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The term 'white trash' usually refers to lower-income people and is used to form a general stereotype of whites who are low-income, on public assistance, abuse drugs, etc. I have also seen the term 'white trash' applied to white people of any socioeconomic class who engage in behavior considered 'trashy' by the person using the epithet. The term 'trailer trash' is more frequently applied to lower-income whites in the areas which I have lived rather than 'white trash' as it was understood that almost all residents of the trailer parks were white...
I think that we need to move away from racial/socioeconomic stereotypes and insults of all kinds for any group of individuals. It is demeaning, classist and racist to assume that all people of any group are all one way or another just by the actions of one individual. It's offensive when people say 'white trash', it's offensive when people use the n-word or other racial slurs.
Just like to point out that I was born white in a country where my race is known as, appears on all government documents as, "white pig".
In New Zealand, the selections are
Maori
Pakeha
Other (please specify)
Don't believe me? Watch a series called Sensing Murder NZ on Youtube. There is regular reference to the suspect being pakeha. Aka, white New Zealander, direct translation = white pig.
Why do we still use the term "white trash" to describe a poor white person? Why should we call someone "trash" just because they are poor? Why aren't middle class and upper class whites who have unfavorable personality traits considered "white trash" as well? I feel this is not fair as a poor white person can be a person with good morals and decency and still be labeled "white trash" meanwhile an upper class white person who is backstabbing, promiscuous, rude, and just shows no class might not be considered "white trash" or if anything people might say they act like "white trash" but since they aren't poor they are still not considered "white trash" at least by some. In an age of growing tolerance I still don't see why poor whites are considered "trash." It might even be racist since there is no widespread usage of the terms "Hispanic trash" or "black trash", it almost seems like Hispanics and blacks are expected to already be trash. Any thoughts or opinions?
Great day, even on a thread about white trash, you're painting blacks and Hispanics as the victims.
If you must have validation that middle and upper-class whites with unsavory character traits are, indeed, also "trash," allow me: Trash (if you must use that word) is trash.
It's an interesting point you make. If someone were to call poor blacks or Mexicans "trash", there would be an uproar, immediate cries of racism and a mobilization of their respective racial advocacy groups. The obvious reason "white trash" is commonly used is because there are few, if any, social consequences of doing so the way there are with negative terms for other groups.
That said, I have no problem with terms like "white trash" or "redneck" for a couple of reasons. First, they are words. They have no real effect on me unless I allow them to. Second, in many cases they accurately reflect an observed stereotypical behavior just as negative terms for other groups accurately reflect an observed stereotypical behavior.
Bingo!
I grew up "white trash" ..born to lazy ass Appalachian parents who cared far more about where their next pack of cigs came from than they ever did raising a family.
"Em gawd dam ra-publE-kins don't care nuthin 'bout tha pore peeple! Ima vote fer Jimmy Carter gawd dammit!"
That said though I can admit it, and can freely admit people like that DO exist. God help the dumb bastard though who has the audacity to even think someone of another race is anything but perfect.
"Its not their fault because they're victims of.... (excuse du jour)."
Last edited by Upstate67; 11-03-2015 at 06:46 PM..
Oh, are we now no longer even permitted to use adjectives that imply class?
I don't use the term, but my impression is that it's simply a matter of being poor. It involves elements like education, culture, taste, manners, values, etc.
Where did you get the idea that it's only poverty?
Merle & Darrell from The Walking Dead. Spot-on representation of "white trash."
There's a lot packed into the term, but I would say two across the board characteristics would be the inability to hold down a steady job and some kind of substance abuse. I'd add unstable relationships. Trashy people always have their husband/wife/baby momma/bf walking out on them. Their kids are always getting themselves into some kind of ridiculous trouble. Constant drama.
Gosh, this term goes back pretty far - I was born in 1947, and it was around back then. I grew up in New England, and there it was used to describe white people who lived and behaved the way blacks did, or hung around with them.
I always thought it was a term coined in the north to describe folks in the south. There are still northerners who call all southerners "rednecks" and assume that they all live in trailers, drive pickups with gun racks, carry bibles around, drink moonshine, and marry their cousins. I suspect that it was part of the North's punishment of the South for slavery, and getting trounced in the Civil War.
Today it can mean anything. Who among us can say that we've never done things considered trashy, especially in our youth? In my day, a girl who had sex before marriage was considered trash, but obviously that's not true today. A guy who drank himself sick every Saturday night was trash, but not so today.
In my mind, it always had something to do with lack of education, slovenly appearance, having too many kids to bring up decently, excessive smoking and drinking, public drunkeness, a police record, and rowdy behavior. This is just a sort of snobbery that whites have among themselves.
The term originated with negro slaves who used it to describe Whites whom they considered to be at their level.
''The term White trash first came into common use in the 1830s as a pejorative used by house slaves against poor whites. In 1833 Fanny Kemble, an English actress visiting Georgia, noted in her journal: "The slaves themselves entertain the very highest contempt for white servants, whom they designate as 'poor white trash'".[SIZE=2][9][/SIZE][SIZE=2][10][/SIZE]
White trash to me hasnt got a thing to do with being poor. Its a life style and way of life that lacks education, lacks motivation,no goals, just settling for whatever. If they have extra money they will be smoking 2 packs a day plus,and chasing the nicotine down with alcohol. Personal hygiene lacking. Many times they are brawlers and that includes the women.
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