Perceptions

Recently, political behaviorist Bill Maher commented about Al Gore's mansion using much more electricity than a lot of other Tennessee's homes combined. He went on to say that at least Gore's home has electricity, inferring that most of Tennessee is so backward that we don't have modern technology, and in the case of electricity, we aren't up to even nineteenth century standards.

Another slap at Tennessee? Maybe. I don't know what goes on in the minds of other people, whether or not what they say is what they feel. Even so, I thought it was funny, but a few of my fellow Tennesseans felt otherwise and were offended, and years ago, I probably would have been on my high horse, castigating this type of trash talk for perpetuating the perception that we are ignorant and backward.

Hell, we are such. It took my having visited and even living in or near some big cities to figure this out. People in these places don't have the mindset that we have. They don't come near to thinking the same way that we do. It is all because of our history, our values, and our expectations.

The history of our state is rather mediocre I reckon, compared to that of some of the "wild and woolly" western states, such as California with its Spanish heritage, the gold rush, and movie industry. Other states have towns with famous names like Tombstone, Laredo, Purgatory and many, many others. Our area has names like Loafers Glory, just across the hill in North Carolina, and Goose Pimple Junction, just outside Bristol Tennessee/Virginia.

Texans are rightfully proud of their Spanish heritage, cowboys and longhorn cattle along with statesmen like Sam Houston, the Alamo and a whole lot more.*

Colorado has South Park.

In rural northeast Tennessee where I grew up, we didn't have access to an electricity grid until the nineteen-forties, and our house wasn't electrified until 1948. I didn't know that homes had inside plumbing until we went to Detroit in 1950, when I was five years old. Sure, the stores in downtown Johnson City had inside toilets and water fountains (each signed as Whites Only or Negroes Only), but running water inside the house was really luxurious.

Our Tennessee values—for the most part conservative, despite a few dumb-asses like myself—can be summed up as; I'll mind my own business and you mind yours.

Our expectations are to allow us be ourselves. One television celebrity from California commented that the state flower of Tennessee is the satellite dish. Very droll, don't you think? Many of us have such a device (I have two), because we do what it takes. Make jokes if you need to, and I'll laugh with along you.

Our hillbilly backwardness is part of what makes us unique. We are a small part of a diverse nation, and we like it like that. We are what we are.

*Sam Houston, a very colorful person, lived many years in Tennessee, where he was elected governor. The Alamo had a band of defenders that hailed from the Volunteer State, led by Davy Crockett. There still are people with Tennessee roots that are influential in the political and economic affairs of the Lone Star State.