Texas (yawn)
 

Why don’t I care about the hurricane in Texas?

As of this writing, the hurricane has not hit. Millions are evacuating, death and destruction is just around the corner for my fellow countrymen. And yet, I feel the same low-level concern as I would for a train-wreck in India.

“Hmm…That’s too bad. Those poor people.”

Then I move on to feeling terrible about the people in Louisiana and Mississippi.

But why? I know people in Texas. I like people in Texas. I’ve been to Texas, and it beats the shit out of a lot of other places in the USA. Yet, my Give-A-Fuck meter is just barely moving.

Here is what I think is happening. Throughout my life I have encountered the stereotypical Texan. You’ve met him too. He never misses a chance to tell you how great Texas is, and how much better it is than wherever you happen to live. He has a Texas tattoo, avatar, T-Shirt, and/or bumper-sticker. He makes sure that you know that Texas independent, the USA is lucky to have TX as a part of it, and that at any time TX may just decide to go it alone. Texas is an economic, cultural, and military powerhouse that is better than any other place in the whole world.

No other state generates this sort of attitude. I’ve never had a stranger in bar start raving about how amazing Iowa is. I’ve never seen a Louisiana tattoo. The fine folks of Georgia don’t slap me on the back and holler “Don’t mess with Georgia!”

It goes beyond local pride. It is an attitude of superiority. Of exclusion. The stereotypical Texan is convinced that he and I are not of the same tribe. And to my surprise, when I look into my heart, maybe I believe him.

And then there is the God thing. Of course not ALL Texans are conservative Christians, but there are no lines in Texas supermarkets on Sunday mornings. God seems to play a big role in the Texas attitude. From the hole in the Dallas Stadium (So God can look down and see the star on the 50 yard line) to the prayers before business meetings, God is there. And the stereotypical Texan tells you that God loves Texas like no other place.

So here is Texas, staring straight at one of God’s creations – a CAT5 hurricane. And I’m thinking about all the times I’ve been told that Texas doesn’t need anybody or anything; that Texas can take care of itself. Well, after all these years of talking the talk, it’s time to walk the walk.

I wish you all the best. But my heart is in New Orleans.

I will now sit back and get flamed by the Lone Star TFPers. I fear I have committed the cardinal sin: I messed with Texas.

I was just reading the thread on Non-American views on America, and it looks like this would fit in quite well if you replaced "Texan" with "American"

I personally don't feel any strong feelings about this either, although not necessarily because of the steriotypical Texan - I just think that I am having difficulty grasping that it is about to happen again. I feel like I am looking at it more academically than with empathy. I am, quite frankly, curious as to see what is going to be different between the two. I wonder if Federal Aid will arrive much soon this time, or a higher percentage of people will evacuate, and if the differences have to do with the economic standing of the areas, the government learning from their mistakes, or something else that I am unaware of...

Amusing as always, Clavus

You're not messing with Texas, you're messing with the myth of Texas. Sure, there are some idiots who live up to the belligerent cowboy stereotype, but you know they're only a small percentage. Most of us down here are real people. Don't try to make this into a political/religious thing. Conservative Christians and Liberal Athiests both will be blown away by this wrath of God/nature/Gaia/Flying Spaghetti Monster. I've got friends and family scattered along the coastal area and I have no idea where they are right now. But after Katrina, at least enough people are willing to take a hurricane seriously enough to get out so I'm not terribly worried.
Say all the bad things you want about Texas as a state, but the individual lives in Texas are a different story.

Yeah, thats like how I don't feel bad anytime anything bad happens south of kentucky, they are all racist wife-beating nascar fans anyway. Kill em all and let their god sort em out huh?

Thumbs down on this one man. For every texas humping prick I've met since I moved here I have met 100 nice people. Its sad when bad things happen to anyone, caring is what makes us human.

I agree not gonna say with who but I agree. The hurricane in texas sucks but i am actually more concerned that prices are going to get so bad i will need to take out a second mortgage to dirve to than I am about a bunch of texans possibly losing their life. hey wait Can I have their Gas too. Hurricanes suck but living in Florida sucks too. I lived in texas for awhile and it wasnt till I left texas that I saw all those tattoos and bumper stickers about texas. i think it is the folks that leave that get the Don't mess with texas disease.

for me.. I don't care either.. but then I don't care about humans for the most part anyway. Crude, mean, cruel? Maybe.. but that's just how it is.

Well, I care... But then again, I'm lined up with the hurricane's path, so I've got a little more to worry about then just saying "Eh, fuck Texas and those arrogant Texans"

Just out of curiosity, where are you, and why are you sitting in front of your computer instead of being stuck out in traffic?

I've already got a full house this weekend, but if anyone needs a place to stay in Austin, let me know.

I posted this in a Katrina thread but it still hold true...

"It is in situations like these where you can learn a lot about your fellow man.
Who acts with intelligence and who with ignorance and foolishness.
Who shows themselves to be caring and who greedy and selfish.
It's also good for pointing out the jerks."

Clavus, I do believe you are much more than the stereotyping you just shat out.

If your attitudes about people from Texas are based on Texans you meet in bars... :hmm:

Between Katrina, and now Rita, a sizable chunk of my family has been displaced. They're good people. They're not racist. They don't feel superior. They run the gamut from liberal to conservative. And they don't deserve this kind of stereotyping.

You just did some stereotyping of your own--

Becuase we all know that someone who doesn't feel bad for the Texans is ignorant, foolish, uncaring, greedy, and selfish.

Well played.

You haven't met too many Nuh Yawkuhs have ya, son? 'ceptin we don't use politeness l ike don't mess with texass - we say - don't fuck with us and then blow your head off :)

S'Ok Clavus, I love ya... :) When california falls into the ocean, you and your adorable children (and maybe Mrs clavus) can come bunk on my couch.

I think what a lot of people might be at is 'sympathy overload'. I was like that this weekend with moving, I just went into stress overload, and reached the point where I didn't care about anything anymore... It just didn't matter. We've been barraged for the past two weeks or so of what happened in New Orleans, and before we have a chance to catch our collective breaths... Another hurricane is back and it's bigger and badder.. How much sympathy and empathy can a person muster?

*I'm not ignorant.. I have friends/fam in Texas. I'm not foolish (ok the jury is still out on that one) the other 3 adjectives.. yup that describes me well.

I find it funny how when a natural disaster strikes humans are all about loving each other and helping each other and blah blah blah. When the sky is clear and birds are singing, we just think about ways to hurt each other and kill the other nations and blah blah blah. Humans suck- plain and simple.

There's something that Tommy Lee Jones said in Men In Black that struck me as surprisingly intuitive. I'm not one to normally find deep meaning in movie quotes or song lyrics, but this just seemed to stick out. Now I'm just paraphrasing here because I haven't seen the movie more than twice. But it was something along the lines of...
"People are dumb panicky animals. But the individual person is smart and capable of figuring things out."
So while on the whole, yeah, people bother me, too, it doesn't mean I think the individuals should suffer.

But isn't the whole made up of individuals?


In this logic.. we would have to carefully select which "individuals" would should be allowed to not suck or be spared from a trajedy.

That wasn't meant to be logic. But it's true about the way we think. The logical thing would be to save as many people as you can.
When we think of a whole mass of faceless people, it's easier to disregard their troubles than if you happen to know any of those people on an individual level.

My jaw hurts. Mal just took the words out of my mouth.

My GAFF (Give-A-Fuck-Factor) is frighteningly low the past couple of weeks. Ratbastid told me that everything changes; I applied for a civvie job; I'm just kind of going through the motions lately.

I think I need a good life-threatening moment to wake me up and make me feel alive! Oh, how many times have I thought "I hope this is the last time I am about to die..." and yet here I am, so numb to everything I am bumping into things.

Remember the Monkeysphere, people! I cannot relate to what some poor bastard is doing in traffic in texas, trying to get out of the way.

I am officially in stress overload, and I think I need to hold Mal's hand and take a walk in a really pretty park. I found a place last weekend that will be absolutely breathtaking for a canoe trip. The leaves are changing, the tourists are gone, I am daydreaming about it now.

I met a guy from Texas once. He was a really nice guy. His name was Mitch, and he lived in Point Blank, Texas. I will never forget that name. How appropriate, I thought. He called himself a liberal (a dirty word in Texas, I found out) and the more we talked, the more I realized just how conservative Texas must be for him to describe himself as a Liberal.

Well, Greetings Clavus and anybody else who shares his view on Texas and who's "Give-A-Fuck meter is just barely moving".

I honestly do not think you are as callous as your posts suggests. I think you have a dislike for our fine state, and that's ok... you have a right to your opinion, and I don't expect you to fully understand our source of pride, after all you are not a Texan. I think you are more of an opportunist, and this thread just an excuse to sling mud in our direction....but that too is ok. My heart is in SE Texas where I live, and with my family and friends as well....but it is also in New Orleans and everywhere else affected by Hurricane Katrina. Texans may be accused of going a little overboard with their pride, but they also have big hearts. We are also not the kind of people, as a whole, depicted in hollywood sterotypes...so when people comment on us being a bunch of redneck, horse riding, tobbacco spitting cowboys... I overlook it, because I expect it.

Texans are proud and resilient people, and we can and will weather this storm. I honestly believe we are as prepared as we can be. After a few hours sleep this afternoon, I will be up as the storm moves through the area I live in East TX, and in contact with my family who have evacuated and one who is staying put. Katrina was a sobering event that woke Texans and others across the country alike. Now that it is happening to us, and (New Orleans too - flooding) we are determined to not repeat some of the mistakes that were made when Katrina hit.

I agree with Irishsean in that caring is what makes us human, or at least a big part of it anyway. Maybe one day you will learn how to care yourself. I just hope it doesn't take a personal tragedy for you to realize how bad your lack of concern is.

Have a good day ok? US Texans are starting to feel the effects of Rita already, and I know we are gonna get thrashed...but we're gonna be ok.

didnt give a f about katrina wont give a f about rita... but i do care tht they learned fromt he last time and bussed people out of there.

people need to learn that just because they "can be rescued" dosent mean they should stay behind or take those extra risks. If people would respect "mother nature, and know what she is capable of then and only then do i think that i could give a damn about these things. If unexpected then yep i care, but it told going to happen and still dont listen the dont care

Indeed, I hope so.

My post is the result of looking in my own head and asking the question "Why doesn't this impending disaster resonate with me? It should."

Mal - I will pass your generous offer to the clavus family.

For what it is worth, 50% of my paycheck is shared with a Texan. 50% of his paycheck goes to me. I have a vested interest in Texas and its citizens. I've been all over the Lone Star State, from Gilmer to San Antonio, to Lubbock, and covered nearly every inch of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.

So there you have it.

Now if you don't mind, I'm going to enjoy the rest of the afternoon like a typical California resident - doing fat rails of coke of the the inner thigh of a supermodel while chatting with my movie star friends about how the surfing was this morning.

I love texas and all that... It's not that I don't like texas.. or the people in it. I just don't give a fuck about natural disasters

I've had one experience in Texas. I went on a missionary trip to Pharr, Texas (and the towns just across the border in Mexico) about twenty years ago (when I was a strong and healthy buck) and I saw lots of desperately poor people. Maybe things are different now, but I remember people just barely hanging on. Those are the only Texans I know, and I think of them now (instead of George Bush-type caricatures).

Most of the world works hard and is paid too little, even in this country, and especially on the southern border. Bush may live there, but the bluster is usually for those who can afford it, in my opinion.

Point Blank....15-20 minutes from me. Nice place, with a great icehouse I have enjoyed many a beer on a warm summer night. Point Blank is a very small rural town, with only a few hundred residents, but it is full of good folks.

If you liked that name.... here's another one for you. Less than 10 miles east of Conroe, on Hwy 105 is a small town named "Cut and Shoot".... Nice town, nice people, strange name. I heard the history behind the name once, but can't recall most of it.

Not all Texans are as conservative as most would think. We have a large percentage of liberal thinkers, and I am glad for it. Texas is a very diverse state, and it's sad so many stereotype us like they do.

I'm so moving to Cali

How??? How can you wire a hurricane?

I totally get the sensory overload that's going on. And I know how it is when there's a catastrophe that doesn't directly affect you or anybody close to you. So the first part of clavus' post I understand. It's the second part where he defends himself by talking about the Texas stereotype and the conservative Christian thing, that's what bothered me about his post. He did not say "Texans are loud and arrogant and deserve this destruction" but that's how it came off. From his other posts I've read on other boards, he seems like a nice enough guy, but this post was just cold.

/me jumps on the clavus defense soapbox - not that he needs a chick to fight his battles... :)

Clavus has a heart bigger than Texas, and is a good a guy as you could want...(Plus he's wicked (have to practice my new vocabulary)cute -

Like I said, he seems liek a nice enough guy, but this post in particular just came off as not so nice.
Hell, it even got a deadpan serious response from Giant Hamburger. I've never seen that.

Because my dorm's a little more hunkered down then my volvo. And I don't want to be sitting on the road when 50-75 mph winds hit me.

Here's a post that I had on the Texas Reputation thread that I thought I'd throw in. Most of it doesn't apply, but it's just some Texas information I figured I'd throw in from my point of view.

no excuses you shoud have left sooner. if you die its your fault and only your fault. if you get injured its your fault, no one elses. i dont mind that you are staying behind, but if you end up with roken arms or legs or something dont expect ANY sympathy from me

But volvos are the safest cars n the world!
Still, though, I get your drift. Just be sure to check back in after the storm and let us know you're okay.

Are you joking? I'm about 100 miles from the coast. It's gonna be a strong wind, thunder, lightning, etc. but I'll be in a huge brick/cement building where I'll be a good 50 feet from any glass in any which direction. And I'm on the 3rd of 4 floors so the worst that could happen would the roof getting screwed up, but even then I'm a floor below it. Plus if I die, it'll be the university's fault for not giving us enough time to evacuate and telling us to stay in unsafe buildings, I'm only following their rules. All of them have said the safest place are in the dorms (Which, you know... seems true on account of the cement, brick, and... cement... that's keeping it together).

I doubt anything will happen aside from losing power for a few days, and at worst we'll be without water for a few days, but I've got about 48 bottles of water to tide me over.

just like bad spelling is your own fault ;)


anywho that was just a joke.. don't take it personal please :D

you hire haliburton?

You inserted "Texans" into the meaning of my post.

Let me reiterate:
In times of trouble you can discover who are the advantage takers.
These are the greedy and the selfish.
You can also learn who will dehumanize with stereotypes.
These are the uncaring.
Your post, its interpretation of mine, and your attempt at sarcasm serve as apt examples of the remaining two adjectives.

Please note that my somewhat agitated posts on this topic also serve as a vent for nervous energy as I have family members involved.

I'd like someone (other than pattycakes) try to explain to me how my 4 year old niece who is terrified by this storm fits in to all the stereotypes listed above.

She doesn't fit at all.... and neither do most. Having family members involved brings it real close to home, and I can relate to that as well. Unless Rita's path changes, the eye will pass with 30 miles or so of my sisters house. I can't go to help her because I am on call, and couldn't get there in time even if I could. I didn't find out she wasnt' leaving until it was too late to get her to change her mind....because I was busy fighting traffic and fatigue while evacuating prisoners from prison units in the path, and in low lying areas, for almost 50 hrs non stop. We are most likely going to be headed out with our fleet of prison transfer buses evacuating people in the areas affected by flood and Rita starting Sunday.

Nobody deserves having to deal with a hurricane, whether you live in Florida, Louisiana, Texas, or anywhere else for that matter...and that goes for any natural disaster.

I guess my having several family members, and myself personally involved in this mess is what made clavus & pattycakes posts so irritating...... we all sterotype others all the time, whether we mean to or not, but being sarcastic about it, when something as serious as a hurricane is involved...isn't just unecessary, but wrong. Situations like these bring out the best and worst in people, and I don't see the best in those two.

While, for the most part, hurricanes are something that happens elsewhere, I am concerned about people effected.

The fact that some of my friends here can in some way be affected by this storm brings it all that much closer to my mind.

To all those either in the path or with family in the path... my thoughts are with you.

Ouch. I thought you hired Haliburton if you wanted to launder money. I guess a hurricane could work for that.

There's one place in Texas that no one ever thinks about--maybe because it is not a dominantly white town; it is a little place called El Paso. You'd be hard-pressed to find the stereotypical Texan here. It's also the place I hail from (and, thankfully, the place in Texas farthest from any coast) So none of your Texas bashing applies to me :)