I've sunk to a new low....I'm watching something called "Health Cops."

[Gothic Sponge]

It's on the Fitness Channel. The Overweight participants agree to lose weight, or they have to do hard time......I think.

[HEyHEY]

1. YOU CALL THAT LOW!

You're a lucky man!

[Gothic Sponge]

2. I've gone lower, but for tonight....this is my low.

;)

[sandnsea]

3. DOG - The Bounty Hunter

New this fall on A&E... A&E for chrissake!!! THAT will be a new low. It's like they're just cruisin' the trailer parks looking for white trash to make a television series about. Gawd when will it end.

[KT2000]

4. But the Gotti boys live in a manshun!!

seen that one? Just awful.

[BlueHandDuo]

5. Can't we do without racist epithets on DU?

Call individuals trash if that's what you think of them, but leave the myth of race out of it.

[sandnsea]

6. Oh excuse me

Shall I include the dumbest of the dumb black shows that are on the air too?

Sorry, this country is sinking into an abyss of ignorance and I'm not going to pretend we're not. White trash trailer park shows, that's the new American culture. And I've lived in trailers myself, so if the shoe doesn't fit, don't put it on.

[BlueHandDuo]

7. Name any show and call it dumb if you want...

...and I won't object. But there's no need to use a "racial" identifier.

[sandnsea]

8. We have skin colors

DOG is a white trash show. There's white trash, black trash, brown trash. Trash is trash. We're living in a society that is glorifying being trash. I don't really know what your problem is. Trash has nothing to do with racism.

[BlueHandDuo]

9. It may very well be a trash show...

...and you have every right to call it trash. Haven't I said this already? I haven't seen the show myself, so I don't know whether or not I'd agree with that assessment, but it's a possibility.

The unmarked noun is the default in any language. When you decide to mark it with an adjective, you indicate that the thing under discussion differs from the default condition in some meaningful way. In this particular case, you are indicating that it is somehow unusual for trash to be "white" -- hence the need to mark it as such.

Now, it may be that you've never considered the phrase "white trash" in terms of its component parts. Most people don't think too hard about the words and phrases they've heard all their lives, and since "white trash" dates back to the days of slavery (and the psychological need for slaveowners to justify their actions in terms of "racial" superiority, despite ample visible evidence that there was no such thing), nobody reading this board can remember a time when it didn't exist.

That doesn't mean we need to continue using it. Skin color has nothing to do with ignorance. Or trashiness, if you will.