February 3, 2007
3:21 PM Subscribe
link to Nosheteria post here So I came across this blog, which uses the phrase "white trash" pretty casually (and ridiculously broadly).
With the recent debates about the "N word", "F word", etc. . . . where are the limits these days? Who can we ridicule or stereotype, and it's permissable?
Made me think of this book . . .
This post was deleted for the following reason: this is a very odd post for metafilter, perhaps it should be on your own blog?
GYOGDMFSOBB.
posted by beaucoupkevin at 3:43 PM on February 3, 2007
posted by beaucoupkevin at 3:43 PM on February 3, 2007
GYOGDMFSOBB
That's what I was looking for in the drop-down of flag-reasons. I had to go with "other."
I impressed myself by deciphering exactly what you mean when you type "GYOGDMFSOBB."
posted by mmahaffie at 3:45 PM on February 3, 2007
That's what I was looking for in the drop-down of flag-reasons. I had to go with "other."
I impressed myself by deciphering exactly what you mean when you type "GYOGDMFSOBB."
posted by mmahaffie at 3:45 PM on February 3, 2007
aaaaabuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrpp
posted by Heywood Mogroot at 3:46 PM on February 3, 2007
posted by Heywood Mogroot at 3:46 PM on February 3, 2007
Hold my beer and watch me type this.
posted by Astro Zombie at 3:51 PM on February 3, 2007
posted by Astro Zombie at 3:51 PM on February 3, 2007
Typical ramshackle white trash post.
posted by Falconetti at 3:54 PM on February 3, 2007 [2 favorites]
posted by Falconetti at 3:54 PM on February 3, 2007 [2 favorites]
Looks like I'm going to have to call you the O-word now.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 4:13 PM on February 3, 2007
posted by Pater Aletheias at 4:13 PM on February 3, 2007
Using the term "White Trash" is the equivalent of using the term "ghetto" as an adjective, or using terms like "Hood Rat" or "Gang Banger" It refers to a subset of white people, just like those terms refer to a subset of black people. Obviously it can be offensive, but it's not the same thing as the N-word, which refers to all black people, regardless of their lifestyle.
posted by delmoi at 4:14 PM on February 3, 2007
posted by delmoi at 4:14 PM on February 3, 2007
where are the limits these days?
I don't understand what you're surprised about. It's someone's blog.
posted by clockzero at 4:16 PM on February 3, 2007
I don't understand what you're surprised about. It's someone's blog.
posted by clockzero at 4:16 PM on February 3, 2007
I impressed myself by deciphering exactly what you mean when you type "GYOGDMFSOBB."
I disappointed myself on the last letter.
posted by cardamine at 4:19 PM on February 3, 2007
I disappointed myself on the last letter.
posted by cardamine at 4:19 PM on February 3, 2007
a gezneral rule of thumb is that those who call others names with racial or ethnic slurring tend to have lower IQs
posted by Postroad at 4:21 PM on February 3, 2007
posted by Postroad at 4:21 PM on February 3, 2007
I too felt empowered by my ability to parse that mmahaffie.
where are the limits these days?
If we are talking about obscenities, well there are none. No effort to eliminate dirty words will ever be met with success. You may temporarily limit their use in one place, but they will just pop up somewhere else. Because at the end of the day, people just like the word Fuck. It's been around for longer than most people would care to admit and no matter how hard right thinking people try to stamp it out, it will always be here. As long as people continue to speak English (and many other languages that have adopted it) people are still going to use that wonderful, most foul of words.
If you are talking about denigrating words, those get a bit trickier. Like obscenities, you will never really get rid of it while racism exists. Though you might be able to make the societal reaction strong enough that the price someone pays for uttering it is so high, that no one would dare do it.
Unfortunately this is a stupid idea, because it just pushes it into the backs of peoples minds and forces it out in the most ugly of circumstances. Compounding the complications with this is the fact that groups that have these words used against them, often come to use it as a rallying point. They now use the term when the refer to one another, but blanch at the idea that any outsider might at it's use.
This leads to many unfortunate and often funny results; like my word for word perfect ability to sing along with NWA's Straight Outta Compton and Ice-T's epic masterpiece Straight Up Nigger. Were anyone to hear me do this, they would probably get offended, which is a shame, because I'm really good at it.
But then, what do I know? I'm just a fucking dirty white boy.
posted by quin at 4:24 PM on February 3, 2007
where are the limits these days?
If we are talking about obscenities, well there are none. No effort to eliminate dirty words will ever be met with success. You may temporarily limit their use in one place, but they will just pop up somewhere else. Because at the end of the day, people just like the word Fuck. It's been around for longer than most people would care to admit and no matter how hard right thinking people try to stamp it out, it will always be here. As long as people continue to speak English (and many other languages that have adopted it) people are still going to use that wonderful, most foul of words.
If you are talking about denigrating words, those get a bit trickier. Like obscenities, you will never really get rid of it while racism exists. Though you might be able to make the societal reaction strong enough that the price someone pays for uttering it is so high, that no one would dare do it.
Unfortunately this is a stupid idea, because it just pushes it into the backs of peoples minds and forces it out in the most ugly of circumstances. Compounding the complications with this is the fact that groups that have these words used against them, often come to use it as a rallying point. They now use the term when the refer to one another, but blanch at the idea that any outsider might at it's use.
This leads to many unfortunate and often funny results; like my word for word perfect ability to sing along with NWA's Straight Outta Compton and Ice-T's epic masterpiece Straight Up Nigger. Were anyone to hear me do this, they would probably get offended, which is a shame, because I'm really good at it.
But then, what do I know? I'm just a fucking dirty white boy.
posted by quin at 4:24 PM on February 3, 2007
What thi post needs is pics, a complete copy of the Treaty of Westphalia, and a contribution by the owner of the linked to blog explaining that he's not a racist.
posted by Effigy2000 at 5:43 PM on February 3, 2007
posted by Effigy2000 at 5:43 PM on February 3, 2007
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