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Posted
17 hours ago, Spankytoes said:

Name 3 positive aspects of Texas, not including sports and food, that someone not from Texas would easily identify to make it unique. I’m not sure “people from Europe can identify it on a map” is really that big of a deal. It’s false bravado from people convinced that others are jealous of them when nothing could be further from the truth. (Like aggy) Not sure why someone from Texas should have more pride than someone from Idaho. I don’t GAS what goes on in Des Moines.

Slabs, candy paint, and swangas.BMqSnJ.gif.5fda9269a8a0e1a4b6cfe73c7dc783c4.gif

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Posted

If anyone's curious in outsider (who has visited a fair amount) perspective...

Texas is kind of a mini United States inside the United States.  Because it is so fucking big, it encompasses a dramatic mix of landscapes and biomes.  It has a unique blend of cultural influences from the Spanish who set up missions, Mexicans who came north, Germans and Czechs who came overseas, and settlers from the American southeast who brought slavery (and therefore a major African influence) with them.  This fairly unique stew of influences created some truly native cuisine and music - both of which are often really damn good.  It also has the unusual (but not wholly unique) distinction of having been a sovereign nation for a brief period of time.

All of this contributes to the mix of pride and exceptionalism that is simultaneously admirable and nauseating.  It's admirable because having pride in one's home is an absolutely essential ingredient to ensure investment in that place's success, and Texans are fucking invested.  It's nauseating because it helps breeds an incredible amount of insularity, ignorance, and tribalistic isolation.  I think it's cool as hell that people in Texas fly the state flag everywhere and are fiercely proud of Texan artists and Texan cuisine.  I think it's fucking ridiculous that Bud Light has to slap the state outline on the label to sell it's product.  I'm almost positive I could stamp a lone star into cowpies, and sell them at Buccees.  I'm also envious of how you can roll into some tiny town in absolute nowhere Texas and find a crazy good band tearing it up on a Saturday night.

America right now is in the middle of being divided between urban and rural, and the differences in culture from one state to another are becoming less.  Texas is politically in the same place as all other states controlled by Republicans.  The unique spirit of it's people seems to still come through, but who knows for how long.  Who knows how long that will exist anywhere.

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Posted
6 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

t's nauseating because it helps breeds an incredible amount of insularity, ignorance, and tribalistic isolation. 

You describe the challenge presented by the distinction between patriotism and nationalism.

I am a patriotic Texan.  I love my homeland, I would like to see it continue to thrive and become even better.  Those are goals that require introspection, and admissions that some things continue to need improvement.

Texas today is dominated by a stupid, cruel, "nationalist" Texan impulse.  Tribal bullshit, anger at the mere suggestion that maybe we shouldn't hurt people, tribalism at its worst.

Texas is one of my parents.  We are bonded for life.  But it turns out that one of my parents is a giant, abusive piece of shit, and he really needs his fucking ass kicked.

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Posted
10 hours ago, Willfully Horn said:

Texas has the most diverse city in the nation, has ten eco regions, and the flora from the west coast is on the southern side of hills near Utopia, going no further east, and flora from the east coast on the northern sides of the same hills, going no further west. Texas is the wintering grounds of North America’s tallest bird, the whooping crane. Texas’ Rangers were the first force on Earth to defeat the feared Comanche in a pitched battle. Texas’ Alibates flint was mined and fashioned to hunt, as far back as mammoths, and its trade reached as far south, and as far north, as have humans native to the continents of America. The oldest prehistoric human skeleton found in the New World was found in the Brushy Creek watershed, near Leander, TX.

 

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Posted
4 hours ago, Al_4_ISU said:

I think it's fucking ridiculous that Bud Light has to slap the state outline on the label to sell it's product. 

My favorite of the stupid pandering

🎵DQ, that's what I like about Texas 🎵

Posted
4 hours ago, bolverk said:

PHIL: "Texas is really ugly, you know that? I mean, what could anyone possibly like about this state?"
DORMAN: "I like the way it's shaped."

It's wild, Phillip. Always has been, always will be. Just like us.

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Posted

It really should be easier for ordinary people to recognize that Texas Exceptionalism is no different from products of propaganda we see and rightly mock around the world. At least Kim Jong Il got to be a funny puppet in a movie. Can't say the same about Abbott

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