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"White Trash"

edited 2012-12-30 12:51:59 in Meatspace
if u do convins fashist akwaint hiz faec w pavment neway jus 2 b sur

It really annoys me how many supposedly progressive and leftist people use this term without realizing its implications.


1) It's racist against non-white people. If you call somebody trash, and stress that they are white trash, it implies that it's somehow a norm for white people to not be trash, and that the "white trash" somehow falls out of that norm, as well as that people who aren't white somehow comprise most of the "trash" category.


2) It's classist and elitist. Because making fun of the poor, undereducated and ignorant really shows your social justice cred like nothing else, am I right?

Comments

  • edited 2012-12-30 13:57:37
    Diet NEET

    >"white thrash"


    >primary concern is that it's racist against non-whites


    Also, I find the use of 'class' offensive towards people who don't have access to education.


    In all seriousness, I think you can scratch out ignorant and undereducated on the second part: there is really no excuse for that anymore if the peeps that are at the butt end of these sentiments have an internet connection. Willful ignorance and refusal to read up because everything is 'biased' is connected to, but not explicitly caused by bottom-tier financial levels.


    And lastly, SJWs don't need to stand up for all the oppressed at once: they can pick and mix whatever they feel needs the most crusading, and if they need to bitch about rednecks in order to show some solidarity with an oppressed minority, this lecture would be met with tone policing and cries of derailing.

  • if u do convins fashist akwaint hiz faec w pavment neway jus 2 b sur

    >"white thrash"


    >primary concern is that it's racist against non-whites



    Now, I'm not certain of its etymology, but I believe it's less "they're trash because they're white" and more "they're trash that is surprisingly white". Both are terrible, of course.



    In all seriousness, I think you can scrape ignorant and undereducated off that list: there is really no excuse for that anymore if the peeps that are at the butt end of these sentiments have an internet connection. Willful ignorance and refusal to read up because everything is 'biased' is connected to, but not explicitly caused by bottom-tier financial levels.



    Eh, much of what's worthy on the internet is buried under piles of bullshit and people who can't grasp basic grammar of their native language (it's disheartening how many of those are on the internet) are very unlikely to find it or even care about finding it. I believe that they would be less likely to not even care about reading anything they don't already know or care about than refuse to read it because of the "bias". A certain level of openness to new experience and information is necessary, and education may pave the way for that. Good basic education is very important for a healthy individual and a healthy society.

  • Much as I agree on the merits of good schooling making people more open-minded and curious, not having had a proper education doesn't excuse a person from having uninformed or misinformed opinions. Lefties yammer on about 'white thrash' mostly for the combo-packet of political opinions that comes with the stereotype, most of which are indeed rooted in faulty logic, outdated research and pundit soundbites. If one has the time to circlejerk about the country going to shit in the newspaper comments section, one has the time to look up something on Wikipedia. I find the notion that the average 'white thrash' person simply wouldn't be able to bring up that minimum amount of attention even more patronizing than the Tumblr mocking of the Repug voterbase.

  • Are you seriously trying to suggest that having access to the internet is the same as a decent education?

  • I was hoping White Thrash would be a metal music video about trailer parks or something.

  • I'm a damn twisted person
    "Eh, much of what's worthy on the internet is buried under piles of bullshit and people who can't grasp basic grammar of their native language (it's disheartening how many of those are on the internet"



    Apologies for the lack of formatting, phone post and what not. But yeah, to go full social justice wonk, ripping on people for not using "proper" grammar is elitist showing privellage. If you can understand what the person is trying to say, ripping on them for how they said it is being an asshole. Again, full social justice linguistics wonk mode.



    And yeah IA, having Internet access automatically letting them correct bias is bunk. Like Ironweaver said, the Internet easily turns into a big circle jerk for each person, with them having little reason to look for stuff that contradicts what they know.
  • if u do convins fashist akwaint hiz faec w pavment neway jus 2 b sur

    Apologies for the lack of formatting, phone post and what not. But yeah, to go full social justice wonk, ripping on people for not using "proper" grammar is elitist showing privellage. If you can understand what the person is trying to say, ripping on them for how they said it is being an asshole. Again, full social justice linguistics wonk mode.



    Which isn't really their fault, but the fault of the education system. I don't blame them. 

  • Don't forget lack of reading comprehension, which can occur even in peeps who do have had a decent education and is more tied to the intertubes nuking attention spans. I never said or even implied that surfing the web is equivalent to studying. Furthermore, we all agree that ignorance, and by extension obstinancy in ignorance is partly caused by . What I was saying is that these factors are not get-out-of-jail-free cards for the prejudices(which I presume people agree with) for which leftards are often mocking 'white thrash'. In a way, it absolves the group of owning up to their opinions and buys into precisely the rhetoric for which the opening post bashes the term('they are sheeple being misled by Faux News', 'blue collar workers who rather fuck themselves over because looking at issues objectively is beyond their capacities', shit like that). Especially in an environment where information is available aplenty, and in which people engage in discussions that are too important/delicate to waltz into uninformed(and on which there are 101s galore because people still keeping doing precisely that), there is no excuse for intellectual laziness, in my opinion.

  • edited 2012-12-31 02:17:01

    I thought "white trash" was about a kind of trashiness that's specifically white. So, more "your trashiness is painfully white" and less "it's surprising how trashy you are, considering you're white". Although, I'm not sure what "trashiness that's specifically white" would entail. Maybe something to do with redneck stereotypes?


    edit: according to Wikipedia, it is related to "redneck".

  • Give us fire! Give us ruin! Give us our glory!

    Although, I'm not sure what "trashiness that's specifically white" would entail. Maybe something to do with redneck-ness?


    Pretty much. Around here redneck and white-trash mean the same thing. And redneck-ness DOES have this sub-culture associated with it.

  • Indeed, I'd say Jeff Foxworthy put it best when he described a redneck as being a person possessed of "a glorious absence of sophistication," which I'd say fits the definition of white trash just as well.


    Basically, Ironweaver, and I mean no offense to you, bro, but you just had a Social Justice Warrior moment here (like a senior moment, but with vicarious anger over perceived offenses towards a social minority instead of forgetfulness).


    Still, it was pretty educational to see people ponder out the exact meaning of such a phrase as "white trash."

  • Also, Wikipedia says that the term was originally used by slaves in the 1830s to refer to poor white people.

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