Why do Texans stay so loyal to their state? (Houston: how much, rooftop)

[catman]

Hahaha! That's a possibility. There are a lot of things to like about TX, but the heat and humidity in much of it isn't one of them.

[doctorjef]

There's no point in idealising "the good ol' days", which in reality were never all that good. Whaddaya want? The 1950s with its McCarthyism, its hyper-conformity, its hypocricy, its racial segregation and overt discrimination, its lack of of opportunity for women, etc, etc. Overall, both Texas and the USA are better places than they were in the mid- and late-20th Century. However, this is also due in substantial measure not to individual state institutions but to federal ones, notably the Supreme Court of the United States and to US Congressional legislation. Sadly, after some brighter years under Mark White and Ann Richards, Texas politics has become very benighted. And you will soon be treated to the spectacle of Rick Perry making a fool of himself and of Texans in general in what will be a short and unsuccessful try for the Republican presidential nomination.

[Lee W.]

Sorry to borrow from Sir Walter Scott (not a Texan), but it really speaks to me:
Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land!
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burn'd,
As home his footsteps he hath turn'd
From wandering on a foreign strand!
If such there breathe, go, mark him well;
For him no Minstrel raptures swell;
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim;
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust, from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonour'd, and unsung.
~Sir Walter Scott

When I returned home after living overseas for a few years, I felt...yes, home had been calling me every day I'd been away! Texas has its faults, but there's family and friends, there's memories, even the heat is preferable to the weather elsewhere. And many of the accents match my own! The U.S. is first of all my native land, but Texas is the very heart of my native land.

[doctorjef]

Most people are attached to wherever "home" is, because their very identities and web of significant relationships are wrapped up with "home" on so many levels. While this is what Sir Walter Scott was getting at, there is also the reality of a great deal of geographical mobility in modern America. First of all, I'm not sure it's so much a matter of "loyalty" per se as attachment and the fidelity that stems from attachment. However, to get back on point, I suspect many people in modern America feel attachments to more than one place as a result of having lived at critical points in their personal histories/development in different places as they and their families moved around the country. It's also possible to have attachment without feeling the sort of loyalty that would cause one to defend and cleave to a place come what may. Arguably, of course, that signifies a looser attachment. To take myself as an example, although I lived the majority of my life in Texas, my dad's military career caused us to spend almost all of my years from first through seventh grades in Virginia and DC. Most of my attachments formed there gradually withered over subsequent years, but something that remained a constant is my reaction to nature - flora and fauna and topography - in the Mid-Atlantic region as opposed to Texas and other parts of the country. Although I appreciate other topographies and naturescapes, there really is nowhere else than the Mid-Atlantic that looks and feels to me like things are "supposed" to look and the way they're "supposed" to be; in other words the natural features of the part of the country where I once again am living are psychologically normative for me (although this isn't the reason I chose to move to Delaware upon returning to the US from Europe). Yet at the same time, my personal history and identity experiences are overall more tied up with my teenage years in West Texas and subsequently my most productive adult years in Austin.

I do think a lot of this issue of "loyalty" is tied up with whether or not one moved around much as a kid. Having had a childhood where we moved every two to three years for the most part, it seems rather self-limiting and sad to me for people to stay in one place all their lives. At the same time, I recognise the down sides of moving around. Really, they are two different ways of life and both have their pluses and minuses. Local and regional loyalty is probably weaker in any case in those states and urban centres in which there is a high level of geographical transience, and hence one would expect this will increasingly be the case in the larger urban areas of Texas.

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by Milehighguy

My first experience in Texas was at Fort Hood which is pretty much in Killeen, Tx. This was back in the late 90's. I always try to keep an open mind about new places and understand that things are going to be a bit different. I am from Denver, Co and after my time in the military I moved back. After the military, I went into over the road commercial truck driving for a little over a year. It was something I just wanted to try out and experience so I did it. I have traveled all over the country, going into every state and seeing how each state was. Texas is truly different. Now without hating on it, I really don't see what's so appealing about Texas. For me, not only is it way too hot, but people in Texas I have found to be really arogant and prideful. What are they so prideful about? Yeah, they have big cities, but have you been to NYC? Yeah they have football but so do other states like California, Colorado, Pennsylvania and others. As a truck driver, I don't like Texas because people can't drive there. Now you could say that there are other states where people can't drive but only in Texas, where I have been in a double left turn lane, been in the right part of that lane, the light turns green and the driver to my left, instead of turning like they are supposed to, go straight, causing me to have to slam on my breaks. This has happened more than one time and more than one location in Texas. I go to call any business in Texas to find out information, don't really matter what I am asking about, the person I am talking to, don't know a thing. So I ask, seriously here, why do you guys love Texas so much. What's up with the huge Texas pride????

1. What an unfortunate comparisson! What part of Texas is NYC in, by the way...? Hee Hee

2. It's a Texas thing...perhaps you just wouldn't understand, reckon?

[doctorjef]

As everyone knows, Coloradoans tend to have a particular antipathy for Texans. When I moved to Colorado for what turned out to be less than two years, one of the first things I did was get rid of my Texas license tags! My impression is that too many Texans vacationing in Colorado act the part of the stereotypical "ugly American" abroad, but in this case the ugly, arrogant Texan abroad in Colorado. Coloradoans probably often see the worst side of Texans.

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by doctorjef

There's no point in idealising "the good ol' days", which in reality were never all that good. Whaddaya want? The 1950s with its McCarthyism, its hyper-conformity, its hypocricy, its racial segregation and overt discrimination, its lack of of opportunity for women, etc, etc. Overall, both Texas and the USA are better places than they were in the mid- and late-20th Century. However, this is also due in substantial measure not to individual state institutions but to federal ones, notably the Supreme Court of the United States and to US Congressional legislation. Sadly, after some brighter years under Mark White and Ann Richards, Texas politics has become very benighted. And you will soon be treated to the spectacle of Rick Perry making a fool of himself and of Texans in general in what will be a short and unsuccessful try for the Republican presidential nomination.

Oh c'mon Doc J....

You and I are good friends, and I respect you and all, but I swear sometime -- while I always give you credit for your intelligent and well-written posts (whether I agree with them or not) -- I have to say sometime it seems to me you lack a sense of humor and take things wayyyyy too seriously.

This sorta reminds me (something always reminds me of something! LOL), about an article I once read concerning a "50's Night" at some college campus somewhere. I don't remember where it was, but I swear this is a true story.

Anyway, some frat and sorority, jointly -- as a fund raiser for a local kids charity -- came up with the idea. There would be 50's style rock and do-wop, live-band and jukebox, and those who purchased tickets would dress in the clothing of that era. Now doesn't that sound like fun...it sure does to me.

BUT...sure as hell, some pompous professor harrumphed, harumphed and indigantly proclaimed that the 50's were nothing to celebrate. Segregation, McCarthyism, rigid conformity, and etc, etc, ad nauseum... There seems to always be some stuffed-shirt who puts a damper on everything and make a big production about things that should just be enjoyed innocently and in the spirit of good humor and fun.

Now I hasten to add I don't -- in any way, shape or form -- put you in that class at all...but see what I mean? The relation to many of the posts on this thread is that one of the things about Texas that is very interwoven into our vaunted state pride, is that we can laugh at ourselves...and come up with bigger jokes about ourselves than anybody else ever could.

On a related aside here, best one-liner I ever heard concerning Texas was from a Georgia fellow who quipped:

Q: What do you get when you get kick the sh*t out of a Texan?
A: An empty pair of cowboy boots!

LMAO. And the reason --IMHO -- it is funny is that there is a lot of truth in the hyperbole. BUT...that is a point unto itself.

On a more serious note, this is something I don't think a lot of non-Texans "get". That is, that the stereotypical braggert, blow-hard, Texan, is generally poking as much fun at himself/herself, as anything else...

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by doctorjef

As everyone knows, Coloradoans tend to have a particular antipathy for Texans. When I moved to Colorado for what turned out to be less than two years, one of the first things I did was get rid of my Texas license tags! My impression is that too many Texans vacationing in Colorado act the part of the stereotypical "ugly American" abroad, but in this case the ugly, arrogant Texan abroad in Colorado. Coloradoans probably often see the worst side of Texans.

DocJ? I just caught this post when I sent the other. Yeah, my fiance is from Colorado and will tell you the same thing. She loves Texas now, but she told me that at one time -- being a native -- she thought Texans were the most arrogant people in the country. LOL

And? I guess to be honest, I have to admit, from some of the stories I have heard about Texas tourists, there is likely a lot of truth to that. I can't really say I blame them, if what many Coloradoans say, is true...

BTW -- ever heard of the Texas/Colorado tomato war?....LOL

[doctorjef]

TexasReb, my post about idealising the good ol' days was in direct response to Cathy4017 but I failed to quote her post relative to that, which I should have done. I really don't agree with the idea that things in Texas were so much better twenty or thirty years ago, which I believe was the time frame she indicated.

Yeah, I miss typewriters too, but the fact is that writing on the computer is a helluvalot easier and more efficient. It's sad to see some of the old things go, but overall things have got better over time, IMO.

What I really think is sad is that Texas once produced great political figures and political commentators like Barbara Jordan, LBJ, Molly Ivins, Jim Hightower, the spirited Sen Ralph Yarborough, and others. Now it produces a load of raving lunatics and Grade-A mediocrities.

Uh, never heard of a Colo-TX tomato war.

[social bunny]

docjef, i think you tend to overthink things just a bit