With the impending launch of Daily Kos 4.0 right around the corner, and having committed myself to turn over a new leaf as a member of this community, the time seems right to do something that I've been mulling over for a while now: euthanize Big Tex.
I created my account here a few months shy of six years ago, having lurked for a while, because I'd gotten ginned up about something I read here (if I'm not mistaken, it was about a proposed flag-burning amendment), and wanted to respond to it. So I did, and shortly thereafter went back into lurking mode for another two and a half years. I didn't really put a whole lot of thought into the username I picked for myself, and in retrospect I kind of wish I had because I've never really cared much for the Big Tex handle. At the time, I thought it was mildly clever: "Hmm, let's see, I'm fat. And I'm from Texas. So, um... Big Tex! Hyuk hyuk hyuk!"
Needless to say, it never occurred to me to think about what others might read into the name I picked for myself. Some folks think I'm crowing about (or lying about) the size of my Little Tex, which as it turns out is probably about average at best and by no means extraordinary. At least, that's what I've been told. **wah wah wah** Others think that I'm just another braggart asshole from a state full of them. To those folks, I can only say that, while I'm not particularly ashamed of my state, and there are some things about it that are pretty cool, I'm not exactly what you would call a patriotic Texan either. I'm acutely aware of the fact that my state is currently being run by a governor whose head can be used as a floatation device in the event of a water landing, and by legislators who -- and I'm not making this shit up -- have actually attempted to legislate the content of cheerleading routines. Let's not even get into the State Board of Education, because that's just another big fat can of failworms. **facepalm**
Then, of course, there are the people who see my username and feel immediately compelled to share with the rest of us their feelings about what a bunch of uncivilized dumbshits Texans are. And yes, we do have more than a few of them (I'm looking at you, Stephen Broden!). Just as I'm not particularly ashamed of my state, I'm not exactly proud of it either; but there are good people down here too, and while we don't have as many liberals as we should, we have a lot more of them than we're often given credit for. It gets awfully aggravating having to defend a state whose political leaders and voting majority often make me hang my head in shame. But when I feel my resolve slipping, I remind myself that, while we did give the world Rick Perry, we also gave the world Molly Ivins. And Ann Richards. And Willie Nelson. And Bill Moyers. And Barbara Jordan. And The Polyphonic Spree. (Well, okay, we did kind of fuck up on that last one. Sorry about that.) All these good, progressive people came out of Texas, and others unmentioned; and y'all returned the favor by sending us two George Bushes. Thanks a lot, assholes.
I get the impression sometimes that people see my username, and get the mental picture of some belligerent hick wearing a cowboy hat, and boots, and a big belt buckle, which is not who I am at all. I haven't exactly helped matters with the way I've behaved here sometimes; indeed, a considerable amount of the grief I've gotten over my username has come from people who I found myself arguing with over some trivial matter, sometimes in arguments that I went out of my way to start. But in the offline world, I'm a relatively soft-spoken guy who loves J-pop and anime, I never wear a cowboy hat or boots and would look pretty ridiculous if I did, I'm relatively neurotic, and I don't seek out conflict the way that I sometimes do here and elsewhere online. I don't have a rational explanation for the difference between who I've been here and who I am in my everyday life; perhaps having a digital buffer zone between myself and the people I converse with online allows me to forget about the neurotic, insecure person I am offline and go full-tilt in the other direction. Maybe it's because, when all you see is a bunch of words on a computer screen, it's easy to forget that there's a human being out there somewhere who typed them. Whatever the case may be, I'd like my online persona to be a better reflection of who I am offline and not a reminder of the asshole that I've been on far too many occasions in the past.
Anyway, here we are. I was told that you can't change usernames for an existing account, but you can open up a new account under a different name as long as you discontinue posting under the old one. I was also told that this isn't considered sockpuppeting as long as you don't misrepresent yourself as a different person. So I've opened up a new account under the name Maikeru Ronin, which is the name I use on Facebook. I've added a disclaimer to the sig line for this account pointing to my new DK account, and I'll be adding a similar disclaimer to the sig line for the account I just created once the system will allow me to do so. Apparently there's a 24-hour waiting period before you can post comments on a new account, and I'll be discontinuing posting under this account effective immediately, so unfortunately I won't be able to reply to any of your comments in this diary.
And with that, Big Tex is no more. He has ceased to be. He's expired and gone to meet his maker. He's a stiff. Bereft of life, he rests in peace. His metabolic processes are now history. He's off the twig. He's kicked the bucket. He's shuffled off his mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleeding choir invisible. The grave having been dug, I invite you all to shovel dirt into it in the comments below.