Texas

[Greenday]

One, New Jersey was a joke. And two, I currently reside in New York. Yes, I've heard the accent.

If you're offended, I am sorry that what I said was offensive. Personally I intended it as a silly throwaway line and push come to shove I actually like New Jersey. That said, I rarely receive the same consideration when someone slaps on their Texas accent which they adopted from Sling blade which isn't even the right place.

I'm just sick of people calling New Yorker's accents New Jersey. It gets quite annoying.

[D_Yeti_Esquire]

One, New Jersey was a joke. And two, I currently reside in New York. Yes, I've heard the accent.

If you're offended, I am sorry that what I said was offensive. Personally I intended it as a silly throwaway line and push come to shove I actually like New Jersey. That said, I rarely receive the same consideration when someone slaps on their Texas accent which they adopted from Sling blade which isn't even the right place.

[HYHYBT]

*Most* of the complaints and virtual eyerolls I've seen about Texas aren't about its people, but about the way it's governed, which judging by your post is a fair complaint to make.

[Greenday]

doesn’t sound particularly different from people in LA or New York except fewer Jersey accents (thank god.)

See, I don’t blame people for being ignorant of other States.

Speaking of ignorant statements about other states...

Do you even know what a New Jersey accent sounds like? If you are mentioning it and thanking God you guys don't have one, you probably haven't spoken to someone from here.

And why do people associate Texas as being total Republican? Because Texas electoral votes hasn't gone to a Democrat since 1976. Because all we hear about is crazy conservative stuff from Texas. When was the last time we heard something like "Texas Rep. proposes legalization of gay marriage" or "Texas Senator pushes for equal rights" or ANY liberal topic?

[D_Yeti_Esquire]

Do you have the same issue when it's discuss as the state that decides what goes into textbooks for the entire nation?

Yes and no. I get why people should be interested in what goes on in Texas when it personally effects them, but it becomes obnoxious when it usually comes without context. The cause of that book problem is that local progressives can't fight both local and national conservatives and the national progressives don't get involved because doing so or talking about gerrymandering opens up powder kegs like New York and Illinois. So essentially they picked a poison and take it out on Texas and as a progressive you feel both left behind and demonized at the same time. Texas isn't really the problem, it's a symptom of hyperpartisanship that also results in several solid blue states.

Essentially, liberals need to be concerned about the outcome of every Texas election and not just the the ones where local Texas progressives threaten to stop funding the national party. The map needs to get redrawn. We're not even talking about Wendy Davis or textbooks without that problem.

[Andara Bledin]

But my head does a Linda Blair Exorcist spin trick when I’m consistently on sites (not particularly this board) or in places where I have to listen to people pop off about Texas which they do because it’s A) Huge, B) Has a large population, C) read a blog post written by someone from Boston.

Do you have the same issue when it's discuss as the state that decides what goes into textbooks for the entire nation?

As for the rest, I know your pain. I live near Los Angeles, and it's... amusing what sorts of stereotypes people get into their heads about the area.

[D_Yeti_Esquire]

No, I don’t mean the state. I mean being in conversations with people that are completely ignorant of it. You know, the type of people that believe it’s essentially a foreign country of Republicans, looks like a mix of Dallas sets and wild frontier, and everyone sounds like the conservative test tube child of JR Ewing, Matthew McConaughey, and Owen Wilson. Do you know how many times I’ve been told I don’t have an accent? That would be several hundred times past Michael Douglas Falling Down levels of irritation.

You know what Texas is? Flippin huge with a diverse population and the political machinations of New York. 70% of the population lives in the triangle of urban areas bounded by Dallas-Ft. Worth, San Antonio, and Houston and most of that population is liberal and doesn’t sound particularly different from people in LA or New York except fewer Jersey accents (thank god.) That doesn’t count the urban population of El Paso, Abeline, and Brownsville (home of the car-related near death experience.) You’re talking a state that alternately looks like Wetland, plains, steppe, hill country, beach, or forest in lakes just depending on where you drop your finger on a map.

Why does everyone think it’s the haven of the evangelical and the NeoCon? Because after one auspicious election, they redrew the election maps and the rest of the country just went “hmm” as the Republicans engineered an unloseable map in a state whose population encompasses at least 3 New York cities. Could other states have filed amicus briefs on the behalf of Texas Democrats? Sure, but they didn’t because New York, Illinois, and California do the same things to Republicans in their states. Why fight that battle when you can just hit Texas Democrats up for money every election cycle which is exactly how the party has operated in Texas over the last decade. Want to know what an Urban population looks like when its run by rural areas with disproportionate representation? How about when a national party sells out its base? Howdy Pardners!

See, I don’t blame people for being ignorant of other States. I haven’t the slightest idea what it’s like to live in Delaware, North Dakota, or Oregon. The thing is, most people don't bring those states up constantly either for whatever odd tangential laws they've enacted. But my head does a Linda Blair Exorcist spin trick when I’m consistently on sites (not particularly this board) or in places where I have to listen to people pop off about Texas which they do because it’s A) Huge, B) Has a large population, C) read a blog post written by someone from Boston.

Look genius, if you have a problem with the politics or the people of the state, pour your money in to fixing it rather than taking the money out and starving the progressive base that is there (Austin is NOT an aberration.) Get that you’re dealing with a political/media machine that made George W. Bush from Connecticut look like a Texan and Wyatt Cenac and Steve Martin look like they were from New York and California respectively. Seriously, buddy your thoughts on the fictional country called Texas are just annoying.

/RantOff

Weeee. That was fun.