But these folks are...
Two presidents:
Lyndon B. Johnson
Dwight D, Eisenhower
Neither Bush was born in Texas. I, for one, refuse to claim them.
Other famous politicians:
Barbara Jordan
Ann Richards
Sam Rayburn
Sandra Day O'Connor
Military:
Audie Murphy
Admiral Chester Nimitz
Famous Texans in the Arts (a seriously partial list):
Meat Loaf
F. Murray Abraham
Debbie Allen
Alexis Bledell
Carol Burnett
George Eads
Hilary Duff
Farrah Fawcett
Horton Foote
Jamie Foxx
Jennifer Garner
Gene Rodenberry
Kris Kristofferson
Janis Joplin
Matthew McConaughey
Dennis Quaid
Randy Quaid
Brent Spiner
Renee Zellweger
Sissy Spacek
Beyonce Knowles
Gene Autry
Buddy Holly
Norah Jones
Scott Joplin
Usher
Nelly
Tex Avery
Journalism:
Walter Cronkite (ok, he wasn't born here. He's a University of Texas grad and was raised here)
Sam Donaldson
Linda Ellerbee
Heloise
Molly Ivins
Dan Rather
Stone Phillips
Rex Reed
Science:
Denton Colley
Michael DeBakey
If you want to learn who all these people are and see more, go here . For other Texans' take on all things Texas, go here and here .
The point is that Texas is more than just the latest air head politician trying to make a name for himself. We've had a bad run of luck, no question. But I for one am getting really tired of being hated because of Bush and Co.
As some of you know, I was a Reagan Era Zombie and one of the things that drove me most nuts about him was his overarching condemnation of the Soviet Union and its people. The "Evil Empire"nonsense. I studied Russian history, things being what they were it started as a know your enemy kind of thing. Understanding Russian history shed so much light on how we got in the mess we were in. What I learned led me to believe that it was important to separate the people from the politics. The Soviet Union was officially an atheist state. But the people were not. The politicians hated us. The people, not so much. We all share an essential humanity that is all too easily stripped away by labels and prejudices. It's a lesson I learned many years ago and one that needs relearning periodically.
It's easy to hate. Very easy. It's also lazy. It takes far less effort to dismiss a person or group because you think that something about them- where they live, what religion the follow, how they vote, the color of their skin or who they love- defines them completely. Getting to know someone or a group and learn all the nuances that make up their lives and personalities is hard work.
And almost always worth the effort.
11 comments:
I found this post at Daily Kos:
"Successionists can shampoo my loins" by droogie6655321
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/4/17/91648/3160/858/721222
It starts out as a rant, but the writer works through the initial reaction and writes something quite relevant to your discussion here.
It's some of the commenters of DailyKOS that have me most angry. This post is one of the better ones and the commenters are the best group I've seen yet on a diary about this topic on the Kos.
Glad to know that the vitriol is ding down a bit over there.
Hey TB Texan,
I definitely feel you as a proud Houstonian sick and tired of the Texas bashing.
Thanks for this. My dad's family is from Texas and althoughI have never been, I know it is in my roots and I probably have many second and thrid cousins running around over there that I don't know.
Stevie Ray Vahn is from Texas, yes?
Great post. It drives me nuts that the people like "Good Hair" make us all look bad...
At times like this, I really miss Molly.
A good reminder that good things (and people) come from Texas too...not just craziness. Chris Matthews said today on Hardball that 31% of Texans want to secede. Okay, that's crazy. But that also means that 69% (more than two-thirds) do NOT want to secede.
I love the description that the woman who writes the great themudflats.net blog wrote after seeing the teabag party in Anchorage:
"Patriotic/anti-Government rally that’s really mad at debt brought about by Bush, therefore thinks Obama is communist"
Pretty good summary if you ask me.
Every party has some bad apples (how about that for a mixed metaphor?).
Those of us leaning to the left cannot forget that we have a fringe also. And a lot of morons in public office as well.
Maybe this will remind folks not to judge a person by the letter of their party but the content of their character. Geez, what an idea.
I've never been to Texas and too thought for a long time that most texans were crazy repubs. Thanks for straightening that out!
I would love to claim Matthew McConaughey, our most famous Wisconsin natives were Kato Kaelin(sp?) and Chris Farley.
@Pseudo- Yes, indeed Stevie Ray Vaughn is one of ours. Austin even has a lovely statue of him at the river downtown.
I tried to limit the number of country and country influenced artists on the list because their are soooo many of them.
@njb- Dude, I miss her, too. She would've gone nuts with this mess.
@Aliceson- Well, yes, there's Mr Farley. But there's more than you think. I for one would be proud to claim Spencer Tracy or Gene Wilder or Tony Shalhoub and what geek doesn't thank you for Gary Gygax?
@Monica- Amen. Let's hope it dies down. At least until the next noob starts everyone off again.
@Diane- Gotta love Mudflats. She hits the nail on the head with that one. I guess I love her blog so much because she feels like a kindred Blue spirit stuck in a Red state and surrounded by blowhard politicians completely out of touch with reality.
@Skye- It only seems like a novel idea because so few people do it.
To all- Thanks for your support!
Personally, I love Texas. Sure, I have moments when some Texas moron gets me worked up, but my mother's side of the family is nothing but Texas born and bred, so half of my inner workings are Texas wired. I love how Texas does everything big, whether it's necessary or not, and that includes it's craziness. It wouldn't be right if the few nutty Texans didn't stand out as louder, more brash and kookier than the nuts in other states. Plus, Texas has Kinky Friedman! He's awesome!
Great post and comments. You cannot blame astate for the people who live in it or we would have cut Alasksa loose last year based on Sarah Palin or blamed all Alaskans for her looniness rather than her.
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