Karen is not one person. Karen is now an umbrella term used to describe demanding, entitled – specifically white women – with a sense of superiority. These are the women who loudly demand to speak to the manager because speaking to the minions will just not do. In more recent times, Karen has also come to represent the overbearing, racist white person, who calls the cops on African Americans as in the case of Amy Cooper, Lauren Balsamo, Lisa Alexander and other #KarensGoneWild
The entitled, overbearing individual who demands preferential treatment is not a new phenomenon. It’s just that this set of ‘Karen’ traits are now being called out for what they are.
Amy Cooper shot to fame notoriety for threatening a black man in central park because he asked her to leash her dog.
If she is the least bit uncomfortable, she cannot and will not handle it.
This is a passive-aggressive Karen identified as Lisa Alexander. She makes presumptions about people and challenges them for anything she dislikes.
The Karen is typically demanding, exacting, rude and unreasonable; with little regard for the comfort and rights of others; particularly those who are perceived to be different or subordinate.
Here is a video of a black woman confronting a white woman who had hurled a racist slur because she was “fed up of the looting”. Watch how the white woman feels as though there may be consequences for her actions, and she quickly dons the role of the victim in this scenario.
She would like others to excuse her behaviour because it's 'just a joke’ and cannot see how repugnant her behaviour can be.
In another ‘Karen’ moment, a woman had a meltdown at a MacDonald’s because her egg McMuffin was taking too long.
The prejudice, the stereotyping of all who are different means that the Karen is often very racist.
White fragility is about white people being unable to acknowledge their privilege and feeling the need to express some form of victimisation. You know how they felt the need to come up with #AllLivesMatter in reaction to #BlackLivesMatter? That.
The Karen will call the cops or threaten to call the cops to bully or intimidate, not because there has been an infringement of their rights or a crime committed. She is much like Donald Trump who scolded Twitter - via a tweet.
Any public spat involving a Karen typically follows these three sequential steps.
Karens are often women with money and influence; which they will use. Those perceived as ‘crossing’ the Karen will pay; sometimes with their jobs.
Most recently, in a classic Karen incident, a white woman told another woman to ‘go back to Mexico’. Turned out the other woman is a Native American. (If anyone should be told to ‘go back home’ it would be the people who have invaded and plundered American resources for hundreds of years.)
According to the viral video, the Native American woman turned around and slapped the womon who told her to ‘go back home’. I find all violence abhorrent, but one nasty primitive part of me thought that the slap delivered by the Native American woman was not unjustified.
This admittedly OTT video details the nature of the #Karen: entitled for herself & her property, protective of her kids, demanding and hostile and also something of a drama queen. Enjoy - While sending good thoughts to the poor women who are wonderful people but named Karen.
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