"Stop being a Karen"

[ValsCupcakes]

I heard this on Tuesday from a young, no more than 20, guy saying it to his girlfriend in the street in town.

Is this still going on? I'm out this afternoon at my friend's house. She is called Karen and is sick of it. I heard a woman phone into the radio too the other week saying her husband's satnav was an annoying female voice so he called it Karen.

Ha!
I knew some sanctimonious moralizer was gonna bring up Emmett Till. I surprised it took 15 pages.

So do we have a name for these men who do the actual killing?

Absolutely.

Again though the demographic on MN is middle aged white women.

People on here get upset about this, but not actual racism.

https://time.com/5857023/karen-meme-history-meaning/

Yay a link to Time. Which is American. And from five years ago.

What special word do you have specifically for men who commit these crimes?

I'd be interested to know this. What is the specific term African Americans use for racist white men?

That 'Sheila from Croydon' was offended by some muppet trivialising and misappropriating the term Karen, that's on her for being so ignorant.

My thoughts would go to the millions of men, woman and children who suffered at the hands of Karens over 4 centuries in america, the most racist entity in human history.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/27/opinion/racism-white-women.html

How White Women Use Themselves as Instruments of Terror

"We often like to make white supremacy a testosterone-fueled masculine expression, but it is just as likely to wear heels as a hood. Indeed, untold numbers of Lynchings were executed because white women had claimed that a black man raped, assaulted, talked to or glanced at them. The Tulsa race massacre, the destruction of Black Wall Street, was spurred by an incident between a white female elevator operator and a black man. As the Oklahoma Historical Society points out, the most common explanation is that he stepped on her toe. As many as 300 people were killed because of it. The torture and murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955, a lynching actually, occurred because a white woman said that he "grabbed her and was menacing and sexually crude toward her". This practice, this exercise in racial extremism has been dragged into the modern era through the weaponizing of 9-1-1, often by white women, to invoke the power and force of the police who they are fully aware are hostile to black men. This was again evident when a white woman in New York's Central Park told a black man, a bird-watcher, that she was going to call the police and tell them that he was threatening her life."

Exactly. Same old, same old...

Oh please... I don't have enough space in my cranium to roll my eyes the way this sorry excuse for an article deserves...

@Eldrick47s Are you not even slightly annoyed at the people who are (in your words) "trivialising and misappropriating the term Karen"?

Or are your anger and accusations of ignorance only directed at the women on the receiving end of the abuse?

White women weaponising their privilege against black people is a real thing. But so is the misogyny displayed by people who eagerly leap to use a new term to denigrate women they dislike.

And what about the white men who commit the racist violence? What's your word for them?

I know what the origin of the word is, but do you genuinely think that the word "Karen" is currently being used in the UK to call out racist behaviours by white women?

Because that's not how I see it being used.

Languages evolve and words change their meaning depending on how they are used. And US English is not the same as British English. I don't know whether the word "Karen" has retained its original meaning in the US, but it definitely hasn't in the UK.

And yes OP you are being unreasonable by taking offence at a moniker that has been trivialised and misappropriated by muppets.

These are Karens (american women using their four centuries long white privilege in america to oppress non white people, in this case against one of the 48 million descendants of African slaves for going to a newly integrated school).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Rock_Nine

Let's keep sexism in the UK alive and unchecked by listing injustices in American history is a mad take.

This. An outrageous thing to use a common name in this way. I don't know how people can defend it without embarrassment.

"Karen" is absolutely used as an insult against women for non racist reasons in the US.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Eckford

"Eckford only spent one year at Little Rock Central High where she and the other black students were tormented throughout. In the years since, she has struggled through life, and twice attempted suicide. She was subsequently diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder"

My thoughts will always go to the millions of white peoples in america who have suffered at the hands of these wicked Karens. Anyone with an ounce of knowledge who the Karen (and their previous monikers) is will feel the same, rather than take offence over some muppet trivialising and misappropriating a term for what is a very dangerous individual, the american woman using and abusing her white privilege to inflict harm on others.

Ok I get it 😂

Interesting repetition to shut down women complaining about misogynistic insults. And it is being used to shut down the discussion. For clarity I'm mixed race and been called Karen by a white man i objected to smoking in the non smoking area

Is spamming threads permitted on this forum?

This exact same debate was had on here some months back. Whatever the origins and prior use of the term it NOW means, in the UK, any woman over 30 who isn't a doormat. It's perfectly true that many women and men are unreasonable arrogant arseholes but this particular word is used to make any woman asking for decent service or a contractual fulfilment or basic consideration feel like they need to shut up. And it's perfectly right to be angry about that, regardless of any other historical background.

None of that is relevant here

I'm not American and don't particularly care about little
Rock and what happens there

The use of the term denotes the speaker as thick.

That you are not american (a white woman from that white settler entity) means you cannot be a Karen (a racist white woman from that white settler entity).

I could never take offence at a term given by oppressed people to a monstrous people. My heart will always go out to the oppressed.

Sure, dude. Whatever you say.

Except the word Karen is used about non-US women. It is used about non-white women and non-racist women. So those women are going to have an opinion on it - deal with it.

@Eldrick47s can you please explain why you don't accept that the use of the term in the UK and today is different to what you're claiming it as. Do you honestly think that the twatty teens and men who use it here when a woman expresses herself know anything about Emmet Til or Little Rock? We are objecting to the usage it has gained. It's origins are irrelevant.

Because its trivialised and misappropriated. Who the Karen is not irrelevant.