Knoxville-itis is a particularly stubborn strain of complacency, characterized by prompt demonization of anyone who challenges the accepted way of thinking about or doing things.  I believe its roots lie in the fundamental insecurity of our populace, and that it's fostered by TPTB in the local GOP/GOB power structure who like it better when the masses stay insular -- because then they're more easily manipulated.  (I also believe lots of places suffer from insularity and complacency, and I've lived long enough in enough different places to make an informed judgment about that.)

But it's also a somewhat selective phenomenon.  Consider the two men, not only not from around here but ethnically "diverse" to boot, who rode into town last year seeking to inject new life and thoughts into our area: Ex-Fire Chief Carlos Perez and UT Men's Basketball Coach Bruce Pearl.

Both arrived with records of success elsewhere.  Both challenged existing structures to improve.  Both essentially demanded more -- more thought, more effort, more commitment -- from those who would work with them.  But today, one is a hero soon to get his salary roughly doubled, and the other has accepted a structured settlement of his employment.

Take as a given that this analogy is imperfect, but ask yourself: why the divergent results?  Is it strictly a matter of personalities, and Pearl's has proven more embraceable?  Is it that Pearl met less entrenched resistance than Perez?  Is it that Pearl had a boss who had his back, while Perez did not?  Is it that Pearl charmed the media, while Perez did not?  Is Pearl simply better at what he does?  All of the above?  Something else?

I won't pretend to fully understand this divergence, or these two situations, or to have any or all of the answers to the questions I just posed.  I hope some commenters will have some insights.  But I am always a bit dismayed whenever one of these  -- as R. Neal so aptly put it -- "You're-Not-From-Around-Here-
Are-You-Guy-Leaving-To-Spend-More-Time-With-His-Family" episodes culminates and most people shrug and say, "Well, he wasn't one of us."

Forgive me if, today, I'm not especially proud to be one of us.