People of WalMart

[Alex]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

Alex has a good point, too. But humor is always an exception with me. I make fun of oddly-dressed or appearing people at Disneyland, for instance, but I don't extrapolate to assume anything about their lives. It may be lowbrow humor, but it's humor. I live by the Roger Rabbit philosophy. So sue me.

I do too. Like I said, I'm no saint.

But, to me, there is a leap between elbowing your friend while walking down the street and saying "doesn't sheek look quite the skank?" or "isn't that the stupidest haircut you've ever seen" and much hilarity ensuing and creating a web site where you post the pictures for the world to ridicule based on your criteria.

A more concrete example. Back in high school a group of friends and I were hanging out in a park and this woman walked by. No bra and the saggiest boobs I've ever seen. I swear, she was kicking them when she walked. Much hilarity ensued throughout the rest of the day within the circle of us. Sure, on one level that was mean and I feel kind of bad about it, but not too bad. She may have been perfectly happy with her appearance, she may have been mentally deficient, she may have been too poor to afford a good bra, she may have just been mugged and her bra stolen. The reason by which she'd come to that state where irrelevant.

If we'd taken a picture of her and posted it on the internet and started a web site called "World's Saggiest Boobs" then I think a line would have been crossed. And sites where teh people being mocked are unknowing participants (you go to a Don Rickles performance and he makes fun of your toupee - funny. You're walking down the street and Don Rickles runs up and starts making fun of your toupee - not funny to me).

My version of what JWBear said (and I agree with him) is that "white trash is a state of mind not a household income." I've known white trash (and they're not necessarily white either) all up and down the economic scale. I carry some of it with me still and economically I'm probably in the top 5% for the country. Growing up the old lady next door was living only a single social security check and you'd think she was the Queen of England for how regal and proper and clean everything about her was.