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Comment by pm90 | Hacker News Reader

There is a view of Texas collectively as a largely backward state filled with trigger-happy cowboys and whatnot. That might be true. However, there is much more to the state than just that.

I don't mean to generalize here; anecdotally, Texans on an individual level are friendly, conservative in their beliefs yet tolerant of others. The friendliness is what really surprised me when I first landed here. It really is charming and makes meeting new people incredibly easy and fun.

I must add that as a young man, its a great state to be in. Love Texan women: beautiful, charming and very real.

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I spent my highschool and college years in Texas, and I couldn't agree more. Austin is a beautiful city with a beautiful culture, and even more "boring" places such as Dallas and Houston are filled with super friendly and down to earth people.

I now live in Silicon Valley, and I find that there is much more social tension around here. I've been hated on as a young techie, as a Chinese immigrant, as someone who moved in from another state and doesn't "understand" Bay Area culture. People here are also the opposite of "down to earth".

I've never experienced any of the above when I lived in Texas, yet the first time I went to a NBA game here a few years ago someone shouted at me "Go home China boy, Yao Ming isn't playing today".

Weather in Texas is atrocious though.

>Weather in Texas is atrocious though.

Crickets. Crickets are their own season. People don't even know.

>There is a view of Texas collectively as a largely backward state filled with trigger-happy cowboys and whatnot. That might be true. However, there is much more to the state than just that.

It doesn't help that Texas plays up the wild west stereotype as much as it can to the rest of the country and the world, nor does it help that Texas' government panders to secessionists and lunatics, such as the Jade Helm conspiracists, and pretends moderates, liberals and Democrats really don't exist in the state outside of the holding pen of Austin. Texas likes to pretend it's only part of the United States as a half-hearted favor, at least whenever a Democrat is in the White House, but it won't say no to agricultural subsidies or disaster money from the government, even when it has plenty of cash on hand to cover itself.

Personally, as a Texan who loves Texas, I kind of wish Texas would get over its bullshit. If I never see another Texas political ad filmed in front of a barbed wire fence and a haybale it will be too soon.

Unfortunately, it really depends on where you are, and what color your skin is. I don't think recently arrived refuges would have the same opinion as you do: http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2016/02/gun-wielding-prot...

Well considering 40% of Texas is hispanic, including myself, it's not really about the color of your skin. That incident was because syrian refugees cause a lot of trouble all over Europe and we don't want them here.

>That incident was because syrian refugees cause a lot of trouble all over Europe and we don't want them here.

You don't want them here. Don't presume to speak for the rest of the state.

You're right, I had to google it.

Apparently only 51% of the state said they would disapprove of accepting Syrian refugees into Texas even with a security clearance process in place

https://www.texastribune.org/2016/02/25/uttt-poll-bar-muslim...

Ugh. That's just disgusting, and something to be ashamed of.

So that doesn't change my statement at all. The friendliness and welcoming largely depends on the color of your skin.

> syrian refugees cause a lot of trouble all over Europe

Not really. Doubtless a few have, but most of them are regular people who have lost everything trying to escape from a war zone.

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