Why do Austinites tend to slander Dallas? (Paris, Hamilton: high school, live)

[cBach]

Originally Posted by donnaaries

Moved to Austin from Dallas about a year ago. We recently adopted a dog from Town Lake shelter. When we take him places in Austin and people ask where we got him, and we answer "a mutt from the shelter," the response is overwhelmingly, "Good for you! Mutts are the best kind!" We concluded this was sort of annoying, because what would be the response if we had told them we bought our dog from a breeder?
On the other hand, when we took our dog to uptown Dallas for brunch about a month ago, a lady from the adjacent table was enamoured with the dog and asked what type he was. We responded, a mutt from the shelter. Her response, "Awww... that's ok! He's cute anyway!" We concluded this was also annoying, as there's nothing wrong with being a mutt dog.

This sums up the difference between Austin and Dallas right there!

[Lakewooder]

Originally Posted by donnaaries

Moved to Austin from Dallas about a year ago. We recently adopted a dog from Town Lake shelter. When we take him places in Austin and people ask where we got him, and we answer "a mutt from the shelter," the response is overwhelmingly, "Good for you! Mutts are the best kind!" We concluded this was sort of annoying, because what would be the response if we had told them we bought our dog from a breeder?
On the other hand, when we took our dog to uptown Dallas for brunch about a month ago, a lady from the adjacent table was enamoured with the dog and asked what type he was. We responded, a mutt from the shelter. Her response, "Awww... that's ok! He's cute anyway!" We concluded this was also annoying, as there's nothing wrong with being a mutt dog.

Whereas if you had taken the dog to East Dallas or North Oak Cliff people would have been falling all over themselves congratulating you for saving a dog from the shelter.

[sxrckr]

Not that I think your definition is comprehensive, but....

Originally Posted by cBach

Enlighten me as to which of these fits Houston.

The fact that you have to ask tells me you're not too familiar with Houston.

Great cultural amenities - check.
Downtown park(s) - check.
Pro sports - check.
Traffic - check.
Extreme wealth of both old and new money - check.
Centralized (at least more so than DFW) - check.
Great shopping - check.

The only thing on your list that's lacking is the big college sports scene.

So there you go.

[MckinneyOwnr]

My parents in Plano have gone to a shelter for all of their dogs... that is a pretty silly thing to base a judgment for a city on.

[Cowboys fan in Houston]

Originally Posted by MckinneyOwnr

My parents in Plano have gone to a shelter for all of their dogs... that is a pretty silly thing to base a judgment for a city on.

I agree. That was a pretty stupid comparrison. I like Dallas more than Austin, but I would live in Austin way before the Park Cities. The rest of Dallas county, Fort Worth, and most of the suburbs are great.

Making a comparrison between Austin and just the Park Cities is way off base.

[Cowboys fan in Houston]

Originally Posted by jr1038

Yes you do. The negativity most certainly isn't one-sided. And it seems to be particularly strong from Dallas. In addition to my own experiences and observations on this board, I can think of at least two Dallas periodicals that have recently published articles on how Austin allegedly isn't "weird" or "cool..."

Anyone that thinks Dallasites don't often slander Austin is completely out of touch with reality.

On CD, absolutely.

In reality, no.

I cant tell you how many people from here love to go to Austin for the weekend. I have yet to hear ANYTHING negative about Austin in the real world in two years of living in Dallas.

[migol84]

Originally Posted by ClarenceBodiker

When people refer to Dallas' "world class status," they are referring to the Global City rankings that have been posted on this forum before where Dallas is ranked as a World Beta City. Most of the cities you mentioned are Alpha Cities, which basically makes Dallas tier 2.


Personally, none of the Dallas bashing offends me. And it's not just Austin either, it's Austin, Houston, Fort Worth, and many others that partake in the hate. Hell, even many people from Dallas's own suburbs can't stand the place. My dad who's lived in Fort Worth and worked for Fort Worth his entire life told me when I moved back to Texas from California that he'd rather drive to California to visit me than Dallas. Now, THAT'S some hate. It all doesn't offend me, but the strong feelings some people have do baffle me.

I think the materialistic, self-obsessed stereotypes can pretty much be contained to about two neighborhoods of the city -- Uptown and Preston Hollow. East Dallas and Oak Cliff are about as laid back as anywhere else in Texas, and both areas offer plenty of flair, soul, and originality. Even older, more established suburbs of Dallas like Richardson and Plano have established culture and aren't just a series of Applebee's and Olive Gardens anymore.

Anyway, I'm not trying to sell anyone. People are going to think what they want. It is what it is.

In the bolded line, I think its obvious that every Texas city feels insulted or bashed by every other Texas city. It's really stupid. I personally don't understand this in-state rivalry between the Texas cities. San Antonio always feels left out on almost everything. Austin feels like Houston, Dallas and San Antonio are simply jealous of the recognition it gets and just says to herself, "not my fault." Houston and Dallas are kinda the same in that they feel that all of the stereotypes that everyone outside holds of Texas is mostly aimed at them, i.e. too right-winged, bigoted, backward thinking, unprogressive, etc. etc.

To a degree, everyone serves the right to their own opinion, but just because someone said something about a city doesn't mean that its shared by the rest of the city. My father, in the same way as your father hates Dallas, hates Houston. In fact, he likes to say, "I would never stop at Houston not even to take a leak." It's too big for him, hates the weather and how big it is. He serves the right to that opinion. But just because he lives in Austin doesn't mean that the rest of Austin holds that opinion. Ask him the same about Los Angeles, SF, NYC, Chicago and he will have the same responses..... he hates those cities just the same. Oddly enough though, he seems to like DFW a lot. But the cities, they're just not for him.

Every city will be hated on. San Antonio gets hated on a lot. In fact, I think San Antonio gets hated on more so in general than Dallas by people from Austin. And it's not just the Austinites, its also the people who move there. I mean, there's just too many people to study and ask why they think such and such about such city. This isn't even a rivalry... its just the way things are because people have silly opinions. In fact, they're so silly that they don't even warrant being pondered about and asked why they think the way they do of such cities. If you like it... you like it... and be happy that 1.3 million other people like it just the same. If others don't like it, its just not for them. Austin isn't for everyone, but that's okay.

[donnaaries]

I wasn't forming an opinion about the cities based on anecdotal evidence. I just wanted to point out how stupid it is that we have these opinions about one city versus the other.

And on that note, it's true, tons of Dallasites drive down to spend the weekend in Austin (I did this a lot when I lived in Dallas). On the other hand, Austinites do not really go to Dallas for recreation (occasionally, but mostly for business). I think that says more about the cities than the dog incident.

[artsyguy]

I've never seen as many smokers and morbidly obese Jabba The Huts stampeding around in herds as I did on 6th and 4th streets.

Originally Posted by eepstein

Oh geez, there we go with the media reports again. All you have to do is look around in Metro Austin and you'll see all the smokers and fat people. There are no higher percentage of fat people in Austin, then in Dallas, or Houston. How do they get these reports? Do they hire someone to hang out at the mall and count the number of fat people?? sheeessh.

The same "mind set" is when we hear about how "green minded" people in Austin are. But they forget Austin is the capitol of the dirtiest most polluting state in the nation. When at the same time, Metro Austin has the highest percentage of gas guzzling vehicles in of any major city in the country (based off of Travis/Williamson/Hayes County Motor vehicle tax records) Its all gibberish my friends. All one must do is OPEN THEIR EYES.

[Cowboys fan in Houston]

Originally Posted by donnaaries

And on that note, it's true, tons of Dallasites drive down to spend the weekend in Austin (I did this a lot when I lived in Dallas). On the other hand, Austinites do not really go to Dallas for recreation (occasionally, but mostly for business). I think that says more about the cities than the dog incident.

Austinites do come here from time to time, but it is mostly business, to see sporting events, to go shopping, or to eat at a particular resturant.

I get the feeling that people in Austin like Austin that way because its not very big. They like the fact that its smaller and more "quaint". People in Dallas and Houston like to get away from the big city and go someplace smaller. I think thats a big part of it all.