Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/07/16/texas-courts-ban-on-butts-and-farts-books-not-going-well.html
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Texan here. The quality of life is kinda great here. Plus, we have HEB.
But these book banners need to go. As far as I’m concerned, they aren’t welcome.
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I’m guessing you may be male, white and straight?
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2 out of 3. But I know plenty that would fail your guess on all counts and still agree Texas can be a great place to live, especially for families.
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2 outa 3 ain’t bad…
I’m mostly basing my opinion on experiences from other folks who fit some to none of those categories, but far be it from me to discount your personal experience.
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Right now in Texas women are dying and families with trans kids are having to flee…
I agree that Texas (and all states) can be great, but the reality is pretty grim for some groups there and we should not just dismiss that out of hand in favor of our own personal experiences. I’m personally doing well over here in GA, but I’m not blind to the struggles of others we are not as privileged as myself, especially outside of the ATL…
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I know Texas is a great place to live for some folks. I have friends there. But I think a lot of people love Texas despite these issues.
For fun, I went and checked out the linked article and its source. The original BB article referenced in this piece cites a CNN study that ranked the states on various criteria including the states with worst quality of life. Here are the criteria they cite:
- Quality of Life metrics include Crime, Child Care, Health Care, Environmental Quality, and Inclusiveness.
Here’s the CNN piece.
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As long as your family doesn’t include (or care about) LGBTQ+ people or people in need of emergency reproductive care or people who value science in education or people who need a stable power grid or…
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Slow down. Nearly every other Texan I know cares about all of those things. And yet, we can still find 100s of things that also make this state a great place to live. Most non-Texans (especially here) tend to reduce us to a red state, whereas every single election demonstrates a battle not unlike that occurring nationally – where the progressive urban populations tend to vote blue while hundreds of rural counties want us to go back to the 50s. It doesn’t help that we are represented by a reprehensible governor. I get it. But waving the flag for how much Texas sucks does literally nothing for us.
Which no one is suggesting… but that doesn’t mean that the people being MOST impacted by this hard right turn should be dismissed.
Agreed, but when ever anyone is critical about what’s happening there, replying with denials doesn’t help either. 
Texas is fine, what’s happening in Texas right now is not.
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There are hundreds of nice things about every state. That doesn’t erase any of the things that put your state at the top of the list for “worst quality of life.”
Instead of responding to news like this with “Texas is great,” how about responding with “this doesn’t reflect the things I like about Texas and that’s why many fine Texans I know are working to reverse these terrible developments.”
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Let us look at real life-or-death problems underway right now in Texas that should be in the Texas-related news cycle…
LIVE UPDATES:
870K still in the dark after Hurricane Beryl
Exclusive: Houston official pleads with CenterPoint to fix ‘critical’ facilities in 1 a.m. email
Updated July 12, 2024 10:20 a.m.
Texas Air Quality Tracker
ERCOT Power Grid Tracker
Texas Power Outage Map
Houston official begged CenterPoint to fix facilities
CenterPoint CEO defends power delays
Yep.
I even know some of those targeted families, and by this I mean LBGTQIA+ familes, personally. Those who have the money to do so have either moved out, or gotten some kind of living accommodations like a “vacation home” that they sometimes group-purchase, as a bolt hole, if their living situations in Texas all goes [even more] off the rails.
Respectfully submitted,
yours truly
who lived in Texas for 34 years
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Unless there’s a trans person in the family
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And this is the goal, of course. To drive out anyone who can oppose them by making life hell for the marginalized and vulnerable…
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depict any type of sexual activity or questionable nudity.
Donald Duck doesn’t wear pants. I’m guessing Disney should be afraid?
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What is HEB?
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HEB is a better than average grocery store, mostly located in large cities in the south-central part of the state. Austinites love them some HEB.
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If it wasn’t for the bigotry enshrined in law, our gerrymandered-to-hell electoral maps, our inability to get a constitutional amendment up for popular vote without the gerrymandered lege voting for it first, the strict abortion ban killing people, the proliferation of guns, the broken electrical grid… it’s a very long list.
The GOP has had control of Texas for way too long and it is starting to show. It’s also getting worse as the fascists and Nat-Cs take over the GOP. Because it means they take over the state. I was not surprised to see it last on the list. Texas has some great people, some great food, and some great cultures. It also has a lot of problems that I’m not sure we Texans will be able to fix without the feds helping us fix our election maps. I wish it wasn’t. I wish we had reasonable and compassionate people controlling our government.
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