Central Park Karen

[CanIPleaseHaveOne]

Did anyone come across this? It is really worth listening to.

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-real-story-of-the-central-park-karen/id1570872415?i=1000530855326

I know @Eorks

@endofthelinefinally

I am certainly not saying racism is in any way acceptable. I have a good friend whose teenage sin called her a karen over something trivial. She was really upset. I think he just heard it at school and trotted it out without thinking. That is what I mean by saying that using these awful slurs casually is wrong.

It's not just a little bit of racism though

In the video she was vile and malicious. She lied about him, an "African American man" of threatening her life to the police, knowing what could well have resulted. She used her position as a white woman to scare and silence Christian Cooper.

Couldn't give a fuck if anyone calls her a Karen or if it's used to silence poor Amy. She's a cowbag

Disappointed people are focusing on the used of the word Karen rather than serious racism, Emmet Till springs to mind in light of this situation. I disagree with calling ordinary white women Karens, but Amy? Who bloody cares

@workshy44

She behaved appallingly but she paid a very high price for it. Lost her job, her pet and became a social pariah overnight. I wonder if she had been a he there would have been the same consequences She behaved in a racist manner that could have had devastating consequences for the man involved, given that it was in the states.

I wonder if she had been a he there would have been the same consequences

news.sky.com/story/white-businessmans-office-lease-terminated-after-calling-police-on-black-men-at-his-gym-in-minneapolis-11996125

A white businessman has had his office lease terminated after a viral video showed him calling the police on a group of black entrepreneurs who he claimed had no right to be in his gym.

www.nytimes.com/2021/07/06/nyregion/edward-cagney-mathews-nj-racist-man.html

A New Jersey man who was caught on video shouting racist insults and harassing his neighbors was arrested twice and charged with several hate crimes, with his second arrest coming as people staged an hourslong protest outside his home.

@Why2why

I’m finding out that Mumsnet is apparently a hotbed for this and Mumsnet does nothing to address this exclusionary and problematic behaviour but will actively intervene and shut down other minor stuff.

Yep!

Disappointed people are focusing on the used of the word Karen rather than serious racism, Emmet Till springs to mind in light of this situation. I disagree with calling ordinary white women Karens, but Amy? Who bloody cares

Oh my God. I've heard the name Emmet Till so many times but didn't know the story. I have just Googled it and it is so upsetting.

A 14 year old boy mutilated because a white woman accused him of flirting with her. Now I understand why you thought of this case in connection with the 'Karen' tag.

I'm not sorry to say the Karen tag needs to stay. If it riles people up then too bad- that is the intention. It is a neat way of describing problematic, dangerous behaviour. So much the better that it upsets people. Maybe they'll pause before being Karens.

@Makhiaman

I wish so called feminists would consider the effects racism has on black women's lives to the same level they consider the effect a silly name has on a white woman’s feelings.

Interesting that you assume they don’t.

I listened to the podcast and neither person covered themselves in glory . The man confronts people who have dogs off the lead . If they don’t put the dog on the lead then he takes out dog biscuits and says he will do ‘something they don’t like’ . He carries a cycle helmet and seems to threaten to use it as a weapon. He has done this to more than one person , he has pushed another man over before.
I do think that the woman is racist otherwise she wouldn’t have mentioned his colour, there was no need, she could have just said a man is threatening me.

They are both in the wrong but she was more in the wrong because of the possible consequences for the man.

@Hivis

I understand and don’t blame them *@Eorks*. But I don’t overlook racism. I tackle it when personally confronted with it. But I’m not an activist

Wait. But you literally said you did overlook racism because it doesn’t affect you.

OK.

You call a racist a racist. You don’t need to call them Karen. The use of Karen as a slur perpetuates the idea that women must not speak up.

As I said on the other thread, I’m a back woman, and male violence and entitlement concerns me a whole lot more than Amy Cooper.

@Eorks
I'm not sorry to say the Karen tag needs to stay. If it riles people up then too bad- that is the intention. It is a neat way of describing problematic, dangerous behaviour. So much the better that it upsets people. Maybe they'll pause before being Karens.

Funny. And I just had my first post in this thread reported and deleted for saying there were a bunch on this thread. There are literally people exemplifying there origin of this name and @MNHQ just deleted me calling that out. I guess they and other posters don’t like the truth.

No @JingsMahBucket. I don’t overlook it when it does affect me, like it did the time I referenced in a previous post with my work colleague. If I ever witness it, I call it out. But outside of that, it’s not a main focus for me

All I took from this thread is that Amy Cooper went into hiding after the incident and no-one even knows which continent she's on. FANTASTIC. I had assumed she would quietly be employed by another investment bank.

FUCK YOU Amy Cooper and people like you. I will sleep very well tonight.

*black woman.

[quote JingsMahBucket]@Eorks
I'm not sorry to say the Karen tag needs to stay. If it riles people up then too bad- that is the intention. It is a neat way of describing problematic, dangerous behaviour. So much the better that it upsets people. Maybe they'll pause before being Karens.

Funny. And I just had my first post in this thread reported and deleted for saying there were a bunch on this thread. There are literally people exemplifying there origin of this name and @MNHQ just deleted me calling that out. I guess they and other posters don’t like the truth.[/quote]
Typical MN

41MissyB1

Makhiaman

I wish so called feminists would consider the effects racism has on black women's lives to the same level they consider the effect a silly name has on a white woman’s feelings.

Interesting that you assume they don’t.

It's not interesting, just factual. As evidenced by numerous threads on MN.

@Eorks

41MissyB1

Makhiaman

I wish so called feminists would consider the effects racism has on black women's lives to the same level they consider the effect a silly name has on a white woman’s feelings.

Interesting that you assume they don’t.

It's not interesting, just factual. As evidenced by numerous threads on MN.

So all feminists don’t give a damn about racism because they don’t like the “Karen” slur? Nonsense.

Eorks

Laughable. I have an opinion that doesn’t fit into your stereotype of how black woman think therefore I can’t be a black woman.

You couldn’t make it up !

A commentator referred to Amy Cooper's attempt to rewrite history as "God-Will-You-Just-Shut-Up-Already news." That's how I see it too. She apologised at the time. She should have left it at that. But now she sheds crocodile tears and whines about being scared of a Big Black Man, playing into an old racist trope of black men as inherent threats to pure white womanhood. Watch the video. She's the one who goes charging up to him in a very aggressive way (while strangling her dog). Not exactly the actions of a person who is frightened.

Someone on the thread mentioned Emmett Till. Exactly. You can draw a straight line from that case to this one. Thank God the situation in Central Park didn't end in tragedy. It easily could have.

@MissyB1 in fairness that’s not what @Makhiaman said. She said she wished that feminists would consider the impact of racism on black women to the same level. I’ve been honest and admitted I don’t. But that’s not because I’m racist or don’t give a damn. I do, just not to the extent that black women would like to see. Because I’m fighting other things (and I don’t just mean being called Karen). My time and emotional energy have their limits

Calling people Karen isn't a neat way of describing behavior.
It is at the very least a lazy, sexist way of describing behavior.

If women are being racist then call them out on that directly, we do that with men.

The Emmett Till murder was and still is a very well known case in the USA. His family house is preserved in the area I work in.
It is important to remember that it was men who killed Emmett, as it pretty much always is.
It isn't even believed that the first person to discuss him with the murders was the woman involved in the original exchange.
( this isn't to excuse the lies told in court by the woman)

We need to challenge racism and not buy into male belief systems at the same time, it should be possible.

OP - it was worth listening to. Which ever way you come down after it, at least it will be an educated opinion. Disheartening to hear how many people expressing an opinion without listening to it.

Disheartening to hear how many people expressing an opinion without listening to it

Yes exactly.

on MN.

So all feminists don’t give a damn about racism because they don’t like the “Karen” slur?
Nonsense.

Who said that?🙄🤔