4 ms·
I'm a little surprised you got downvoted on this. Where I am in Ohio, "white trash" doesn't mean "poor people who happen to be white (in addition to brown peop
by mbg721 4y ago
I'm a little surprised you got downvoted on this. Where I am in Ohio, "white trash" doesn't mean "poor people who happen to be white (in addition to brown people who are by default trashy)", it implies going above and beyond to create misery while indulging in stereotypically white rural culture. The people in the apartment across the street from me who shout in the street about their domestic issues at two in the morning and have every cop car in town at their door every couple of weeks are White Trash. And unlike most people involved in issues of social class, they could instantly become Not White Trash by just knocking it off.
- tayo42 4y agoI think people are defining words differently or just being argumentative, your experience is exactly how ive seen white trash used, living on the coasts on the US.
- pessimizer 4y agoAssociating a class-based epithet with the worst behaved people you know isn't an argument against the existence of stereotyping the poor. It's even worse, really. If you call somebody "white" trash, you're noting that this is a white person in a situation that you would expect of a nonwhite person. Expecting nonwhites to be poorer in the US is rational. Expecting nonwhites to be badly-behaved, stupid, and criminal is just racist. I'm sure you'll object to this, but I guarantee you don't call anybody "black trash."
- ryandrake 4y agoIt's an unfortunately named epithet. Where I grew up, the slur was "trailer trash" which is also nasty but is at least inclusive of all races.
- the_only_law 4y agoI guess in part it's become a replacement for "redneck". Watching and listening to some older media, I swear they were using "redneck" closer to how someone would use "white trash" nowadays. While I still think "redneck" carries a negative connotation in many places, it also seems to be a lot less negative nowadays, And I'm more likely to hear it in the context of self identification or (while somewhat still derogatory) to refer to a kinda idealized version of an unruly and unsophisticated, but fun rural people, and to many, the new redneck stereotype is a sort of role model. Hell, half the "rednecks" I knew in HS were middle class kids who's parents had good job and lived in nicer suburbs than my parents could afford. There have been some artists trying to take back the "white trash" moniker and use it in a "yeah that's what I am, what about it?" sort of way.
- jandrewrogers 4y agoThe terms "white trash" and "redneck" have some overlap but they are not equivalent. The former denotes a socioeconomic class while the latter denotes a specific perspective of the world.
- mbg721 4y agoThere's a lot of "redneck pride", but I don't think anybody has "white trash pride".
- mbg721 4y agoI don't object to expecting everyone, regardless of skin color or ancestral origin, to act polite, intelligent, and law-abiding.
- themacguffinman 4y agoThey may not use the exact words "black trash", but I think terms like "ghetto" are largely equivalent. And it's not just about material wealth, you can have "ghetto" behavior and be very rich.
- thrown_22 4y agoI will make the case that Elon Musk is the premier example of white trash. We don't call him that because he's rich.