Can 23% of Texas Really Be That Stupid?

I've spent a lot of my adult life defending the state of Texas, where I'm from (as opposed to where I'm "from-from"), especially during the last eight years with W. in office. I usually begin with the refrain, "There are good people there," before espousing the virtues of the things from home that I still hold dear: big sky, late afternoon thunderstorms that rattle the house and offer a thrilling, momentary reprieve from the summer heat, Tex-Mex, barbeque, and chicken fried steak, not necessarily in that order, the saying of please, thank you, and yes ma'am, football season, the wildflowers that spring up alongside the road, those days spent doing nothing besides drinking iced tea and sitting in the shade, which, in the middle of July, feels something like receiving the universe's only tender mercy.

I'm not completely sentimental about where I grew up, however, and I also know that that big sky is now choked with the country's worst pollution, the humid Texas heat is only being made more intolerable and dangerous in every respect by global warming, some of the same people who say please and thank you religiously also believe gays are going to hell (or that there is a hell, for that matter), places where large groups of people gather like football games are often the same places where drunk, hateful idiots feel emboldened enough to openly call someone a gook, spic, nigger, or fag, and there are parts of the state where you still get the feeling that people would like to kill you simply because you look different.

But I don't want to think that is a significant portion of the population. I know--I'm in a certain amount of denial. But I'm already drowning in my own cynicism on a daily basis, this election has put me and everybody else in an Us vs. Them frame of mind, my parents live in Texas and they are adorable, and it's too easy to blame certain parts of the country, like Texas, or the South, or the Middle, for all of America's shameful, small-minded, stupid behavior.

So it was with great dismay that I learned this week that, according to a UT poll, 23% of Texas voters believe Obama is a Muslim. (It goes without saying that I, like so many other people, am first and foremost dumbfounded that "Muslim" has become a slur in this election, but so it has.) A Forbes writer spun this incredible number as less of a mark of ignorance than of the limited way in which polls can be interpreted.

There's another possibility: McCain supporters using badly conceived polls as political weapons. If you ask people in a hardcore McCain state, a good number of them will says "Yes, Obama is a Muslim" whether they believe it or not, just to get the idea that Obama is a Muslim out there. All's fair in war and politics, after all.

And I'm willing to believe that. No, amend that. I do believe it. I need to believe it. Because the alternative, that a quarter of Texas voters are actually that small-minded and stupid, hits far too close to home, to my home and how I want to think of it, and, more generally, how I want to think of our greater home, the country we live in.

Comments

[jusme2008]

Don't worry, Disgrasian, my home state of Georgia will take the title of the most redneck state if Martin doesn't defeat Chambliss in the upcoming Senate run-off. Don't know why many can't seem to get past this divisive behavior, on BOTH the right AND the left. Reading some of the comments here and in the posts regarding the Georgia Senate race, just makes me sad. Sad to the bone....it takes a small bit of the JOY out of volunteering & voting for Obama and Martin. Only one with a personal PREJUDICE could paint all Texans or all Southern people with just one brush stroke.

Isn't that exactly how small-minded people prejudge those of other faiths, skin color, sexual orientation or gender?

I, for one, feel your pain and would not call on a person of your expressed beliefs to renounce all you love about your home state. I'm pretty sure that is NOT the "change" we are all hoping for in America.
"We are all Americans", in the words of our wonderful new President Elect.

[TEAQUEEN]

I was born and raised in the (50's)in Deep East Texas.So,you can imagine my surprise when living in in New Hampshire(2000-02)_ it was a different world ! Being African-American in Texas is still not a good thing today 2008! I had an Obama sticker on my car_went in a store_came out is was pulled off_my husband driving down the Interstate had a Veterans for Obama sticker on his truck_a passenger in a car slowed by him_made a gun with his hand and pointed it at my husband.Racism still exist in small Texas towns like in Johnson County_where in 1980's there was a KKK meeting at the courthouse,confederate flags fly freely,students take decorated confederate purses to school,etc.. The next county over_Tarrant_made World news(ABC,NBC,CBS) about the rush to buy guns.Texans elected G.Bush for Gov.,gave him 8 years to play with powerful toys and people. So,I'm not surprised that 23% of Texans feel that way about Obama. I'm surprised the number isn't HIGHER!

But,I'm appreciative to the folks that did vote for Obama and change.Maybe there's hope.If we give the folks a Big Red notebook,a couple of school books,pencils,etc..it could be a good start.Remember Texas was not part of the union_it was a Republic under it's own laws.Meantime,I'm planning my Underground Railroad escape back to NH asap!

[pons1595]

All of the hateful words and ideas that the right-wing and thus the Republican Party espouses is aimed directly at the heart of Texas. If it resonates with other haters, then that is cool, too. But it is the bastion and heart of hate in this country. I've been there and sorry I will never go there again. Shuddddddeeerrrrr!

[GaiaTerra7]

I am a native Texan. It has been very painful for me and many other Texans since Karl and W rode into Texas and totally trashed it.
For those that have been paying attention, the Bushs' are from Connecticut.
Yes, there are some people in Texas that are decades behind. I want to take a moment and name a few other folks who are natives of the Lone Star State. They include Willie Nelson, Bill Moyers, Anne Richards, Dan Rather and many other great minds.

[Repuganator]

I think we should Texas to Mexico & call it Texaco......oh......yeah......name's already taken. OK, how about a contest!

Let's pick a name. Winner never has to move there & gets an all expenses paid trip to anywhere else!

[brooklyncitizen]

"foremost dumbfounded that "Muslim" has become a slur in this election, but so it has"

We began an illegitimate war to fight "them" over there so we wouldn't have to fight "them" over here .Since 9/11 terrorism has been equated with Islam so I cannot imagine why you're dumbfounded.The media has participated in this ignorance as Bush's govt forcefully put out this message.

Texas is where black men are targetted in hate crimes. Texas is the proud leader of capital punishment executing more people than any other state thereby placing the US in the great company of China, Iran , Saudi Arabia and Singapore for the highest number of executions carried out. More than 60% of all executions in the US are carried out in Texas. Of course there is a proven link between racism and capital punishment and that Texas leads is not coincidence.

So the fact taht they think Obama is a Muslim is not that surprising.

[MajorKong]

When Molly Ivins died the collective IQ of Texas dropped a couple of points.

[aslinged]

Texas is smart enough to keep Ron Paul around, which is more than can be said of the entirety of the primary election process affiliates including 95% of the mainstream media.

[LI-TXcowgirl289]

Plus, last I checked, Harris County was blue if considering how big the county is, throwing in Houston, I think that's about 8 million. I've been in Texas for 17 years, I'm a NY transplant and the stereotypes-there's validity to both of them, in the north and south. Most of my friends are sadly, the right-wing conservatives who believe PE Obama is Muslim, and they are the same folks that will call him the N-word (which literally makes me cringe), but there will always be that majority - just the same as the African-Amercan's who still call us "white" with a label. The impressive thing is, I believe the majority is much smaller than we give them credit for; as witnessed in the celebration at Grant Park - I cried seeing that diversity; and the rest of that majority, wouldn't say it out loud, only to "others" who feel the same hatred, anger and fear. Truth is different at different levels of consciousness - but the people back home, aren't built the same way. It's something I'm quite proud of, actually. I do love Texas as it's very diverse, but backwards (in some areas) is well-defined. But after 17 years, I still consider myself a New Yorker.

[brooklyncitizen]

How can you stand it?????

[situationcritical]

Everyone always talks about Austin being this great liberal town. I went to college there. It had its music scene, but that pretty much was it, in my opinion. I'm not really a rock and roller, so big whoop.

And you CAN'T swim year-round there. The winters can be icy, vicious and cold. It hails, sleets and snows in Austin in the winter time.

I am gay and black, and I found Austin (as well as the rest of Texas, where I was born and raised) very conservative, and pretty racist.

I wouldn't say Texas was 100 years behind the times. However 10-20 years (depending on the decade you reference) behind is about right.

In 2006 I spent the loneliest year of my life there surrounded by family, old friends and new people. Honestly, I couldn't hold a conversation with anyone that lasted longer than 3 sentences. Mostly, the people I met had no point of reference to be able to carry a conversation. They could talk about sports. I am not a sports fan. I had my longest conversation with a Time/Warner Cable clerk who had never heard of an Apple Computer. She didn't understand that it wasn't a PC, and didn't operate on Windows Vista.

The most amazing thing I found was that most Texans are oblivious to the sentiment that the rest of the world doesn't think its so great right now, and most never want to leave Texas....thank God.

[msjimmied]

Austin?! It has it's GOP faction but it's very very progressive. I consciously made the move after having worked with Texans in California. They were engineers and educated. I found their chivalrous manners charming. They were easy to work with, funny as all get out, and had a very distinctive "cowboy" culture. Proud, a pronounced independent streak and when they have your back, baby, you're good! I am middle eastern. I did not notice racism. The Austin American Statesman is the voice of Austin. It is definitely of a democratic bent.

So we are talking about people from rural areas that do not have exposure to a broader mind set? Like in the red states and Appalachia? Or the 63% of republicans who still think they should run Palin in 2012?

Maybe when we have broadband everywhere and better education and years of democratic government, they'll come around. Evolving takes time.

[AmyinTexas]

Oh, yes....I live in Texas. Was born and raised here, but spent most of my adult life in other places........I miss other places.......

[DennyCrane]

Yes they can. Just look at who their former governor was.

[donniebnyc]

While I am sure that there is no shortage of stupidity in Texas and everywhere else (I live in NYC and see stupid people every day), the 23% is not all a result of stupidity.

It is mostly the result of ignorance, and the strangely American anti-intellectual bias, fostered this year by the personality cult of Palin.

[vagabond78666]

thankyou

[kingflapjack]

Texas is okay as long as you're in Austin... travel 10 miles out of the city limit and it's a blizzard of cowboy hats, coors light and dually trucks.