Rick_Kitchen:
I had to laugh at our local news tonight. The airheaded anchor said, “After Brexit, there is a movement for Texas to secede from the Union. But, will it be more difficult for Texas”?
Is she hot? No, it’s Texas. Never mind,
North Carolina is becoming purple.
Everyone else is having so much fun, I almost hate to tell them that there ISN’T anything worth calling a secessionist movement in Texas.
You’re stuck with us. Sorry.
tomndebb:
Texas did not get its reputation from people who went their and returned, it got its reputation from (a few, loud) Texans who came out to see the rest of the world. Texas had a reputation as a bunch of braggarts going back decades. (Giving a lot of people the impression that it was, (to use a Texan phrase), all hat and no cattle.) I have seen jokes playing on that theme dating back to WWII and before. I heard a number of people in the 1950s and 1960s who returned from visits to Texas expressing surprise at how nice the Texans were, given the fairly nasty and crude impression that some of their fellow citizens conveyed when outside their state. I am not sure where that developed. I would guess that it was a combination of attitudes conveyed in Westerns (movies and novels) that may or may not have been accurate, the state’s position for 115 years as the largest state, and a vague memory that somewhere in their distant past they had been their own country, that a few Texans insisted in promoting as badges of honor when they were outside Texas–not unlike the attitudes ascribed to New Yorkers and Parisians.
There is certainly much more to Texas and its citizens than the above mentioned issues and similar ones, but those probably influence the opinions of a number of Left leaning posters of the SDMB.
Tom, me boyo, could ye try something a little less Wall of Text? Something like, quote,
tomndebb:
Texas did not get its reputation from people who went their and returned, it got its reputation from (a few, loud) Texans who came out to see the rest of the world.
Texas had a reputation as a bunch of braggarts going back decades. (Giving a lot of people the impression that it was, (to use a Texan phrase), all hat and no cattle.) I have seen jokes playing on that theme dating back to WWII and before. I heard a number of people in the 1950s and 1960s who returned from visits to Texas expressing surprise at how nice the Texans were, given the fairly nasty and crude impression that some of their fellow citizens conveyed when outside their state.
I am not sure where that developed. I would guess that it was a combination of attitudes conveyed in Westerns (movies and novels) that may or may not have been accurate, the state’s position for 115 years as the largest state, and a vague memory that somewhere in their distant past they had been their own country, that a few Texans insisted in promoting as badges of honor when they were outside Texas–not unlike the attitudes ascribed to New Yorkers and Parisians.
On top of that pre-existing attitude, recall that within a year of the SDMB moving to the internet from AOL, GWB began his “good ol’ boy” run for the presidency, often playing up his “Texan” background. In addition, with regard to the SDMB, there is the problem with the Texan state school board that sets the standards for all its school texts.
The size of Texas means that many textbook publishers write with the intention of getting purchased in Texas, so that when the school board promotes fanciful history or attempts to dumb down science, it has the affect of dumbing down texts available to other states.
Further, as a Bible Belt state, a number of violations of the separation of church and state appear there with a certain regularity. The state’s reputation has not been helped by some of its court-related behaviors: rushing to re-instate the death penalty after SCOTUS permitted it again, ordering one third of all executions in the U.S. since the 1976 SCOTUS decision, and the use of a system in much of the state of appointing judges’ friends to be capital case defense attorneys rather than creating and funding a professional corps of defense lawyers. (And, for those so disposed, the apparent worship of football, particularly in high school, does little to attract the approbation of some SDMB posters.
There is certainly much more to Texas and its citizens than the above mentioned issues and similar ones, but those probably influence the opinions of a number of Left leaning posters of the SDMB.
Tom, there is no sin in adding paragraph breaks,
All this about Texas, and not one word about bar-b-q or Willy Nelson. Bunch of Phyllis Steins.
astorian:
Everyone else is having so much fun, I almost hate to tell them that there ISN’T anything worth calling a secessionist movement in Texas.
You’re stuck with us. Sorry.
Then get your shit together and go. Hurry up.
New Mexico would be NMexit? N’Mexit? NewMexit? Help me out, here.
Ukulele_Ike:
It was a pun. Try pronouncing “Gerxit” with a soft “g.”
Look, they can’t all be gems. But this one must have really sucked if I have to explain the joke.
I humbly request you give ‘dixit’ a similar punny reading to discover that I’m not immune to such humour…
…And after you have sat on it for a few hours you’ll better understand the pain which comes from blowing this joke (and trying to explain the resulting mess).
dropzone:
Tom, me boyo, could ye try something a little less Wall of Text? Something like, quote,
Tom, there is no sin in adding paragraph breaks,
tomndebb is usually so sane. Was he exposed to Texas Brags during some youthful experiment with psychoactive substances?
Some people think that Texans are born braggarts. The honest truth is that most of us have to be coached. We begin with a few simple facts about the proud history of the republic and the conditions under which we allowed the United States to join up with us. From there we graduate to pithy anecdotes and colorful metaphors about bigness, oil, humidity, snakes, money, dust, and so on. By the age of five, we are all pretty skilled boasters. I wouldn’t want to exaggerate, though; some are better than others.
Texans brag about Texas because we have always done it, but also because Easterners demand it. Not that bragging is an unpleasant duty. Still, some people are just never satisfied until they push you into a brag or two when you might prefer to remain quiet and modest. Even then they are not really happy with the usual statements. You have to start lying.
Of course, about 11% of Texans are black. And an even greater proportion are “Hispanic.” So getting rid of us would make the USA whiter.
Hmmm…
The rise of membership in the Texas Nationalist Movement coincided with other secession-related news events not part of that organization. Governor Rick Perry, at a political rally in 2009, addressed the possibility of secession. During the rally, many in the crowd began to chant “secede, secede,” to which Perry remarked, “If Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that.”[19][25] Perry subsequently clarified that the comment was tongue in cheek and that he does not support secession.[24] His remarks sparked controversy[25] and harsh criticism from government officials and pundits, such as Jeff Macke and Joe Weisental.[26]
After Perry’s comments received news coverage, Rasmussen Reports found that about 1 in 3 of those it polled believed that Texas has the right to secede from the United States, although only 18% would support secession and 75% would oppose secession.[27] In another poll, 60% of Texans surveyed opposed becoming an independent nation. However, 48% of Texas Republicans surveyed supported it.[28][29] The reaction from outside the state was also strongly split, including those who wanted to get rid of Texas.
18% of the population and 48% of Republicans strikes me as “worth calling a secessionist movement”.
A bunch of people bitching in online polls a few years ago is not “a movement.” Especially when those polls didn’t exclude non-Texans; nutcases from other states also voted.
Secession will never make it to the ballot in Texas.
Kimstu
June 26, 2016, 1:42pm
75
astorian:
Everyone else is having so much fun, I almost hate to tell them that there ISN’T anything worth calling a secessionist movement in Texas.
You’re stuck with us. Sorry.
S’okay astorian , I like Texas. Specially now that the increasing Hispanic population is making it much easier to get good food there.
Yup, Bush won the state by 13 points in 2004, and it went blue in 2008 and has been a swing state ever since.
Supposedly Texas and Georgia will become swing states in the next few cycles, but we will see.
Hmmmm… Nope, you’re still wrong. Texas isn’t going anywhere, no matter how much you’d like to fantasize.
Alas, no. The Mexican immigrants aren’t bringing in exotic new foods or great new restaurants. They tend to eat at Mickey D’s or at 7-Eleven.
For the barbecue. If we’re going to lose Texas beef 'cue, we can’t throw the baby pig out with the bathwater.
I want to keep Florida because I like the Keys, and the Everglades, and the funky architecture in Miami Beach and the western beach towns.
Cite? All the data I’ve seen says it barely cracks the Top Ten (#10 ), and only for large population cities. I do see some mentions of it, but without backing data. It seems to be an article of faith that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.
A bunch of California cities, New York, Boston, and Chicago all are ahead of Houston.
