Is Austin really a liberal bastion? (Dallas, Plano: suburbs, ranking, best)

[carolinajack]

well in the world outside of where you live, people are offended and just cant turn away. in many places in this country, students have been sent home, suspended and expelled for having offensive t shirts, religious or other wise. also, the employee often has to deal with obnoxious customers, either by defusion or sometimes asking people to leave. so its not as simple as that. I know plenty of people of color who are more than offended by t shirts with lynching ropes on them and some may be able to laugh it off, but most have a problem with it.

[readymade]

Again, how is wearing an "Atheists" t-shirt similar to wearing a t-shirt that spews hate? I don't really get the connection.

[mark311]

Originally Posted by wehotex

That waitress was an EMPLOYEE of that restaurant. It is not her place to be criticizing a paying customer. She should have been turned in to the manager, then booted into Town Lake on her fat belly.

Who knows, maybe she was the manager or the daughter of the owner and not just an employee? It sounds like Readymade handled it the right way in my opinion and just went about her business afterwards. Why let a stranger's opinion ruin your day and why would you want to harm that person by trying to get her fired? I'm a big believer in just letting the little things like that go. Life is much less stressful that way.

[LJarrett]

I just don't think you can come to Austin, Texas and expect it to be like it was for you in Boston, LA, Seattle, DC or whereever you're from. To say it is liberal or you expect it to be liberal is a little naive when you compare it to those cities. We are still in the bible belt in a red state. Why would anyone expect it to be as liberal as those cities? Do you HONESTLY think there aren't going to be a large number of religious people? And when you say religious, obviously you mean Christian because that's the predominant religion here. It's not like they all avoid Austin because it leans a little more towards the left than most of the state.
The city, overall, is pretty tolerant. Most are laid back and non-confrontational, but you still have outspoken people to the left and to the right. Try living in the suburbs of Houston....yuck! I was a little afraid to admit I was voting Democratic, because ALOT of people are very outspoken and will have a lengthy debate with you on why you should be Republican. BUt I wouldn't be ignorant and say everyone in Houston is Reppublican. Over-categorizing annoys me.
The waitress was clearly out of line and I probably would have said something to her. Also, the whole "Keep Austin Weird" slogan started as a campaign to raise support for local owned businesses. But, people seem to think it is referring to the city as a whole. Most will find it's not all that weird.

[bdjtexas]

Liberal? Austin is anything but liberal. It is about anti-liberal as most places in Texas. It falls a paltry 93 in the country - Little Rock, Arkansas is only 8 places behind it. Don't let the people here in Texas/Austin try and fool you. If you're looking for a progressive city, go to Dallas. Don't come near Austin. You'll only find prejudice, narcissism, and rudeness.

[TexasHorseLady]

Interesting that your two first posts on City-Data are identical and seem to exhibit no familiarity with Austin (or, for that matter, Texas) at all. So, how long have you lived in Austin (or anywhere in Texas) in order to come to this conclusion? What is your experience of the city?

[artsyguy]

I'd have to agree with everything you said ha ha. I've been to Little Rock, Arkansas and Austin reminded me of it.

Originally Posted by bdjtexas

Liberal? Austin is anything but liberal. It is about anti-liberal as most places in Texas. It falls a paltry 93 in the country - Little Rock, Arkansas is only 8 places behind it. Don't let the people here in Texas/Austin try and fool you. If you're looking for a progressive city, go to Dallas. Don't come near Austin. You'll only find prejudice, narcissism, and rudeness.

[polo89]

Originally Posted by bdjtexas

Liberal? Austin is anything but liberal. It is about anti-liberal as most places in Texas. It falls a paltry 93 in the country - Little Rock, Arkansas is only 8 places behind it. Don't let the people here in Texas/Austin try and fool you. If you're looking for a progressive city, go to Dallas. Don't come near Austin. You'll only find prejudice, narcissism, and rudeness.

I know I'm late, but you have got to be kidding me.

[orbius]

The old guard of Austin are true liberals. Look at LBJ, founder of Medicare, the war on poverty, etc, he was born and raised just down the road from Austin and represents the type of liberals who are the core of this town.
This results from the German settlers who flooded the region after the failed liberal coup in Germany of 1848. They were liberal philosophers and political activists. They were loyal to the Union in the Civil War and became the power base in this area of Central Texas after the Union victory.
If you look at many smaller towns in Central Texas you will find old schools for the blind, handicapped. There are lots of old institutions and places that reflect the liberal ideals that these 1848 and post Civil War liberals brought to Texas. The ideals of using the power of government to provide social justice.

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by bdjtexas

Liberal? Austin is anything but liberal. It is about anti-liberal as most places in Texas. It falls a paltry 93 in the country - Little Rock, Arkansas is only 8 places behind it. Don't let the people here in Texas/Austin try and fool you. If you're looking for a progressive city, go to Dallas. Don't come near Austin. You'll only find prejudice, narcissism, and rudeness.

You sound like Artsyguy's best bohemian friend.

I can't find a ranking of Austin on its liberal-ness. Can you please post a link?

Austin isn't a liberal city like Berkely CA or similar. But I can't see how it is similar to Little Rock in much of anything except being the home of a major university.

Top 10 Liberal Cities - HUMAN EVENTS (http://www.humanevents.com/blog-detail.php?id=14261 - broken link)

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