Imaginary Cowboy culture

September 18, 2022

Today's post is about something that makes me crazy about Wyoming.   Now, I'm pretty sure every culture, community, state, or nation, has a narrative about itself that gets perpetuated.  We all want to believe some story about ourselves that make us special, or interesting, or important.  Human nature, right? 

When is it delusional, though? When does the story become bigger than the reality, or worse, when does the story become destructive to the people who believe it? 

I grew up on a small cattle ranch, so technically, we were cowboys. I have to say, though, that's not how we identified ourselves.  We identified as ranchers.  For my family, and a lot of other ranching families, 'rancher' is not the same as 'cowboy.'  The men, and some of the women, that I knew did not wear cowboy hats or spurs, or even boots.  They wore John Deere caps and work shoes. We had horses when I was young, and my mother could ride like a pro, but my memory is that my father didn't really like horses, and as soon as he could, we started using motorcyles on the ranch.  The most 'cowboy' activity my bunch ever did was to go to the rodeo once a year at the State Fair, and I'm pretty sure that had more to do with socializing with friends than participating in the 'cowboy culture.'  Cowboys were on the silver screen and in the rodeo arena, at least for me.

I tell you all of this, because the narrative of Wyoming has become one of the 'noble cowboy.'  The new motto of the university, where I work btw, is "The World Needs More Cowboys," and a few years ago, our legislature tried to pass some kind of law pushing the "Cowboy Code,"which apparently is about independence and hard work. To be honest, I'm not sure anyone could ever really define what was meant by this, but it was supposed to express what it means to be from Wyoming.  As with most Wyoming messaging, the subtext was this:  Everyone outside the state is suspect; we don't want any help/interference from outsiders; change is frightening and should not be tolerated; anyone who disagrees is not a true Wyomingite.  I could add to this, but you get the idea.  This is one of my complaints: the narrative has very little to do with how people actually live here.  There isn't some code that ranchers, or farmers, or oil rig workers, or coal miners...or anyone...has ever ascribed to here.  But, who cares, right? It's just advertising, just the usual propaganda people create for themselves.

But. I don't think that it is innocuous, or meaningless.

I think this is the kind of messaging that furthers the "us v them' attitude that hurts people.  We see this happening on the national level at the moment.  One group is constantly being pitted against another.  You are either "with us" or "against us."  Of course, there are bigger issues at play than the stupid stories we tell about ourselves; Race and poverty, religion and politics, all kinds of big picture issues are creating these divisions, which we know lead to violence and destruction of different kinds.  My point here is about little old Wyoming, and about the the need by so many here to perpetuate the message that there is some kind of old fashioned cowboy culture that once made this a great place, and that if we could just ignore all the complicated 'stuff' of the modern world, and return to that cowboy culture, wouldn't everything just be grand?  As with most nostalgic delusions, the reality is that there was never a time when Wyoming was perfect (because no time or place is perfect); and that what the folks who are trying to force this delusion into laws (the gun-toting, pseudo-Christian, fake pro-lifer, racist, homophobic, misogynistic Trumpers who are in charge at the moment), what they want is for anyone who isn't just like them to shut up, to go away, and to leave them to their pretenses. They don't care about making this state great, or about improving the quality of life for its citizens: they only care about hanging on to the power they've managed to secure for themselves.

End of today's rant. More later.