They tell tall tales in Texas!
They love to stretch the truth.
They have an appetite for hype;
They learn it in their youth.
They tell tall tales in Texas!
They lie so easily.
Sometimes it’s hard to tell the tales
From true reality. – Sharon Warner
The tall tale is an old and venerable tradition in folklore which is chiefly characterized by exaggeration; the art of the “whopper” lies in telling a ridiculous story so convincingly that the more gullible members of one’s audience may actually fall for it. This is what chiefly distinguishes it from the three other major forms of folklore: fabliaux and jokes are understood by both teller and listener to be fiction; fairy tales are accepted literally by children and symbolically by adults; and legends are believed both by teller and listener. The tall tale is most common among largely-male groups on the frontiers of civilization, and can be understood at least in part as a game or contest; the teller is in a way intellectually “wrestling” with his listeners, trying to defeat their skepticism with his yarn-spinning ability. But just as there’s a huge moral difference between horseplay and physical assault, so there is a vast gulf between tales of Pecos Bill and the outrageous lies Texas politicians and cops routinely tell; the former are good-natured and intended to amuse, while the latter are serious attempts to exert harmful control over unwilling victims. Obviously, politicians and cops everywhere are well-known for their habitual practice of deceit, but in most places they at least try to make their lies believable; in Texas, however, they seem to enjoy stretching the truth far past the breaking point, as if to test just how much the credulous public will allow them to get away with.
There are numerous examples, such as Texas politicians’ repeated attempts to install creationism in its schools or their insistence that every single person convicted in Texas courts or executed in its prisons is truly guilty (to the point of attempting to cover up evidence to the contrary). And thought the “gypsy whore” myth has reared its moronic head on every continent but Antarctica in the past decade, Texas “authorities” embraced it with a fervor their counterparts in Indianapolis and London could not hope to match, and even had the colossal gall to insist that the reason no such strumpet invasion materialized was due to their “precautions”. Furthermore, while officials in other places hasten to change the subject when the subject of their failed “predictions” arises, in Texas they just keep telling the same old tall tale:
Austin police are partnering with local non-profits to fight an expected rise in human trafficking during Formula 1 weekend. It’s a crime that grows anytime Austin has an influx of visitors…[police are] unsure how many trafficking victims they will rescue during F1, but the department is preparing for a busy week. “It could be one victim. It could be 200,” said APD Victim Services Supervisor Dolores Laparte-Litton. Human trafficking is also known as modern day slavery, underage prostitution and sexual exploitation. Four out of five victims are U.S. citizens. Up to 300,000 girls between 11 and 17 are lured into the sex industry every single year, according to the U.S. Department of Justice…Sex trafficking was a huge problem at the Super Bowl in Dallas in 2011. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott called it the single largest human trafficking event in the United States.
In case you don’t recall, the total extent of this “huge problem” was one wannabe pimp who was inspired by the hype. But neither blatant falsehood nor demographic absurdities can stop those tall-tale-tellin’ Texans, who apparently also compete to see who can tie the largest number of moral panics together in one yarn:
…Police in Texas today are warning that girls are being lured into prostitution by gang members trolling their social media profiles. According to San Antonio Police Detective George Segura, gangs look for girls on Facebook who are showing off a bit too much skin, and are possibly seeking attention. Gang members then approach the girls on Facebook, befriend them, and convince them to meet up in person. No one is too young to be exploited — police say girls as young as 12 are being recruited. The sex trade is big business for gangs…[who] “can easily make hundred [sic] of thousands of dollars per girl, per year”…
So let’s see, we’ve got white slavery, the internet and gangs, and this hat trick is then embellished with slut-shaming, the old “average age of entry” myth and the relatively new “all whores dependably make hundreds of thousands of dollars per year” one. This stuff is as absurd as Davy Crockett’s killing a bear when he was three years old or Bigfoot Wallace defeating forty-two Comanches with hickory nuts; no adult brain in proper working order could believe such rubbish. Unfortunately, “common sense” is an oxymoron, and the average person is generally willing to accept any tale, no matter how ludicrous, as long as it’s told by someone with a title.
I think some people have minds that retreat to a childlike level when they see the code word “sex.” (And not happy children either, scared children.)
Spot on analysis Maggie!
How much would you say the average call-girl (not a streetwalker) makes? I’m not disputing this – because I’ve been told by virtually every girl I’ve seen that … “It’s not as much as you think” … but I have no clue what kind of ballpark number we’re talking here.
Let me add – I DID date a provider for a couple of years who worked in a health spa. I would say she made about as much as I did back then as an E-4 / E-5 in the Navy (maybe a little more) and I was making around $25K. She didn’t make more than $35K tops though.
This was circa 1984 though – and it was also in Hawaii, and she wasn’t exactly “high volume”.
The average independent escort who takes the time to develop her business and works hard, makes about $100k in a good economy. I made a good bit more than that but I was very popular and worked hard 7 days a week; really high-end girls can double or even triple that. But the average escort doesn’t work hard, so you’re probably looking at high five-figures.
The basis of most whore myths is taking extreme cases and pretending they’re average. A TINY NUMBER of whores are semi-enslaved, A TINY NUMBER start at 13, A TINY NUMBER make $300,000, etc. The fanatics just extend those far ends of the bell curve to everyone.
Yeah so … around a hundred K per year is, really – not that much money in this economy. Maybe if you’re single with no bills it’s a killing.
Mostly cash, though, and no confiscatory “withholding”.
Yeah, well that’s another issue and I’m not sure how American call girls handle that since their activities are completely illegal.
I know the girls overseas in the legal nations work mostly for cash too but the one’s I’ve spoken to say they are religious about accurately reporting their income.
Wait … well, with the possible exception of Denmark – I believe that nation says that prostitution is legal EXCEPT as a primary means of income. I only saw one woman though in Denmark, and she had a “day job” as a women’s psychologist … or therapist … or something. It was a nice private practice though.
They not only extend the ends of the curves, they circle, loop, and variable helix them in a way that would make a designer of roller coasters green with envy. Thus, ALL whores are enslaved thirteen-year-olds earning $300 K a year, and there are MILLIONS of them.
But Maggie it is true. I saw a young woman from somewhere in Eastern Europe who was very upset at her job. The only problem is that she wasn’t a prostitute.
If you can’t tell I was being sarcastic.
I should add she was working at the Gulfarium, an aquarium near Destin, Florida, as a ticket taker. She did have a very proununced Eastern European accent, though.
I knew one of those Eastern European girls as well! She was from Ukraine and was always scowling so she MUST have been “trafficked”! Only she was in her 40s and working as a cashier at a dairy store, had immigrated with her husband as (as I surmised later) scowled because her English was very poor and she had to concentrate to communicate with customers. Once I started making the effort to talk to her like a person (rather than a part of the cash register) she always smiled and greeted me with “Hello, my friend!” until she got a better job.
It’s amazing how much more complex and interesting the stories of people who migrate for work turn out to be than the simple-minded “victimization” narratives the racists, xenophobes and anti-sex people want to project onto them.
What else would you expect from a state where a major political party (Republican) has a platform openly condemning the teaching of ‘higher order thinking skills’ (i.e critical thinking) as being contrary to good government and stable families?
False – they did not condemn “higher order thinking skills”.
What they condemned was the HOTS program … which is an educational program that many educators nationwide oppose.
They specifically state in that announcement that HOTS is simply a “relabeling” of Outcome Based Education – which is something that liberals often do – relabel things when people get “hip” to how damaging they are.
Advocates of traditional education oppose HOTS because it elevates the program above the teaching of basic skills – particularly in elementary school when kids really need to be taught the basic skills first …
You know … the skills they DO NOT KNOW when they graduate high school in this day and age.
Saying that Texas opposes critical thinking because they oppose the HOTS program is like me saying you are anti-life because you don’t support the PRO-Live movement.
Looking at the document in question, they do in fact include “critical thinking skills” as something they condemn as outcome-based eduction.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/texasgop_pre/assets/original/2012Platform_Final.pdf
This being the relevant passage.
Upon further investigation I discovered that Talking Points Memo contacted Chris Elam, Communcations Director, who stated that it was actually a mistake to say that.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/06/texas_gops_2012_platform_accidentally_opposes_teaching_of_critical_thinking_skills.php
I am aware that TPM is somewhat partisan, but this is a verbatim quote from Mr. Elam.
Judging by the capitalization and Acronym, I’d say they were talking about this HOTS program you’d talked. However, in both the correction and initial platform they state that they oppose it specifically because it may challenge the student’s fixed beliefs, not because it elevates HOTS above basic skills.
Kind of on/off topic. What do you think about the porn/condom law just passed in LA?
I’ve done a number of columns on that; look in the subject index under “Weinstein, Michael” and you’ll find most of them.
We’ll see how long it lasts. The opposition didn’t have the support or notoriety enjoyed by gay marriage and cannabis legalization in some other states.
Hey waitaminit! I thought that the whore hordes skipped the Arlington Superbowl because of the weather. Damn, guys; pick one lie and stick to it, wouldja?