Stop Texas Bashing Now

Last night I was deleting email from my inbox. Something I do not do too often. Doing so I came upon a lot of feedback emails to my Eyes on Texas website that I likely intended to reply to, or put on my website.

And then forgot about it. I get a lot of email, which is no excuse for forgetting. What is annoying is some of what I forgot about is good stuff.

Like an email from a 7th generation Texan named Curtis. Curtis had come across a webpage I made long ago which had some amusing examples of Texas Bashing and Counter Texas Bashing. On that webpage I solicited for additional Texas Bashing or Counter Texas Bashing comments.

Curtis made a very good Counter Texas Bashing comment that I never got around to adding to the Texas Bashing page. Maybe I lost interest in Bashing Texas. Who knows?

Anyway, below is what Curtis had to say....

As a seventh generation Texan, I read through this page of Texas bashing/counter bashing with a mixture of amusement, sadness, pride, and shame.

I have been fortunate in being able to spend a great deal of time traveling to other parts of the world and meeting an enormous variety of people. Most of my preconceived stereotypes have been destroyed. (Parisians are, in fact, some of the friendliest, most hospitable people in Europe.)

Overseas, especially in Europe, you hear a lot of US bashing and stereotyping. I was amazed at how similar the Texas bashing comments were to the US bashing heard in Europe. My reaction is the same for both; amusement, sadness, pride, and shame. My response is also the same: if you hate us so much, and if we are such an arrogant, bunch of ignorant, red-neck idiots, why do you keep moving here in such great numbers? When the rest of the world bashes the US, they are bashing themselves, for we are a nation made up of people from the rest of the world. When the rest of the US bashes Texas, they are bashing themselves, for Texas is a state full of people from other states and countries. A native Texan (over the age of 20) is a damn rare thing. Round up any 10 adults and 5 will be Mexican, 2 will be from the Midwest, 1 will be some sort of Yankee, 1 will be some sort of westerner, and 1 will be a native Texan.

Most true Texans understand that all of the "bigger and better in Texas" crap is exactly what it is - marketing. We know that having six flags fly over Texas only matters to businesses that are trying to capitalize on Texas pride (only three flags matter: Confederate {states rights - not slavery}, U.S., and Lone Star). We also know that most of our reputation for being loud and obnoxious comes from two sources - Hollywood and T. Boone Pickens (sorry Mr. Pickens but you know its true). If the rest of the nation actually believes everything they saw in the movie Giant, then I have a beautiful ranch and oil field in Marfa that I'd like to sell them.