Very well said! Back before Twitter mostly died, I used to get comments like that all the time. I'd tweet one of my stories about, say, Texas lawmakers doing some particularly awful anti-LGBTQ thing, and then like clockwork, a bunch of people would chime in that queer people, progressive people, or whoever need to just get out of Texas.

Usually by disparaging the state and the people who live there.

Huh?

Whatever happened to fighting for positive change, I'd sometimes ask. What about the people who can't leave? What about the right to pursue happiness everywhere in the United States?

Usually, I'd just get some thoughtless pushback about how deplorable "magats" are and how we'd all be better off without Texas (or Florida, or South Carolina, or Idaho) in the union.

I guess people were mostly just blowing off steam, but it was still discouraging to see people urging surrender rather than battle.

I've never understood that impulse.

Thank you for writing so clearly and well on the topic!