions of Bush’s ‘political enemies’ to know that a person who talks like a moron, acts like a moron and makes moronic decisions … **is a frickin’ moron.** > [@](#): > > Thanks to the wonder of public records, anyone with a little time on their hands can find out Bush’s IQ. Which is 147, with a 5 point margin of error. The technical limit at which a person is called a genius is 130. Deal with it, beeyotch. > > Unfortunately, I have yet to find a website that carries this sort of public record. I had to go to City Hall. City Hall? Yeah, right. Another poster has already called your ass out on this one, dude. > [@](#): > > And most of my typos are the result of an old keyboard combined with thick fingers, and mistakes with homonyms (sp?) are because I type too quickly when I’m responding to morons. My apologies for hastiness, you over-inflated bag of ass-gas. This ass-gas, however, knows the difference. Do you want to know what my I.Q. is? Oh, and if I make an error or if I state something that reveals that I am ignorant about something, I have the _cohones_ to admit it, and I don’t make up lame excuses such as “my keyboard made me do it.” [inset crying emoticon here] > [@](#): > > Yes, despite your whining, Texas is among the few states that exports more than we import. Yet in an earlier post, you said that Texas was “completely self-sufficient.” How is it that a state can be completely self-sufficient – yet import stuff too? Dictionary, meet **The General** , **The General** , meet Dictionary. > [@](#): > > As for your attempt at wise ass remarks about my chosen login, Never made such a remark, wise ass or otherwise. Please clarify. > [@](#): > > … try to find something better to critisize than literary skills. Done. Next? ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-myths-dispelled/228353/79 "2004-02-11T16:43:02Z")
> [@angelicate](#): > > He seems like the type of Texan I haven’t missed since moving out of the state a few years ago. He’s the type of Texan that is the root cause of my leaving the God forsaken place in 1963, after swearing a blood oath to never return. ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-myths-dispelled/228353/80 "2004-02-11T16:53:02Z")
> [@Grey4791](#): > > we are allowed to hang our flag level with the US flag Yeah, just like every other state in the U.S. can. **Any** U.S. state flag can be displayed at the same level as the U.S. flag when they are flown on adjacent flagpoles. [Cite #1](http://12.164.81.10/betsy/flagetiq.html#3) [Cite #2](http://www.snopes.com/history/american/texasflag.asp) > [@Grey4791](#): > > and we can even split into 4 other states if we ever so desire, Yeah, just like every other state in the U.S. can. (See Article IV, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution.) Thanks for giving us two more great examples of erroneous and inflated Texas “we’re different from you” bravado, **Grey4791**. :rolleyes: This is becoming very tiresome … (Also, see this [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/history/american/texas.asp) entry for more, shall we say, _less biased_ information on Texas history.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-myths-dispelled/228353.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-myths-dispelled/228353.md?page=5)