The featured photo comes from Wikipedia and references a popular slogan that tough talking Texans like to bandy around about their (or should I say *my* state)… but Bill tells me it was actually an 80s era slogan they used to discourage littering. This post is full of cussing, so if you don’t like that, you know what to do and where to go… preferably not to Texas.
Yesterday, there was an article in The New York Times about Europe’s current heat wave, which I’m sadly enduring here in Germany. A woman went to the Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary, and offered tips on how she stayed cool during her trip. I decided to leave a comment. I will admit, I knew on some level that my comment would probably attract trolls and other assholes, because most comments somehow do… but I decided to leave it anyway, because why not?
My comment was that I live in Germany and I’m so tired of the heat and the drought conditions here. But, “at least I’m not in Texas.” That was ALL I posted. I made no mention of politics. I didn’t bring up the lack of abortion rights in Texas, or any of the other anti-woman or racist policies and attitudes that are so prevalent there. I didn’t post about the crappy power grid and how it failed many Texans during the winter of 2021, causing people to die earlier than they should have. I had no words about the religious fanatics who want to impose their ways of life on the whole population and control everybody. And I wrote nary a word about all the ammosexuals in Texas. All I wrote is “at least I’m not in Texas.”
At this writing, my comment has well over 125 likes, which is unusual for me. It’s also attracted comments from jerks. Or, so I assume, anyway. I only bothered to read one comment, from a guy calling himself “Jay Smith” and claiming to be living in Istanbul, Turkey. He basically made some crack about how Texas isn’t my problem, and I should just enjoy Germany. There was more to it than that, but I’m not going to quote it verbatim, because I don’t want to read it again or see anyone else’s rude responses. The main idea is that I should STFU.
So I responded that while I live in Germany, I am, in fact, a Texas resident, and I still vote there. So Texas actually IS my problem… and I can comment on Texas if I want to (which I’d be allowed to do regardless, as a *still free* person). Then I advised him to fuck off, which I normally wouldn’t do on a Facebook page for a newspaper. What can I say? The heat is making me CRANKY. My house is warm all the time, even when I use the portable air conditioners– which are helpful, but only cool individual rooms. The grass in the backyard is brown and crispy. I sweat all the time. I know that very soon the weather will change, and it will be glorious… but for now, it’s pretty yucky here.
I wonder what made that guy decide to leave me that comment. It genuinely fascinates me. My guess is that he’s probably some right wing turd in a red state– perhaps Texas itself– and he can’t abide anyone making the slightest negative crack about the beloved Lone Star State. Especially when it’s an apparently “liberal” (horrors!) woman who lives in another country. But there’s actually a lot to dislike about Texas, as far as I’m concerned. I didn’t necessarily hate Texas when I lived there for a year, but it’s gotten really weird and dystopian since I left. There were some things I didn’t like about it when I did live there, but I didn’t see it as weird-o-rama as I do now. Ever since Greg Abbott became governor, it’s gone down a very dark and climate challenged road. I sure as hell don’t want to move back, especially if Beto doesn’t win the governor’s seat from Greg Abbott.
But, like I said, I didn’t actually write anything bad about Texas. I just posted that at least I’m not in Texas. For all Jay Smith knows, I was simply posting about the weather there in August. And, in fact, that’s literally what I had in mind when I made my comment. I well remember what August is like in San Antonio. We had a pool in our backyard, but in August, the water was as warm as bathwater. Central air conditioning was an absolute must for a good portion of the year.
We had two air conditioners for the house we were renting, but they hadn’t been serviced in a long while, and the filters were absolutely DISGUSTING. I actually have pictures of how coated in gunk they were when we moved in and changed them. It had probably been years since anyone had done that. Energy prices were insane, too. Just to be comfortable, we had to pay out the ass. And, as my old friend Weird Wilbur sings in his song, “Down in Texas”, it’s always “summertime” down in Texas. I know that’s not actually true. I do remember some chilly days when we lived there. But it’s usually hot and uncomfortable, and not a place where I’d particularly want to endure the onset of menopause, especially when I start having hot flashes (which haven’t happened yet).
All day, I kept getting tagged in more responses. Some of them might have been kind responses, but my guess is that most were probably more like Jay Smith’s, the obvious troll. So I haven’t read any of them. I keep asking Facebook to turn off notifications, but as usual, Facebook doesn’t care about my preferences. So here I sit, deleting notifications, and fruitlessly asking Facebook to stop sending me comments from right wing Trump supporting jerks.
I’m probably a little crankier about this than I ought to be. I guess it’s because sitting over here in Europe, watching how oppressive and dystopian the United States is right now, gives me a weird sense of survivor’s guilt. It’s so much more NORMAL in Europe, all things considered– even with this relatively oppressive heat and lack of cooling systems due to the fact that Germany doesn’t often get this hot. I don’t routinely see people walking around downtown with huge firearms slung over their shoulders, like I often did in San Antonio. I don’t hear or read about people being shot up, or trying to attack the police for doing their jobs. Leaders here actually seem to care about people, and their jobs… or, at least they put on a convincing show of it.
But… for all of my grousing about the Lone Star State, I can see why some people like it. It’s huge, and its populace has a certain bravado. My husband went to high school in Texas… but then that’s also where he met his ex wife, and we know how that turned out. Bill’s mom still lives there, as do some of my relatives. I guess it’s a good place if you like BBQ beef brisket, rodeos, margaritas, and Tex Mex. We have a bunch of friends who live in Texas, and none of them are batshit crazy. There’s even some pretty good wine in Texas Hill Country. But… unlike Tanya Tucker, I hope I won’t be in Texas when I die…
Even if Texas was the most progressive, “woke”, politically correct place on earth, I’d still rather be here than there. For one thing, I’m not that excited about woke or politically correct places. I just want to live in a “NORMAL” place, where all people get basic human rights and I don’t have to worry about being shot. But for the main thing– and the most obvious reason– Texas in August is FUCKING HOT AS FOUR HELLS… and I don’t like that kind of heat, or paying for the energy required to have basic comfort in it. So, for that reason, I am glad that “at least I’m not in Texas.” And I should be able to write that in a comment section without having to deal with stupid trolls who try to tell me to shut up. I’ll thank you to fuck off, because I will never be your ass monkey, mmm’kay? Texas is uniformly HOT and unpleasant in August. For that reason alone, Germany is naturally a preferable location for me, especially at this time of year. It’s perfectly logical and acceptable to state that, and I should be able to do it without crap from Jay Smith and his right wing buddies.
In other news…
Marjorie Taylor Greene is a fucking moron. Sorry, it’s not a nice thing to state, nor is it particularly constructive, but she is embarrassingly stupid. And way too many similarly stupid people follow her. There, I said it. Blame it on the heat and my aging reproductive system, which thankfully will NEVER be forced to birth. Yesterday, I became aware of her recent diatribe about the evils of solar panels, wind turbines, and other “green” energy solutions that might help stave off climate change. She made some outright wrong statements, confidently speaking as if she was a comedian delivering an hilarious routine. And it WAS hilarious, but not for the right reasons. Sadly, her audience was into it, and laughed with her, while the more informed of us were laughing AT her.
Marjorie Taylor Greene just said she opposes solar panels because she thinks they would cause the lights to turn off at night. https://t.co/BDeVSlbitG
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) August 14, 2022
I’m not going to go too far into this, because a lot of people are already posting about it… but, I live in a place where lots of people have and use solar panels. And there are wind turbines aplenty. We can’t take a trip on the Autobahn and not eventually pass a wind farm. You know what? We very rarely have power outages in Germany. When we do have them, they are usually fixed within an hour. I did not have that experience in several areas of the United States. Moreover, Marjorie’s district actually hosts the largest fucking solar panel plant in the United States! So… she’s out of touch with her community and reality, and she’s leading more people down the dark rabbit hole of ignorance and stupidity. As her hero Trump would say, “Sad…” But at least she’s not in Texas. They’ve got enough problems.
In most places you can offer honest polite criticism of that place and you can state facts that does not put that place in a good light without people getting upset (it depends on your intentions). However, I’ve noticed that you can’t do that in Texas. There’s always someone on a love-it-or-leave-it mission who will take offense, as if Texas is a religion. Conservative Texans (in general) are very thin-skinned about their state.
It’s my observation that they are thin skinned about most things, as they accuse others of being “snowflakes”. Add in the fact that they mostly have guns, and it becomes truly pathetic.
Texas conservatives have always struck me as being obnoxious and proud of it. I’ve read in several books about JFK’s assassination that a group of wealthy Dallas Republicans bought an advertisement (full page, I believe it was) that resembled a WANTED poster, featuring two photos of Kennedy (one facing the camera, the other a profile shot) and accusing him of several federal crimes, including treason, for his supposed “softness” on Communism (especially after failing to expel Castro from Cuba). He saw this ad either on the eve of his trip to Dallas or on the morning of 11/22/63 itself. Kennedy took it in stride and said something like “We are going to Crazy Town,” and kept to his schedule on that awful day nearly 59 years ago.
Ugh… that is dreadful!
It is. I know I have Jim Bishop’s “The Day Kennedy Was Shot” in my bookshelves, and if I wasn’t so tired (I woke up to use the bathroom around 2:30 AM and had a hard time falling asleep afterwards), I’d take it down from there and look up what his exact words were.
But yeah. Those Dallas area Republicans sure did not pull any punches when it came to calling JFK a “traitor” for not bombing the hell out of Cuba and sending the Marines to kick Castro out either in 1961 or ’62.
I find the whole “don’t mess with Texas” mentality to be rather sickening. with all of their gun-toting sensibilities, They certainly did a stellar job in handling the Uvalde shooting.
One of my aunts (mom’s side, so not batshit crazy) was having an argument over something really lame with some VCU grad who now works for VDOT, lives in Richmond, and says he’s a “reverend” (it’s an adjective, not a noun, but what do I know?). He misspelled it “Revend” in his FB name, then couldn’t correct it. Their argument was almost civil until she accused him of mansplaining, to which he took immediate and grievous offense. He accused her of being a “bad feminist.” His mother and grandmother are “good feminists” and taught him well, he says. I wish I was actually on fB and could have entered into the fray. As it is, I can use another aunt’s account to spy but not to post. I’m reluctant to take on an actual FB account.
Jeff and i are applying for positions (fellowship for me and real job for him) at various Canadian east coast locations for next year. We’ll take the best jobs that allow us to live together and to be within driving distances of our jobs. I’d love New Brunswick or Nova Scotia. pEI is wonderful, but it doesn’t have a large enough population base to offer the level of training I would like, though we could ultimately settle there if we chose to do so. Regardless, it’s great to stay out of the U.S.
How exciting! I would love to visit Nova Scotia and PEI.
I get annoyed with guys who don’t understand how offensive “mansplaining” is… especially when they do it on a topic about which they clearly know nothing, like anything regarding pregnancy or menstruation.
Revend Joshua A. Jackson appears to be a real piece of work, and he KNOWS about feminism.
The Internet is full of experts on every imaginable subject under the sun.
P.S. Tanya Tucker was in a cohabitating relationship with one of my uncle’s roping buddies maybe between ten and twnety years ago. She supposedly bought a whole bunch of furniture for his house in which she was also living. When they split not too long after, she declined to pay for the furniture. The repossessers showed up for it. He supposedly lied to the repossessers and said his favorite chair was not a part of the purchase and supposedly still has it.