New to Twitter, feel sick RE 'Karen' meme

[AllWashedOut]

How have we sunk so low? Since when did women start bashing other women so vilely?

I started on Twitter for career reasons (what a joke) and the people in the industry are full-on woke. I want to cry. Karen as a cruel stereotype?

White person (typified as a woman called Karen), who demands priority at all times, a “can I speak to your supervisor” person. Would claim to be being victimised. We’d once have called such a person “a bit of of a twat” but in these BLM days more an entitled whinger on FB

I work with English teens who use it in the US way. I've not heard it to mean white woman in general but this might be because I'm a pale but not white woman

@flamingo - why would I list all the things I get angry about? All the injustices, all the serious insults other people face, all the nasty crap in life? I posted about this today because I saw this today. It won't follow me tomorrow. It'll just be on that list of things that people say. I'm not about to have a meltdown over a meme, lol. I will carry a resigned disappointment about the whole thing though wrt to my 'career' not the meme per se). But there, that is my cross to carry not yours so wander on by.

I'm not about to have a meltdown over a meme, lol.

Really? Because you did say you wanted to cry when you first saw it 😂

What are they then? And we are not white Americans mostly on here so wouldn't know them so how can we be being hypocritical to object to "Karen"?

Again, in this country, would it be acceptable for us to come up with and routinely use a first name that is in common use for women in those ethnicities, to label "stereotypical" women of various ethnicities and if not, why not?

@flamingochill

If I said that someone (male or female) was like a Jeremy Kyle guest you'd know what I mean. I think I'm that case it's used equally male/female.

There's quite a few British shows based on laughing at stereotypes like Little Britain, Catherine Tate and Harry Enfield. Have you ever found those funny?

Quite a few examples there that have been cancelled/ withdrawn for being problematic 😬 Not the best defence...

A bit of me this morning wanted to cry - about THE HYPOCROSY OF SO-CALLED WOKE PEOPLE in an industry I want(ed) to work in because I thought they would never be the sort of people to stoop to such trite and nasty insults. Because they are the enlightened leaders of culture. Because they know better than that.

I posted about this today because I saw this today. It won't follow me tomorrow.

And there lie the real issue . As I've said on many other thread the Karen thing won't even last the year.

You know what will still be here though? That behaviour,racism, BLM, black people being abused,harassed,discriminated and killed because they are black.

It won't follow you tomorrow, black people aren't that lucky.

would it be acceptable for us to come up with and routinely use a first name that is in common use for women in those ethnicities, to label "stereotypical" women of various ethnicities and if not, why not?

False equivalence, the 'Karen' in the situations that inspired the meme tended to have the privilege of being either, white, rich or white and rich and the 'power' that conveys, if you take the central park Karen video for example the way she switched from being aggressive to fearing for her life when talking about the black male to the police on the phone, she could have gotten him killed just because she didnt want to put her dog on a leash

So many 😂😂😂 on this thread. I'm genuinely not seeing the humour myself.

You know what will still be here though? That behaviour,racism, BLM, black people being abused, harassed, discriminated and killed because they are black.

Indeed. And there are so many threads currently running about those important issues so I think it's ok to have a thread about this too where we can discuss it and why it bothers us without being to be pipe down because others have it much worse.

I don't understand whats wrong with the technical term - "racist bitch" (or bastard if you want to swap genders). I guess maybe Americans are less comfortable with swearing so need to use euphanisms?

@ComeOnBabyPopMyBubble I'm not getting any younger. Age has a habit of staying with you. My post meant that the Karen meme won't be something I linger on. I live and work with lovely people who don't use these words. I wish for you and for all of us to live in a less nasty, less unpleasant world. That starts by each of us every day taking responsibility for the words we use. If we say we hate stereotypes, then we should stop using them, all of them.

False equivalence, the 'Karen' in the situations that inspired the meme tended to have the privilege of being either, white, rich or white and rich and the 'power' that conveys,

I don't agree with this. The very first Karen meme I saw was of a middle aged woman with what was called an "I want to speak to the manager" hair cut. Short on one side, long on the other. Remember that? This person was then given the name Karen across SM and I know this because my friend is called Karen and she would laugh and say "well I DO like to speak to the manager". This was about three years ago. Over time it has evolved and now we are told it is a name for white, racist women when it never was before. It is routinely used to humiliate any women of a certain age and appearance for even just minor disagreements, not racist. That's how it started and so I ask yet again, with that in mind, is it ok to give names to stereotypical behaviour in women across the various ethnicities? Why can't Priti have her own name that relates to someone from her ethnic group, if she's not allowed to be a Karen? What about someone like Candace Owens? What can we call her? If white women can be referred to en mass in this way then surely we can give all women within various ethnicities, who behave in similar ways their own mass name too? You don't want to say why it's ok for white women but not for any other woman who is not white. I don't blame you. I wouldn't want to come up with an answer to that question either.

But you said you felt sick? If you'll forget about it by tomorrow then feeling sick by it sounds OTT?

'Karen ' has become popular with some subtle differences on both sides of the Atlantic because it sums up perfectly a certain type of demanding , entitled ,often racist and often wrong woman of any age and class venting rage , superiority, prejudice and ignorance at a perceived lower order human , be it shop worker, cleaner or waiter who has limited ability to.answer back .It is not about erasing middle aged women or any other generalist attack , it is a specific type being held up to inspection . The male equivalent as a name doesnt exist , as that type of man would generally be called by an insult such as prick or wanker .
Anyway , to end on a positive note , here is a good karen take from a local blm march .

I won't comment on its US origins or current day usage in America because it's not my culture, but when used over here, Karen memes and quibs are just like 'snowflake', 'gammon', FB laughter-reactions, and so on: worthless.

If you have nothing to offer in response except a one-word insult or an emoticon, you have no response.

I understand the 'rise of Karen' perfectly well, I just don't think it works in the UK. Here it isn't used by a class of people with less power against a class of people with more. It's used by middle class people against working class women. And not only are they punching down, they're expecting to be patted on the back for doing so. Nope, fuck that. It's nasty classism dressed up as wokeness.

This.

As I've said on many other thread the Karen thing won't even last the year.

@ComeOnBabyPopMyBubble You are aware the Karen meme has been around for years, right?

You may not have heard of it until recently, but it’s been around a long time and it will be around for a long time to come.

It’s used by middle class people against working class women.

Actually I’ve seen many more middle class Karen’s than working class ones. It’s not a class or a race issue in the UK no matter how hard people try to make it into one.

There's quite a few British shows based on laughing at stereotypes like Little Britain

Pretty sure they've had to make some grovelling apologies recently?

You really are going to find Twitter completely toxic if this is upsetting to you. People are VILE to one another and this is nothing in comparison. I have a list of about 200 trusted people that I follow but I regularly venture over to the trending hashtag threads where the real lowlife hangs out. Go cautiously is all I'd say.

so Priti Patel doesn't quality really, she's Asian

Yes. So it's kind of turned into an indiscriminate misogynistic slur, hasn't it?

I think Twitter as a career decision has passed its used by date. It’s pretty bad these days.

It is not about erasing middle aged women or any other generalist attack

That's exactly how I mostly see it used, to say stfu to women. It's about as targeted as "ok boomer".

@Ereshkigalangcleg

There's quite a few British shows based on laughing at stereotypes like Little Britain

Pretty sure they've had to make some grovelling apologies recently?

They shouldn’t have made them. There’s no need to apologise to the professionally offended.

Honestly though - people are generally horrible. If you think that you are going into an industry that is full of fluffy loveliness - whatever that industry is - you are going to be disappointed because human nature is horrible.

As a t shirt once said: If you aren't angry, you're not paying attention.

You do live and work in a world of horrible behaviour and opinions. The people you know may not express them in the way that shocks you most but they are definitely there. You just haven't noticed the way they express it yet.