Trailor Trash

[Guest Yediyd]

Well; Six and Ck, I understand where you are comming from, but hear me out...

I have spent a lifetime hearing that "white trash" and "trailor trash" term and hearing it refered to folks like me. It may be just a ufamism to ya'll...but to me...(who HAS tried to better herself and pull away from the sterieo types that still plague me) it is a sensitive.

I just saw this thread and responded to it...I have no desire to argue with anyone....but until you have felt the sting of those hurtfull words referred to you or your family...you don't understand how it feels to have people see YOU PERSONALLY as trash.

I am "sucking off the teat of the US government" as someone said in the other thread, because I am dissabled...My dissability won't go away because I want it to, but that doesn't make me lazy because I don't work...in fact...come on over to my house and take over for me for a week. Starting with my son's encomprices problem, have fun with the daily laundry and numerous baths and struggle to get him in the tub...

Like I said...I understand your point, gentlemen...but please try to see things from someone eles's point of view...I am not trailor trash...but have felt that condemnation and heard those words used to discribe me and mine all my lfe.

I was talking to Emma on the phone last night and I told her something I hate to admit because of the stigma that is attached...but I am origannally from West Virginia(probably why I can't spell?). I moved to New York When I was 12, after my mother found out about the sexual abuse and left my father. So, yes...that IS a problem in the hills of West Virginia...and I AM a victom of it...and if I hear one more hill-billy joke...I WILL PUKE!!!!!!

SO, like I said....I'm sorry for the sensitivity to that term that you think is "no big deal" , but unless you have been called a Ni--g--er, you don't understand how hurtful that word is,and unless you have been called "trailor trash" you wouldn't understand the sensitivity to that term.

And it is hard for me to maintain my self respect as I cash my check every month and feel like I am a burden on sociaty. I have been looking for work that I can do, and I still feel it at church when I keep getting "incouraged " to be self supported.

My physical dissability is Fibromyalsia and chrinic fatigue syndrome...and that dissorder is scoffed at and I can't TELL you how many times people have just assumed that I am lazy and don't want to work.

I also have a diagnoses of post tramatic stress...and I suffer from depression, but I am still active in church, and I take showers and clean my house....These things are REAL, and not excuses...but people who have REAL jobs don't take me seriously, and I don't fit in at church, because I don't fit into the tipical "Mormon Mold"

So, I'm sorry if it irritates you...but YES...I AM sensitive to that TERM...

Even if you were not refering to me...it still feels like fingers on a chalkboard everytime I hear it.

Sorry for the "RANT"

Yediyd

[Gwen]

hey yedi, i understand the hurt when hearing those words as well.

they are words meant to keep ppl in that social class, they are words used to keep ppl down, it's not a joke, it's not a chosen lifestlye, it's not about being less or having been created less. god doesn't make trash, ppl don't make themselves trash, this world and satan makes them that way. untill you've felt like trash you have no idea how hard that is to get out of your head. that trash on the corner has the same godly potential as the ut 5th generation, look at how much better i am...... there is a big reason i'd never move out west. nearly every missionary we get from out west, young or old, has to be reprogramed to not look down on those they teach here. you can't teach someone you look down upon. trailor trash is a phrase that gets inside of you and eats you away, something satan convinces you of till you can't escape it.

i grew up in a trailor. though i didn't have the abuse, and i was raised in the chruch "knowing who i was" it still got into me. there were some at chruch who looked down upon us. many other places that did as well. i still struggle with it today, and i live nothing like that now. it's in my head. sometimes i feel like ppl will never respect me or anything i have to say or offer this world. i worry about passing that feeling and thinking on to my kids. reading this topic, as well as one awhile back in which ppl were posting pics of how some ppl live (mostly trailors) simply made me want to cry. my knowledge of who i am as a daughter of god will prevent me from ever living like that again, it still haunts me, it's still in my head. i still feel like trash sometimes. that is satan's game, see if he can't keep us down forever, keep us from our full potential, convince us that we are what the label tells us.

until you've lived in a trailor park, untill you've been called trash; don't think you have the slightest clue as to why someone is there. i'm not saying there aren't things many can do to change that, but they have to overcome the label and probably many other hurddles before they can do anything about it. being viewed as a waste of others time isn't going to help them overcome anything. it will do nothing but serve to keep them exactly where they are.

[sixpacktr]

Almom/Yed,

I am truly sorry if my posts have upset you. I really am. That was never my intent.

I just moved up from 10 years in the South, which I absolutely loved. In my callings, I HT people that others would call "tr-sh", but I saw nothing of the sort. That was why I included the quote from Pres Benson that Christ can take the slums (or, the trailer) out of people because they want to change. Those people I home taught were working to make themselves better, to climb out of the pit that their life choices had brought upon them (as are all of us, in some way or other), and I really enjoyed teaching them the gospel, etc., and seeing their joy in it.

As for the "sucking at the gov't teat", again, that was not pointed at anyone here. I truly believe that you are not doing this willingly, that if you had your druthers you'd be up and about and working. I do not begrudge helping those people (the gov't doing is my problem--I believe there are more efficient and better ways to do it, but that is another subject). My beef comes from those that ARE too lazy to do anything to better themselves, that have figured out a way to have others sustain them thru life. That is where I and CK (if I'm being presumptuous, CK, let me know) are coming from: those words reflect an attitude. And you have to admit, that attitude is alive and well throughout this great land of ours. It extends to healthcare, work, all sorts of things, where people want something for nothing, want someone else to take care of them.

Again, I apologize if you felt uncomfortable. I really am not a monster!

[StrawberryFields]

When hubby and I first got married we almost bought a trailor for our first home.

[pushka]

I suppose the UK equivalent of 'white trash' etc. is the Chav!! See wiki link for a full explanation of the term. My son is into wearing Adidas and Nike stuff, and other sports designer companies, and is bugging me to get him a gold chain for his holidays, so he comes under the banner of being a Chav, and we do live in a council house, so we come under that term as a family...but I don't think we fit the definition entirely, at least I hope not! lol. My posh neighbour probably thinks we do, however :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chav

'Council House And Violent' is amongst some of the definitions of Chav!

[Gwen]

there are those that use the system. have found ways and do it on purpose. but i think the numbers are far lower than you might think. what appears to be happening and what is are often very different. maybe the issue here is defination. find another word for those ppl. because the word you are useing has a much broader meaning and can and will be misunderstood. i think no one a monster. i have met those like you describe. just don't know if you know how hard it is to get a label like that out of your head. what that does to a person. what a great tool satan has found in that. labels are very curosive to a person. if you've ever lived with one i'd hope you could understand. if you haven't, how wonderful to not have had to live with it.

[Guest Yediyd]

Ck and Six, I don't think for one minuet that either of you ment to be hurtfull, nor think that way about me...I was responding to this thread and when I responded...niether of you had even posted a responce up here.

I do agree with you (as I explained to Emma last night) that there are lazy, "intitled" people who "milk" the system...the problem lies in the assumption of people who don't know who is, and who isn't and just lump us all together as a drain on sociaty.

I get this at church, too. People who see themselves as in a better social class, can and do look down on people like me.

Gwen, I loved your post because that is so true...some of these people who sit on their porch all day drinking beer and not removing the car up on blocks in the front yard may "believe that they are trash and your believior will affect your behavior."

Before I joined this church and learned who I really was...I believed I was trash...sociaty told me I was. I am now working to change that view...but three years in this church doesn't erase 40 years of feeling worthless.

and even though I am LDS now, I still get the sterieo typical crap from better off members of my ward.

I'm not bitter, and I am not angry with you gentlemen...I like to read your post, too...Please don't think I am snapping at you...just trying to get you to see why some less fortunate than you would find those words hurtfull even if they were not directed at anyone up here.

[sixpacktr]

labels are very curosive to a person. if you've ever lived with one i'd hope you could understand. if you haven't, how wonderful to not have had to live with it.

I have: Mormon. It has cost me a dream job (working people like Jack Nicklaus to design golf courses) and got me fired from my last job (by a SB Preacher's wife, no less).

It may not be the same, but I do know what it is like to be labeled and have people gunning for you.

[BenRaines]

So I guess no one has names for the uptight, rich snobs that live in my neighborhood? We, speaking generally, class people since we were in elementary school.

I live in one of the most affluent stakes of Zion in Las Vegas and in one of the most affluent wards. Does that make me a bad person? We pay our tithes and offerings, give to other charities, give not only time but money.

Serve on the Boy Scout Council, District Committee and as Scoutmaster when my youngest child is 24.

I don't pity or look down on those who have less. A couple of years ago that was me as we struggled to make it on one income and with four children. Those are sacrifices we made.

My father lives in a mobile home, trailer, out in the desert of Arizona. He likes that lifestyle. He is a bit of a hermit. Has served in his branch as a member of BP. Dad has tons of worthless junk on the back of his 5 acres but is the first to lend a hand or take his wife and visit a widow or sick member of the branch.

Everyone needs to take the chips off their own shoulders and go out and do something nice for someone and worry more about helping your fellowman than your own problems, do so and yours will be lighter.

Can't we all just get along? :)

Ben Raines

[Guest Yediyd]

Ben, I'm not fighting with anybody and I'm not angry with anybody, and I DO show a very generous heart up here and eleswhere. I have alot of love inside of me for my fellow man...I believe that G-d gave me the gift of empathy, and I use it to love those who need love and understanding.

I agree that I felt hurt by some of the attitudes about "trash", but I just took that personal because of my own hurtfull expeariance with that term. I don't see ALL well to do people as snobs..nor did I imply that. So, I believe if you got your feathers ruffled about that it is because you have felt the sting of that sterieo type.

I think WE ALL have lables that hurt us because man looks at the outside of man.

I know that being a Mormon is enough to get hatred.

Please don't take my post as angry or argumentative....these are just my thoughts and this is a forum where we come and express our feelings...or so I thought?

BTW, Ben...can I borrow 20$?

JK.

[BenRaines]

I was not directing my post to anyone on particular. It was a general post about how most people tend to stereotype others. Is it good? No but many do that.

Personally I have to much to do and way to much to be forgiven for to judge anyone.

Yedid, check is in the mail. :)

Ben

[lisajo]

I know i am offended!!!!!! here were i live in the middle of nowhere, that is basically what we have but they are called pre fabs, and very nice neighborhoods! do you know how much a new mobile home costs? and how nice they are? between 100 and 200 thousand bucks!!!!!!!!!!! yes i live in one! we OWN our own property! and WE OWN our home! typecasting is a form of prejudice!

[Gwen]

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labels are very curosive to a person. if you've ever lived with one i'd hope you could understand. if you haven't, how wonderful to not have had to live with it.

I have: Mormon. It has cost me a dream job (working people like Jack Nicklaus to design golf courses) and got me fired from my last job (by a SB Preacher's wife, no less).

It may not be the same, but I do know what it is like to be labeled and have people gunning for you.

first i'd like to note that i didn't feel that anyone here was "not getting along" with anyone else, or that any fight had been picked. just ppl stating their opinions and perspectives and why they are like they are. that is how we learn and imporove is by taking the time to share and have things shared with us. i see no contention or animosity here. maybe i've missed something or was misunderstood. if so, please point it out.

as for being labeled. being mormon is a part of who i am. any fallout that comes from that is mearly someone being prejudice. something i must live with. if you live in ut, are not a mormon and get treated as you are with said prejudice, then you have been labeled as one thing (lds) based on an unrelated issue (living in ut). so though i apreciate your attemt to relate, and i am sorry for the hate you have seen, that is not a label.

a label is a judgment that is not true (at least unverified and has no purpose to help the person), one that you may or may not be inclined to accept about yourself. children tend to accept labels. i have learning disabilities, they were diagnosed (fortunatly for me before i got the label), i was educated as to what i had and how to overcome it to succeed. and i did. that is a diagnosis. something a qualified professional can pinpoint and then you can be given tools and understanding to overcome it.

when i sat in histroy and the teacher commented to a random student that was not behaving that they needed to go to the ld class cause she wasn't a zoo keeper. that was a label. that label did add difficulty to my having my diagnosis. but i could deal with it. i knew the difference. i reported the teacher, had myslef removed from the class, and when she said upon my leaving that i was a good student and she would miss me i thought, well i can't stay you aren't a zoo keeper. unfortunatly at this time in my life i was very sevearly plaged by the trailor trash label and didn't have the confidence to actually say it. i have seen how many students were plaged by the label rather than understanding the diagnosis.

being labled trailor trash was different. it wasn't true. it did over time seep in, though my learning at chruch tried to keep it out. though i could say, i'm not trash, i still felt like trash. to this day i struggle with feeling like my neighbors are looking at me like i'm out of place, what am i doing in this neighborhood, i don't belong here. as a child i couldn't seperate that label out. i did live in a trailor, i did live with many of the things that others said was trailor trash, i didn't have the things ppl that weren't trailor trash had. as i thought about it...it looked true, it must be right. the faulty thinking of a child. but once i accepted it about myself, once i let it in; it's been hard to get it back out again.

being prejudiced against for something that is true (though often has a set of labels attached to it by those that feel the prejudice) is one thing and deplorable by all streatches of the imagination. being labled is another. labels usually come with their own set of prejudicial behavior. prejudice is an outside pressure that challenges streangth. labels eat away your streangth from the inside out.

[TimA.]

Face it folks, there are people that have absolutely no desire to better themselves (commonly referred to as "trash"). The Lord hasn't given up on them, we aren't to do it either, but you know what? I don't particularly want to associate with them either. Not because I look down on them, but because they have no respect for themselves or anyone else. The Lord can change them, but if they don't want to, why waste precious time?

You all are way to sensitive to things on this board. White trash are a reality. So are welfare queens (and kings, for that matter). To believe it isn't so is just naive...

And Yed, I know you mean well, and I like your posts, but if one more person tells me that "God didn't make no trash" I think I'll puke. HF didn't make trash, but they did do it to themselves...

I have faced it, I well know there are people like you describe who seem to have no desire to better themself. I have known some personally and some are relatives of mine. How though, brother, are they ever to find a desire to better themself if those of us who have taken upon ourself the name of Christ refuse to associate with them, judging them not worth wasting our precious time. If we belong to Christ then would it not be His time anyway. And didnt He hang out with some of the worst of the worst and get critisized for it by those who were well to do and "righteous"? Have you ever asked yourself why they appear to have no desire to better themself? I think everyone has a desire for something better but I think many have lost hope. They have been told they are no good worthless trash and have come to believe it is true and that no matter what they do they will never be any better. So they do nothing or nothing more than they always did. We are representitives of Christ we must assocoate with them and testify of the hope that is in us and we can not do that if we are not willing to waste our precious time and refuse to associate with those we judge to be unworthy. Remember we are all unworthy of His precious time and His precious blood but He has not refused to assocoate with us. How can we do any differerent and pretend to take his name on ourself?

Tim

[Guest Yediyd]

I have faced it, I well know there are people like you describe who seem to have no desire to better themself. I have known some personally and some are relatives of mine. How though, brother, are they ever to find a desire to better themself if those of us who have taken upon ourself the name of Christ refuse to associate with them, judging them not worth wasting our precious time. If we belong to Christ then would it not be His time anyway. And didnt He hang out with some of the worst of the worst and get critisized for it by those who were well to do and "righteous"? Have you ever asked yourself why they appear to have no desire to better themself? I think everyone has a desire for something better but I think many have lost hope. They have been told they are no good worthless trash and have come to believe it is true and that no matter what they do they will never be any better. So they do nothing or nothing more than they always did. We are representitives of Christ we must assocoate with them and testify of the hope that is in us and we can not do that if we are not willing to waste our precious time and refuse to associate with those we judge to be unworthy. Remember we are all unworthy of His precious time and His precious blood but He has not refused to assocoate with us. How can we do any differerent and pretend to take his name on ourself?

Tim

Here! Here!! Well said!!! Thank you!

I have relatives that are considered "trash" by sociaty, and they believe it about themselves.

(BTW...I consider Pediphiles the lowest of the low...sure Jesus loves them too...but Jesus can have them, as far as I'm concerned...I don't speak to my brothers and I never will again...If I suffer judgment from G-d for that, than so be it!!!)

[pushka]

Tim, You're absolutely spot on!!

I have a friend who is rapidly going downhill due to her alcoholism..I've tried for years to encourage her to take help to come off the stuff, and have been knocked back so many times.

Last week I wanted to give up on her...it was dragging me down too much, but when I thought of her little kids I couldn't do it...my door will always be open for when she wants to make that call to seek help, I just hope that she can do it soon enough before the alcohol kills her.

[CrimsonKairos]

"TRAILER TRASH" DESCRIBES AN ATITTUDE OF LAZINESS, INDOLENCE, APATHY AND GET-SOMETHING-FOR-NOTHING BEHAVIOR WHEN PEOPLE ARE CAPABLE OF MUCH, MUCH MORE.

FOR THE LAST TIME, PEOPLE LIKE EMMA, YEDIYD, AND OTHERS WHO ARE ON DISABILITY SUPPORT FROM THE GOVERNMENT AREN'T TRAILER TRASH. YOU ARE HONEST-TO-GOSH DISABLED. IF YOU HAD YOUR WISH, YOU WOULD BE "ENABLED" OR BETTER, AND WOULD WANT TO WORK AND DO MUCH MORE THAN YOU CAN NOW. YOU ARE NOT WHO SIXPACK AND I ARE TALKING ABOUT!!!

METAPHORICALLY SPEAKING, WOULD Y'ALL PLEASE STOP JUMPING IN FRONT OF TRAFFIC AND COMPLAINING THAT I OR SIXPACK PUSHED YOU INTO THE ROAD!!!

"TRAILER TRASH" ISN'T ABOUT TRAILERS, OR RACE, OR GENDER, OR SOCIAL CLASS. IT'S ABOUT PERSONAL LAZINESS AND APATHY. SAY IT WITH ME NOW: "JUST BECAUSE I LIVE IN A TRAILER/PRE-FAB, I AM NOT TRAILER TRASH."

NO ONE'S JUDGING ANYONE HERE. HOLY COW, SIXPACK AND I WERE USING THE TERM TO REFER TO A LIFESTYLE AND ATTITUDE, THE KIND OF PERSON WHO WOULD ABUSE THE WELFARE SYSTEM. WE NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER SAID ANYONE HERE WAS "TRAILER TRASH" OR SHOULD BE ASHAMED FOR COLLECTING DISABILITY (WHICH I'VE DONE AND AM NOT ASHAMED OF).

*CK takes a deep breath and glues back in place the hair he pulled out of his head in frustration*

I'M SORRY IF PEOPLE HAVE MISJUDGED YOU AND MADE YOU FEEL LIKE A LOSER DUE TO YOUR UPBRINGING, GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION, TYPE OF HOUSE OR ANYTHING ELSE, BUT I WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR THOSE ERRORS. I WON'T USE THE TERM "TRAILER TRASH" ON THIS SITE ANYMORE. INSTEAD, I WILL SAY "LAZY, GREEDY LIARS." HOPEFULLY NO ONE WHO LIVES IN A TRAILER WILL TAKE OFFENSE THAT WAY, SINCE "TRAILER TRASH" HAS BECOME A STEREOTYPE APPLICABLE NOT ONLY TO PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN TRAILERS!

[Guest Yediyd]

God bless you, CK!!!! CAlm down...I know you were not talking about me...and I never got angry with you or sixpack...I thought I made that clear in my post...guess I didn't.

The point I was trying to make is that these people who ARE lazy...maybe it's because they know little eles and believe that they are lazy and worthless, so what they believe about themselves becomes a self fullfilling prophacy...

I'm ready to drop this now!!!

I love you guys!!!!!!

[CrimsonKairos]

I got frustrated because people kept changing the definition of "trailer trash" that sixpack and I explicitly gave when we used the term. It felt like a waiter coming to my table and something like this happening:

WAITER: What'll you have, sir?

ME: I don't like seafood, so maybe a steak.

WAITER: Okay, one shrimp'n'lobster combo. Anything else?

ME: No, I don't want seafood. I'll have steak. And I don't drink alcohol either, maybe just water.

WAITER: So shrimp, lobster, oysters, clams and a nice Chardonnay. Excellent, sir.

ME: What the...? Are you even listening to me?

Sorry for the outburst.

[Guest Yediyd]

It's ok, my friend...do you feel better now? How's the head? Are you enjoying your shrimp?

And I'm telling your stake president about the alcohol!!!!

[Dr T]

And I'm telling your stake president about the alcohol!!!!

Bold mine

I thought he wasn't having steak but was having shrimp. Now you're confusing me...

[Guest Yediyd]

lol, Dr. T...A "stake" president is the guy in charge of the stake or group of wards in a perticular area. It's an LDS term.

Just a coinkiedink that it was used in the same conversation as the "yummy" term for dead cow.

[Dr T]

Thanks Yed. I know what a stake pres is. I was only joking. :)

[Guest Yediyd]

I wasn't sure...but I had a feeling you were joking. Can't be sure with a guy like you....

...just out of cat rehab and all...

[Dr T]

LOL. Someone drove by today and stopped and said, "Hey look at that cute cat." The child next to her said, "Who'se is it?" And she said, "It has a collar on, it must be somebodies." Did I say, "That's my cat" or "That is my children's cat"? NOPE. Did not claim it one bit. Dismissed out of hand.