How Texas Made the Old West Even Wilder and Bloodier
50 comments
·May 5, 2025NorthOf33rd
jobs_throwaway
At least in my Texas history class, we weren't taught that the Alamo was a battle of strategic importance. And obviously, the Texans lost, so it didn't help us in that way. It was though an important cultural moment that became a rallying cry and unifying force (ie 'those evil Mexican bastards massacred us at the Alamo, we need revenge!').
And its hard to argue with the result the Texans got.
theultdev
[flagged]
chiffre01
When you go to any Western state, you see this romanticization of cowboy mythology everywhere. People genuinely believe it, and it’s been several generations since the actual cowboy era, so facts about the period are scarce.
The part that ends up being truly harmful is state legislatures passing laws based on perceived views of 'The Old West'
Looking at you Wyoming.
kacesensitive
This is a good reminder that the mythologized "Code of the West" wasn't some noble cowboy ethic—it was born out of postwar resentment, racial violence, and frontier lawlessness. It's easy to forget that much of what's now framed as rugged individualism was originally just unchecked aggression from people who couldn't handle losing a war. The romanticization of this period by early 20th-century writers smoothed over a lot of ugly history.
technothrasher
My great grandfather wrote down some stories of his life in Southern Kansas at the time, and I was always struck by how less exciting it was than you’d think.
He talks about taking a horse and cart alone into Oklahoma “Indian territory” and how he scrounged up an old pistol because he was afraid of being scalped. He spends two nights camped out and every group of native Americans that pass by him just entirely ignores him.
He also talks about going to see the Dalton gang just after their famous shootout, and mentions how it was weird to see the bodies just laid out and people cutting scraps of clothing off them as souvenirs. He said it wasn’t romantic at all, just depressing.
ceejayoz
> He talks about taking a horse and cart alone into Oklahoma “Indian territory” and how he scrounged up an old pistol because he was afraid of being scalped. He spends two nights camped out and every group of native Americans that pass by him just entirely ignores him.
The modern version is people who are afraid of Chicago.
starspangled
> The modern version is people who are afraid of Chicago.
I thought America has a serious gun problem. Or is it so exaggerated that it is irrational to be afraid of a city that's in or around the top 10 highest rates of gun homicides in the country?
vintagedave
That's really interesting in its own way (ie, non-exciting vs stories maybe, but really fascinating.) Have you thought of digitising it and putting it online?
technothrasher
I did indeed transcribe them all digitally to preserve them. Most of them probably would only be interesting to the family. The only other one that has general interest was his time as a water fetcher and firewood collector during the gathering before the Oklahoma Land Rush.
potato3732842
When you go see renaissance cultural stuff romanticizing the ancient romans and greeks do you crap all over it on the basis that the societies they're romanticizing had spicy takes on women or that their economies were comparatively primitive? Are you going to complain that they didn't have running water and electricity in the old west while you're at it?
The past was generally rife with problems that hadn't yet been solved. Some of those were technical and some of them social. But dismissing it all as racism or whatever is misleading at best. People (generally, I'm sure there's a few exceptions) aren't romanticizing the racism or the violence or the outhouses or the lack of antibiotics or any other negatives that have since been solved or improved upon, when they romanticize these periods of history.
davidw
The Romans are 'ancient history' and not directly connected to current events in the US. Sure, we have some cultural inheritance from them, but they're many, many generations removed from us, whereas some of this 'western lore' stuff is not, really. I have a photo of my own great grandfather on a horse with a rifle in Montana. He was a ranger with the Forest Service.
the_af
The Fascists did romanticize (a distorted version of) the Roman Empire.
There's a similar and misplaced admiration of Sparta, which is wrong headed since Sparta wasn't even all that good at military matters, and, compared to other city states of the time, a failure at everything else.
analog31
Texas is a little bit closer to home, if you will. There are still people alive today who believe that aspects of it -- mythical or real -- are fundamental to our culture, or a model for contemporary society.
otikik
I'll accept all romantizatizicing of the ancient roman empire as long as it's The Life of Brian.
IAmBroom
> When you go see renaissance cultural stuff romanticizing the ancient romans and greeks do you crap all over it on the basis that the societies they're romanticizing had spicy takes on women or that their economies were comparatively primitive?
So, pointing out ethical failures accurately is "crapping all over it"?
> Are you going to complain that they didn't have running water and electricity in the old west while you're at it?
I'm going to suggest that objecting to enslavement, and objecting to having a well with a bucket, are not anywhere on the same spectrum.
You seem to be arguing from a truly dishonest, and fundamentally immoral, basis.
the_af
It's not crapping all over history. If it was engaged with in a rigorous manner, nobody would have a problem with it.
The problem is that they romanticize it, paint an inaccurate picture of it, and also try to draw conclusions about modern life based on these misconceptions.
It's not about mocking them because of the outhouses.
cratermoon
I will push back on people who romanticize and emulate those societies, and in the US in the 21st century there are plenty of folks who would like to see the country return to when times were supposedly "great".
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dueltmp_yufsy
Well they made the their state brand slogan "don't mess with Texas", so makes sense.
alabastervlog
Originally an anti-littering ad campaign.
(seriously!)
ceejayoz
Reminds me of this a bit:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristi_Noem#%22Meth._We're_on_...
> On November 18, 2019, Noem released a meth awareness campaign named "Meth. We're on It". The campaign was widely mocked and Noem was criticized for spending $449,000 of public funds while hiring an out-of-state advertising agency from Minnesota to lead the project. She defended the campaign as successful in raising awareness.
Texas is good at mythologizing its patently terrible origin stories. See the Alamo.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forget_the_Alamo:_The_Rise_and...