A column I wrote a few months back peeved one reader so much that she wrote me a 2,900-word response sent as a Word Document attachment, double-spaced and thoroughly proofed. The effort left me dazed — and mildly alarmed.
The reader — who turned out to be a highly accomplished scientist from the University of California , Berkeley, and a lovely person — was bothered by my use of the term “green trash” to describe a class of liberals who, as I wrote, “sneer at the working class from a lofty perch of inherited wealth, legacy admissions, and a cursory command of the latest moral fads.” In her eyes, the term was dehumanizing and beneath the dignity of a writer who professes to be a Christian .
FIVE TIMES THE HUNTER BIDEN INFLUENCE PEDDLING STORY CHANGED
The charge, echoed by several fellow liberals on X, formerly known as Twitter, was melodramatic and rich. There were surely worse examples of uncharitable labeling in the vast digital sea of dehumanization we swim through each day. The Left’s increasingly liberal use of the term “white supremacist,” for instance, has ballooned to include children who paint their faces for football games, math teachers who insist that 2+2=4 , and more recently, people who think plagiarism is a bad thing. And somehow, my silly little term is cause for pearl-clutching?
Besides, I was only being cheeky. I don’t believe any human beings are trash per se, only that a relevant percentage of liberals are less brilliant than they fancy themselves. As Fareed Zakaria bravely explained on his CNN show this weekend , advanced degrees are no longer proof of advanced intelligence. “Green trash” is simply meant to describe this peculiar phenomenon.
But for anyone still uncertain as to my meaning or intent, perhaps a different tact is required.
The comedian Jeff Foxworthy once developed a reliable formula for identifying members of another inherently comical social group. And while, unlike Foxworthy, I’m unable to claim in-group status that shields me from accusations of meanspiritedness, I can do no better than to repurpose his formula here.
If you’ve ever marched through Brooklyn, originally known as Lenapehoking after the Lenape Native Americans, and waved a placard about Israel stealing land from the Palestinians but never once considered packing your bags and retreating to the land of your ancestors, you might be green trash.
If you’ve ever displayed a Ukrainian or Palestinian flag but refuse to wave the American flag out of sensitivity to the LGBT community, you might be green trash.
If you are easily triggered by public displays of religion but have a yard sign that says, “In this house, we believe …” you might be green trash.
If you are confounded by the idea that a Hispanic person could value border security or that a black person could value the police, you are almost certainly green trash.
If you simultaneously believe, without a hint of cognitive dissonance, that biological sex is a social construct and that people can be born into the “wrong” biological body, you might be green trash.
If you think the 2021 Georgia voting law constituted “Jim Crow 2.0” despite the fact that voting in Georgia has dramatically increased following its passage, you might be green trash.
If you’ve ever harangued your friends and neighbors to “follow the science” but still wear a mask outdoors while walking your dog alone, you might be green trash.
If you are convinced of the moral uprightness of a corporation based on the number of Pride flags it features in its June advertising rather than by the treatment of its workers, particularly black and brown children in the developing world, you might be green trash.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
If you’ve watched a complete episode of Saturday Night Live in the last eight years, particularly if you clapped and danced to the “All I Want for Christmas Is Mueller” sketch, you might be green trash.
Of course, this is all meant in good fun. But I won’t count on critics to have a sense of humor about any of this. They can be assured, however, that we are all getting a good chuckle anyhow.
Peter Laffin is a contributor at the Washington Examiner. His work has also appeared in RealClearPolitics, the Catholic Thing, and the National Catholic Register.
What it means to be green trash
9
1
15.12.2023
A column I wrote a few months back peeved one reader so much that she wrote me a 2,900-word response sent as a Word Document attachment, double-spaced and thoroughly proofed. The effort left me dazed — and mildly alarmed.
The reader — who turned out to be a highly accomplished scientist from the University of California , Berkeley, and a lovely person — was bothered by my use of the term “green trash” to describe a class of liberals who, as I wrote, “sneer at the working class from a lofty perch of inherited wealth, legacy admissions, and a cursory command of the latest moral fads.” In her eyes, the term was dehumanizing and beneath the dignity of a writer who professes to be a Christian .
FIVE TIMES THE HUNTER BIDEN INFLUENCE PEDDLING STORY CHANGED
The charge, echoed by several fellow liberals on X, formerly known as Twitter, was melodramatic and rich. There were surely worse examples of uncharitable labeling in the vast digital sea of dehumanization we swim through each day. The Left’s increasingly liberal use of the term “white supremacist,” for........
© Washington Examiner
visit website
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Tarik Cyril Amar
Rami G Khouri
Mort Laitner
Bradley Blankenship
