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Isn't "white trash" an incredibly racist term?
- Thread starter TheDanger
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I've always seen (experienced) it as a term that white people used to separate themselves from other whites. It's akin to the whole "if a criminal is violent, mentally ill, and black, he's often just viewed as black", while "if he was violent, mentally ill, and white, he was just violent and mentally ill."
It's just another way for some whites to tell society that they're not just a single group of people who should just be judged as such, while they do that exact thing to minorities.
Kenshin001
Member
Yeah but the point was putting white before a word does not automatically imply that people described with the word are usually black or at least not white. With supremacist it's usually the opposite. Even in the case of white supremacists we don't say to one, "You are a white supremacist," to differentiate them from other supremacists, it's used as an accusation. I think it's the same with white trash, it's not a term to differentiate them from other trash, it's just saying they are trash because they are white.
There is eurotrash and etc, which is also another offensive term generally used against whites.
Can you give an example of this? I'm genuinely curious.
Oh you're not curious, you're just race baiting. If not, google man. If you've somehow never heard of this phenomenon, then I won't be able to convince you otherwise.
cubicle47b
Member
No.
Great discussion, thanks!
BossLackey
Gold Member
Are you FUCKING kidding me?
"White Trash" is now racist against minorities?!
Do you hear yourself?
"White Trash" is now racist against minorities?!
Do you hear yourself?
Uh-huh.
Well, it maybe hard to evidence directly, I give you that. Try this- grow up being colored- black, hispanic specifically. Watch as others, particularly whites, perceive criminals they see on TV or have heard about, especially when the skin color of the criminal isn't white. Pay attention to the conversations, the media even, the... well, just.
But no, no. I made it all up. And it completely defeats my argument that the term white trash is often (more likely?) used by whites to separate themselves from other whites. Hell ignore it completely, which you probably already have.
Well, it maybe hard to evidence directly, I give you that. Try this- grow up being colored- black, hispanic specifically. Watch as others, particularly whites, perceive criminals they see on TV or have heard about, especially when the skin color of the criminal isn't white. Pay attention to the conversations, the media even, the... well, just.
But no, no. I made it all up. And it completely defeats my argument that the term white trash is often (more likely?) used by whites to separate themselves from other whites. Hell ignore it completely, which you probably already have.
Hey, if you're not articulate enough to explain your points, just say so. Asking for examples isn't "race-baiting".
Sure? It's just that whenever I hear someone say they're "genuinely curious", particularly with regards to the current context, it triggers some flags...
(And in my defense, it often is. Do I have to evidence that too? I'm not going to.)
Black bastard (here at least) is akin to calling someone dirty wherein black implies dirty. So correct you wouldn't be being racist towards white people, even if you were to call them a black bastard.
I've always thought the white part of white trash was weirdly specific but I've never made the connection with the putting them down on the level of another perceived lower race like the OP. Can't say he's wrong in making the leap though.
Dead Prince
Banned
we'll get to the point where everything is offensive.
Fantasy Final
Member
Lots of people including myself use the word "racist" as a joke now. It was not something to joke about before but it's been used in so much bad situations that I can't take this term serious anymore.
If someone calls me racist I'm probably just gonna laugh and reply with a joke with the word racist.
If someone calls me racist I'm probably just gonna laugh and reply with a joke with the word racist.
ReturnOfTheRAT
Member
Someone out there needs to think of the poor white person and their struggles in this day & age.
I don't know if the term itself is incredibly racist - but that there needs be both a clarification for white, and that there's an absence of 'black trash' in our colloquial language appears to by symptomatic of a society in which assumptions are been made about people broadly based on their 'skin colour categories'.
Liu Kang Baking A Pie
Member
It seems like some people are having a nice debate over how they interpret this phrase, and others like to just be really angry that that's happening instead of us not examining our language.
EdibleKnife
Member
It's used classicist-ly most times I hear it but then why not just say "poor trash" or or "broke-ass bastards" something?
There's this weird thing on here with having views on topics like this where you get people coming in thinking that by having a different opinion on a word or it's usage that opinion is automatically the mainstream. That's why you get posts all like "this is racist now!?!" or "someone call the PC brigade" or even "this is about ethics in game journalism"
The term, as I understand it when I hear it, applies to the beer-guzzling, Confederate flag paraphenalia owning, (insert more stereotypes re: NASCAR, guns, racism, xenophobia) people. That's not all poor white people, or all poor people, obviously. It's more of a classist and arguably regionalist (we're inventing words now) term (south/midwest).
There's plenty of poor white people in my family. There's one segment I would refer to as white trash. They fall under the description above. The others do not.
The term seems to mean different things in different areas. I come from a very poor part of the country, we never used the term to identify someone who was worse off than others.
However, my family would use the term to identify uncouth or morally corrupt behaviors. Mind you, this was from their limited perspective of what was right and wrong. IE a woman holding a baby is OK. The white trash version is holding a baby while being drunk, smoking a cigarette, and cursing out a person. This person could have been well off or poor, class didn't matter only the classiness of the way the person presents themselves.
However, my family would use the term to identify uncouth or morally corrupt behaviors. Mind you, this was from their limited perspective of what was right and wrong. IE a woman holding a baby is OK. The white trash version is holding a baby while being drunk, smoking a cigarette, and cursing out a person. This person could have been well off or poor, class didn't matter only the classiness of the way the person presents themselves.
cubicle47b
Member
It's easy to understand why people are angry about it. It's an insult directed at poor white people and the conversation is "how is this racist towards racial minorities". That doesn't mean it's not a valid conversation, of course, but it can feel very insulting.
I believe those people self-identify as Rednecks.
Kai Dracon
Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
According to various accounts the term was indeed used to disparage poor whites by comparing them to blacks, but ironically enough was popular with actual house slaves. Used to insult low class white servants who were barely above literal slaves.
I've always felt the word became popular within white culture due to general background racism, yes. It denotes poor whites as living beneath the implicit "pride" of the white race, whereas it's expected other races will be low and ignorant.
White trash has become pretty cartoonish however, and used so universally by all races and classes it seems robbed of sting against non-whites. In other words, it may no longer do much to empower a general culture of racism. But it's still thoughtful to keep its origins in mind.
I've always felt the word became popular within white culture due to general background racism, yes. It denotes poor whites as living beneath the implicit "pride" of the white race, whereas it's expected other races will be low and ignorant.
White trash has become pretty cartoonish however, and used so universally by all races and classes it seems robbed of sting against non-whites. In other words, it may no longer do much to empower a general culture of racism. But it's still thoughtful to keep its origins in mind.
WorriedCitizen
Member
By OP's logic eurotrash is offensive to everyone but Europeans.
deltatheta
Member
What would be the reason for qualifying the race when describing poor people?
Letterbomb
Banned
Lord Thrappleper The 49th
Member
Can't be racist against racists.
Not in New Jersey they don't.
Yup I agree with this, up here in Canada it refers pretty much to what you're describing.
Also OP your logic makes absolutely no sense, as shown by the Eurotrash example. I hope you don't read that much into the other terms you encounter in life.
the_firewithin
Member
Were already there friend
Uh... I thought you weren't a native speaker.
Is he supposed to be offended a person who doesn't even have a native-level grasp of English is trying to insult him for not being literate?
:lol
Zoe
Member
"White trash" indicates more than just being poor, it refers to a lifestyle. In Roseanne, the entire town was poor, but the Conners were considered to be white trash.
Because the only racism that matters, aka institutional racism, doesn't apply to white people.
cubicle47b
Member
Shake Appeal
Member
OP is correct. White trash is undeniably racist, and should not be used by anyone.
DUFFMCWALIN
Member
Yup as a person who comes from an area that is high in "white trash" the phrase means this. Not the inverse. White trash is seen as the lowest of the low where I come from. People from trashy trailer parks.
While institutional racism is a huge problem and is the first thing that should be corrected in terms of race relations in this country, we should strive to eliminate all forms of racism. Unless this post is being sarcastic, then I fell for it hard.
BadAss2961
Member
Mostly the case in my experience as well.
speculawyer
Member
This makes no sense. It is a slur but it is not racist.
Winterfang
Banned
Come on man, are you implying that poor white people struggles are not real, just because they are lesser than of their fellow minorities?
I disagree with this. While they are different levels of racism and different struggles associated with each (going from embarrassment to Genocide). I don't think is good thinking to say that because the "Real/relevant/one that matters" racism doesn't apply to a certain race. Then is OK to use derogatory terms against them with impunity.
Hmm this is a very interesting point.
I never viewed it from this perspective. Thanks for the post.
Shake Appeal
Member
It's worth pointing out the earliest mentions of the phrase are from black communities both free and enslaved in the antebellum period, but it quickly became common usage for white elites to denigrate their poor inferiors.
So it's racist both ways: it slurs lower-class whites, and it makes a adjectival distinction that implies trash is typically non-white. And if you really want to feel bad about using it, it also has ties to the U.S.'s shameful history of eugenics and ramblings about "tainted" immigrant bloodlines from the Old World!
So it's really something no one should ever say.
So it's racist both ways: it slurs lower-class whites, and it makes a adjectival distinction that implies trash is typically non-white. And if you really want to feel bad about using it, it also has ties to the U.S.'s shameful history of eugenics and ramblings about "tainted" immigrant bloodlines from the Old World!
So it's really something no one should ever say.
I was joking.
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