Sure, not a nice term at all, but if you were to substitute the word white for any other race/color such as “black trash”, “yellow trash”, etc. it would sound wayy more offensive and I would imagine be led with some public backlash! Yet I see the term “white trash” thrown around in some casual conversations, tv shows, and pop culture with not much afterthought.
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white trash was a term made by *white* people to distance themselves from poor white people. the emphasis in the term is on *trash,* not white. this is why it’s not considered racially offensive.
now, from a class perspective, it is clearly offensive. but words that offend in class terms are often seen as less “hurtful” because, especially in america, class/financial status is seen as changeable with hard work. things are more offensive when they target something someone can’t change (e.g. race) than something they can (e.g. weight, class). whether class is actually changeable is a different debate; it is seen as so.
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