I can't say this without thinking of Mister formerly of 101.9, The End. He and Chunga were on a remote at Disneyland and Mister saw Paris Hilton walking by. He screamed "White Trash!" at her and mortified Chunga. Later, they had Mister record it and they would play it all the time. It totally amuses me.
Anyway, I've mostly been blogging about Pop Culture and our summer activities. I realized it's been a LONG time since I vented about pet peeves. I mean, what's a blog without a pet peeve rant once in a while? So, this is kind of weird, but one of my biggest pet peeves is White Trash.
I consider myself a really tolerant person. I try to be really accepting. I'm a little L.T.B.O. (looking to be offended) when people use slurs or make inappropriate jokes. I credit this to my completely irreverent brother, Dave, who I swear, does this just to get a rise out of me. Since no one is without prejudice, I know I fall short sometimes. I have a really hard time tolerating people who know better, but make bad choices. It's easier for me understand someone who perhaps doesn't have the knowledge or experience then for someone who's had it all, but thrown it away. But I digress. The other thing I can't tolerate is White Trash. I know, I know. That's a slur and I shouldn't use it, but really... how else can you describe it? Anyway, this isn't about being of lower financial or economic status. I mean, I am fully aware I'm probably one big accident, one financial tragedy or one layoff (me or John) away from that. What drives me crazy is the lower social or cultural behavior that seems to accompany some of these people. Just because you don't have money doesn't mean you have to act like it. These are the people that wear their lower class on their sleeve. And most do it with pride. The neighbors across the street fall into this category. They seem happy as clams not working all day, sitting on their porch in their living room furniture, smoking and BBQ-ing. The girl will come out in what looks like a bra with fabric flowing down her midriff, but when I look closer it's actually some kind of weird bustier shirt that looks like it was shredded. Aaah, I love the Sugarhood.
Why is it that when you go on a family outing to a place that costs a pretty penny (i.e. Lagoon, water park, concerts, events, etc.), there are always a lot of white trash there? I'm sure this is coming off really judgmental, but I'm talking about these groups of people who really don't seem like they have jobs, let alone the money to pay for an expensive activity. This has been on my mind this summer with several things we've attended. And I'm saying this because I, for one, rarely spend on things like this because I have a lot of trade through work. When I have to pay for a family outing that's pricey, I struggle a lot because honestly, I don't have a lot of extra income to pay for it. Example: Lagoon. We haven't been in a couple of years and the last time, we got to go for free. This summer, my friend Leslie and I decided to take advantage of a Stake Lagoon Day and took her two kids and my Katie. Even with the discount passes, the whole experience was a fortune. But what shocked me more were all these W.T. people there buying a ton of food and dropping money to play games. And I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but these people seriously didn't look like they had the money. I've seen this a lot lately. I understand when you go somewhere like Disneyland, because let's face it -- all kinds of families, no matter what their income -- will make a vacation work even if they don't have the money. But maybe I'm totally off base. It's just really curious to me.
I googled to see what the difference was between White Trash and Redneck. First of all, white trash was coined in the 1800's and was a very derogative term. I guess ultimately while White Trash and Rednecks live in the same places and look the same, in the South, Rednecks are more fun loving, happy, religious and productive. White Trash are more hateful -- some would support the KKK, trespass on people's property to hunt, void of religion, etc. A Redneck is happy to be called such, White Trash would want to kill you for saying it. Since we don't really have Rednecks in SLC, I think we basically make a blanket classification as people being White Trash.
Does this bug anyone else? And if not, what is one of your similar pet peeves?
8 comments:
We have gone to Lagoon on a Monday and a Friday. The white trash level was WAY higher on Friday. Could be the white trashers were getting a head start on the weekend on Friday and Monday they were too hung over to bother leaving their house. (Man, this really is showing my PREJUDICE).
Oh and let me say, there are many people without a penny, who classy, well-read, people, top-notch people. And, I have been around people with very nice stuff who act like white trash. Income level often isn't the indicator of behavior.
(Funny - Mister West is one of my bosses at DNews. A lot of people still call him Mister West, rather than Brian.)
Ha, I've never thought about that before, but so true, how can the white trash people afford to go to the expensive places?
Many of them, I've noticed, also congregate at Costco. You'll find two varieties on Saturdays - the ones who are loading their cart with EVERYTHING and you're left wondering "...how do they afford that when they can't even afford a pair of shorts that covers that butt?" OR the ones that bring all their kids, cousins, friend's kids to Costco on a Saturday just to go to all the sample tables.
As I think about it many of my pet peeves fit right into your topic:
-people who take babies out in public in only a diaper.
-toddlers sporting binkies after 2.
-Dirty kids (not I just played outside dirty, but I haven't bathed for weeks dirty.)
-People who act entitled without good reason.
-People who smoke anywhere I can smell it.
-Public beer drinking.
-Girls who don't understand why they shouldn't wear a black bra all the time, especially with white tank tops.
-People who don't buckle up their kids.
-People who maintain a dirt field opposed to a front lawn.
-Old couches for porch furniture (I totally understand Jude.)
-Tattoos that should have been. As an artist I can understand and appreciate some tats...but not those that are like pages out of a porn magazine, out of someone's worst nightmare, or just plain stupid like you lost a bet.
That is probably enough.
I thought I saw you that day at Lagoon! That was totally me waving my dirty baby at you between snorting and scratching my stinky armpits! In fact, I fit a lot of your friends' definitions as well! I gots me a tattoo, some furnitore on my patio, and I have got me one heck of a dirt/weed patch in my "yard." Oh, and my baby wears just a diaper all the time. I think I prefer redneck though, if you please. :)
Oh, and I don't smoke. And my shorts cover my butt...but Matt? Yeah, his pockets stick out the bottom of his shorts. His rat tail is longer than his shorts. I didn't know that was so bad?
Judy, you are too stressed from your experiences. let's go shopping at Walmart and Big Lots and then you can come on over and sit on my old futon- it's on the porch! And Carol, you may think those shorts cover your butt, but when you're out squirting the kids off with the hose and you bend over- it's a full moon baby!
my biggest pet peeve is clipping fingernails in a restaurant. It makes me want to barf, and I always think they're going to flip over in my food.
another is when I'm snuggling my husband and he farts. That happened today- probably why it's so fresh on the pet peeve list.
When we went to Lagoon this summer, I saw a lady with a TROLL DOLL tattoo on her ankle. Seriously? When would that ever be a good idea? I was so amazed, I took a picture of it. Not as surprising was how well it matched her cut-off sweat pants. But I digress...
I had an art student once that did tattoos. I asked her the strangest thing she's ever put on someone (true story):
Somewhere in this world someone has a fly tattooed on their butt holding a fork and a knife, with a napkin tied around its neck, over of all things a pile of poo.
Classy.
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