Vigilant Walrus
Member
Louis CK explains; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCbc6XbFIDU
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Isn't "white trash" an incredibly racist term?
- Thread starter TheDanger
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So, even one of the more derogatory terms against whites has secretly always been just a lesser dig at coloured/minorities.
Doczu
Member
So if i call someone "black trash" will that also be classist, or will i be called racist?
Your interpretation is totally understandable, even if it isn't correct.
Grimløck;138504232 said:
lol are you illiterate? If you can't grasp what I mean from the following posts you might wanna consider going back to school.
another one who didn't read the thread, I am not the one offended, I just wondered about it and wanted to hear opinions.
teruterubozu
Member
We understand your point. It's just very...convoluted.
curlyfriski
Banned
Race is a very complicated subject, and I don't know if GAF is really able to have a good conversation about its intricacies.
It's definitely a racial term. There's an agrument to be made that there is no race without racism.
It's definitely a racial term. There's an agrument to be made that there is no race without racism.
Racist probably, because you'd be inventing that term.
The biggest reason I don't see it as a racist term is it's wide use by white people to describe a seemingly uncivilized group of poor white people. In spite of it's origins, I don't think it's used to disparage a race so much as it is to disparage the poor.
It really isn't that difficult to understand. This is probably the most concise explanation:
I can see the interpretation, it's just a huge reach in this instance and it completely falls apart once you know where the term started.
Sakura
Member
Let me ask you then...
When you hear people describe other people as 'trashy' without the qualifier of white, does it sound like they are referring specifically to non white people...? So that when they do want to describe white trashy people they make sure to quantify it...? Of course not.
White people can be called trashy, and are, all the time, with no quantifier. White trash is a derogatory term, originally started by black people, against poor white people. The idea that it is somehow racist against non-whites, is just beyond comprehensible to me.
When you hear people describe other people as 'trashy' without the qualifier of white, does it sound like they are referring specifically to non white people...? So that when they do want to describe white trashy people they make sure to quantify it...? Of course not.
White people can be called trashy, and are, all the time, with no quantifier. White trash is a derogatory term, originally started by black people, against poor white people. The idea that it is somehow racist against non-whites, is just beyond comprehensible to me.
teruterubozu
Member
Like I said, we get it. It's like seven degrees of getting offended.
HORRORSHØW
Member
convoluted is an understatement.
how would the term "trash" be even remotely racist to non-whites?
I don't think it's a huge reach if you're unfamiliar with the origins of the term. Once you know, you know.
You think? I'd say it's only one degree away from taking offence to the term being used correctly.
Can't say as either interpretation offends me, I just like wordplay.
timetokill
Banned
this is like from the "black holes are racist" school of taking offense.
"white trash" is offensive to white people.
"white trash" is offensive to white people.
Sakura
Member
If I ask you to envision chocolate, you would likely envision brown/dark chocolate, right? Normal. Probably everyone would.
If I asked you to envision a trashy person, would you automatically envision someone who is not white? Would everyone else? Hence the need for the quantifier of white in front of trash? I don't think so, which is why while I understand the OP's confusion at a glance, it should be obvious it is not a racist term against non-whites after a bit of reading of the replies.
Kenshin001
Member
Not it doesn't. It implies the people who are trash are white. It's like saying the term white supremacist sort of implies that people described as supremacists are usually black or at least not white. See how stupid that sounds?
Not comparable and they are historically oppressed.
Are you going to bother responding to the people who have answered your question with actual facts?
Winterfang
Banned
If you call someone black trash is racist because you are calling all black people trash.
White trash is classist because you are only calling and specific group of white people trash.
I can't explain why, but that's exactly what most people will assume by both sentences.
teruterubozu
Member
Same. Just amused.
Vigilant Walrus
Member
This type of rhetoric makes me feel like it's 1997 and someone feels mighty impressive about their new NEOSEEKER webpage
HORRORSHØW
Member
is the OP suggesting that because other races aren't classified by their race as a prefix for trash that they should be offended because the general "trash" may refer to them? really? and i love the OP's ad hominem; demonstrates an ability to discuss the matter at hand.
These sneaky white people
The guy just gets it.
There's no discussion really. Its not because you are part of a non oppressed community that you can't be subject to racism. It's just that people tend to care less since they are part of the dominant majority anyways.
Tesseract
Banned
Liu Kang Baking A Pie
Member
Let's stop pretending everyone knows the full details on where the term originated.
In its modern context, the common addition of "white" to the front of trash as a differentiator is interesting.
In its modern context, the common addition of "white" to the front of trash as a differentiator is interesting.
The term is saying that the white person is trash, white trash. It doesn't mean that other people who aren't white are trash all the time, it just means the person it's directed at is trash within the white race.
Surely that's only if you're saying everyone is black trash? If you're talking to a single person and calling them trash it means that person is trash not every other human being on the planet. If I was to get annoyed and call someone an asshole that doesn't mean everyone on the planet is one. I mean I'd rather we didn't say words like that anyway, but I don't get how calling a single person something means you're calling every other black human on the planet the same thing.
Surely that's only if you're saying everyone is black trash? If you're talking to a single person and calling them trash it means that person is trash not every other human being on the planet. If I was to get annoyed and call someone an asshole that doesn't mean everyone on the planet is one. I mean I'd rather we didn't say words like that anyway, but I don't get how calling a single person something means you're calling every other black human on the planet the same thing.
Liu Kang Baking A Pie
Member
Think about everything that implies. Why is it the only differentiator most of us will ever see or use in this context?
CadetMahoney
Member
I loled.
While I consider the term to be racist I wouldn't mind people having this other interpretation.
Those who think it means nothing though are clueless or have some very thick skins.
[edit]Trash as a term has no racial boundaries. The need to emphasize white as an adjective is to suggest in spite of all the advantages you have by being white you fucked up big time to become an underclass.
IAmRandom31
Banned
Of course it is. Its a derogatory term aimed at a specific race.
Thus it is racist.
But of course people won't care as it is aimed at us evil white folk.
Thus it is racist.
But of course people won't care as it is aimed at us evil white folk.
Liu Kang Baking A Pie
Member
You've got it backwards.
KiwiLannister
Member
I actually agree with the op. The term is subtly racist to non whites. The way it's used in the modern day is basically a way the rest of us white people disown the poor unsuccessful white people. We manage to ignore them and they can be used as a scapegoat for any negative racial stereotypes. It's rather subtle, but it's basically a term that implies that all proper white people are middle or upper class.
I always thought this too. Just comes off as white is normally good and everything else is bad. And just because slaves made it up to describe white poor people that doesn't mean it can't be offensive to black people today. Look at the connotation they used it in they were literally saying slave master is good and white servants like us(slaves) are trash. And considering that I mostly hear other white people saying it usually about people that are lower class or whites that hang with black people it's always been offensive to me when I heard it. Also people of other races that are low class are just described as trash i.e. "you been hanging out with those trashy people again". So when I hear the term white trash it makes me think white people are usually excluded from being considered trash and are better than the rest of us. Any way thats my rambling and no I'm not outraged and I'm not going to protest just describing what I think when I hear the term today in 2014. This thread did teach me the origins though but if the origin of a word was all that mattered to determine if something was offensive there wouldn't be any offensive words.
It just means that white trash poor are more contemptible than the poor people of minorities, because they share the skin colour of the ruling class, and thus there's no excuse for them to be poor, since being white means they got the easy line in life.
And yes, i think it's fairly racist and classist.
And yes, i think it's fairly racist and classist.
that's not how it works. it would imply that "other trash is mostly non white", which is different than "non whites are all trash".
Also, how come this interpretation (which i don't agree with, btw) is SUPER CONVOLUTED, yet the term "girl gamer" or "female game dev" pretty much has the same implications. - "regular gamers" and "regular game devs" being mostly male.
electroshockwave
Member
Quoting for accuracy.
Zen_Arcade
Banned
This is the exact type of thing people talk about when they say someone is looking to be offended. Not only did OP not even bother researching what the term came from before making the thread. People pointed out why his assessment of the word is wrong and he's still looking for a reason to say it demeans other races then the slur was directed towards.
Arjen
Member
In case anyone is looking for more things to be offended by. I got you covered.
Whitening your teeth (Implied that white in every form is better)
It's not all black and white (By putting white at the end of the sentence it is heavily implied that white is better)
That should last you all a couple days.
Whitening your teeth (Implied that white in every form is better)
It's not all black and white (By putting white at the end of the sentence it is heavily implied that white is better)
That should last you all a couple days.
Perfectly legitimate interpretation, OP. Anyone denying its validity is ignoring fundamental complexities of language and human society as well as the subtlety of structural discrimination. Regardless of the term's origin, literal definition, current use, or authorial intent: the need to identify "white" trash necessarily implies both that there are other types of trash and that the state of being trash is an abnormality for whiteness. Now, this isn't inherently negative, but since we live in a violently racist world, your analysis of the idiomatic usage of the term is accurate.
Turn it on its head and compare it to a positive term. Are there really no possible negative implications in the terms "successful black student" or "attractive black woman"?
Just because something isn't intended to be racist doesn't mean it it's not. Recognizing this has nothing to do with personally" taking offense".
Turn it on its head and compare it to a positive term. Are there really no possible negative implications in the terms "successful black student" or "attractive black woman"?
Just because something isn't intended to be racist doesn't mean it it's not. Recognizing this has nothing to do with personally" taking offense".
Random Painted HIghway
Member
Are we also pretending that we live in a pre-Internet world wherein it take five seconds to actually look something up that we don't know before commenting?
IAmRandom31
Banned
Of course its not. Its a complimentary term aimed at a wide variety of races.
Thus it is not racist.
Am I accurate now?
Liu Kang Baking A Pie
Member
No one using the term now is referencing where it came from. It's a disingenuous argument.
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