Wikitionary: unwashed masses (plural only)
(idiomatic) The collective group ("mass") of people who are considered by someone to be somehow uneducated, uninformed, or in some other way unqualified for inclusion in the speaker's elite circles.
You are coming across here as a terrible elitist. Language is unnecessary. Referring to people as the "unwashed masses" and then a comparison to chimpanzees. In the context, this reads like de-humanization.
An unfortunate one though and akin to saying "white people" or "poor people". Sweeping generalities about mass groups of people although faster usually break down communication.
I find it funny that some self-hating SJW came up with the acronym WEIRD to describe the population of the first world.
Ie it's pretty clear they started out with the acronym and then searched for the letters to finish it off. Would this sht pass if someone wanted to come up with an acronym for the illiterate population of the world that subsist on less than $1 a day and ended up with UGLY (for the sake of example)?
I find it equally unpleasant when people denigrate groups - whether they perceive them as 'underprivileged' or 'privileged'.
“White trash” is effectively an ethnic slur. Ordinary poor white people aren’t “white trash.” When people say it, they’re specifically referring to the stereotypical southern or Appalachian American (usually Scots-Irish) or Midwestern American (usually German).
It's an insulting term for scruffy looking people who are presumed to be homeless or drug-using.
The reason it's contentious is that one person uses it, someone else objects to it, people take sides along left-vs-right lines, and the thread devolves in to a shouting match.
I cringe at the use of language such as "nothing good about X" when talking about a population of people, as it reeks of ignorance. I will give you the benefit of the doubt though, perhaps you hadn't meant to come across so bald faced.
I think people are defining words differently or just being argumentative, your experience is exactly how ive seen white trash used, living on the coasts on the US.
Of course, part of the issue here is that there isn't really a good shorthand term for "the group of American Black people of diverse African origin whose cultures were oppressed and destroyed by the white majority for centuries, leading to a mélange culture intentionally constructed out of the remaining scraps".
Do you know what the euphemistic justification was? “Cleanliness”? I cannot think of one that is not absurd to even the dimmest ethno-nationalist of my imagination.
reply