The Karens and Rioters of America

[whag]

Just as conservatives shake their heads at leftist shoulder-shrugging on civil breakdown, Trump’s base has its Karens: men and women who verbally accost Asian families in restaurants and who demand “green cards” from landscapers whose work only poor immigrants the Karens would never do.

https://thehill.com/homenews/news/50...going-to-f-you

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...2wa-story.html

Let’s chill with the finger pointing on which side is sickest. I suspect most of us wouldn’t start autonomous zones nor would they confront families and landscapers because of their race. Both do a similar societal damage, with the right being just as insidious as outright social unrest.

My mom was a died-in-the-wool liberal until 2016 when without warning she became a full-on Trump adorer. She’s described initiating incidents with workers she suspects were illegal. I don’t remember her ever being so stupid, so I chalk it up to a recklessness that comes with old age.

Idiots on both sides are everywhere, spurred by the fearlessness that comes with getting old and hopelessness of the future. It has nothing to do with the “lefties” being in league with Satan and initiating the collapse of civilization. Sorry to break it to you, but the collapse started with economic slavery which both sides enable and we are all under.

[KingsGambit]

I personally don't use the word Karen. I think it's basically a slur against white women, and I've heard it has led to bullying of people who actually have that name. (The Babylon Bee in particular needs to stop incessantly using it.)

[whag]

I personally don't use the word Karen. I think it's basically a slur against white women, and I've heard it has led to bullying of people who actually have that name. (The Babylon Bee in particular needs to stop incessantly using it.)

That genie has left the bottle. I’ve seen it used for men and women, like that scumbag who yelled at the Asian family.

One good thing that could come out of it is it will slow the phenomenon as adults realize public confrontation results in being branded a Karen and subsequent job loss.

[rogue06]

I personally don't use the word Karen. I think it's basically a slur against white women, and I've heard it has led to bullying of people who actually have that name. (The Babylon Bee in particular needs to stop incessantly using it.)

I've heard that brought up before, sometimes noting that there would be a major negative reaction if people used a more ethnic name (like Juanita or Latikah for instance) to describe someone acting in a negative manner.

[KingsGambit]

That genie has left the bottle. I’ve seen it used for men and women, like that scumbag who yelled at the Asian family.

One good thing that could come out of it is it will slow the phenomenon as adults realize public confrontation results in being branded a Karen and subsequent job loss.

I'm not convinced this is a good thing, especially as videos usually only show one side of a confrontation. It reminds me of the "game" some kids used to play where they would intentionally bully/provoke substitute teachers until they lost it, then record them and send it to the school board.

[Ronson]

I've heard that brought up before, sometimes noting that there would be a major negative reaction if people used a more ethnic name (like Juanita or Latikah for instance) to describe someone acting in a negative manner.

You know what smacks of bigotry to me is "white trash" - and not against whites.

Many on the Left like to categorize people, and I hear "white trash" used mostly by them. It separates the elites (white) from the lower-class whites.

So what does this mean for all the other ethnicities that don't have "trash" qualifiers? It means those others are inferior in whole and by nature.

So "white trash" is a backhanded way of denigrating all but upper-class whites.

[whag]

I'm not convinced this is a good thing, especially as videos usually only show one side of a confrontation. It reminds me of the "game" some kids used to play where they would intentionally bully/provoke substitute teachers until they lost it, then record them and send it to the school board.

Few people who film these incidents have a reason to film from the outset. By nature, the filmed evidence takes place after the Karens telegraph their desire to ask for green card/call 911/use epithet. And most Karens have admitted they acted obnoxiously after the video goes viral. Few if any still defend their filmed behavior.

[KingsGambit]

You know what smacks of bigotry to me is "white trash" - and not against whites.

Many on the Left like to categorize people, and I hear "white trash" used mostly by them. It separates the elites (white) from the lower-class whites.

So what does this mean for all the other ethnicities that don't have "trash" qualifiers? It means those others are inferior in whole and by nature.

So "white trash" is a backhanded way of denigrating all but upper-class whites.

One could argue it subtly implies that white people are not supposed to be poor.

[KingsGambit]

Few people who film these incidents have a reason to film from the outset. By nature, the filmed evidence takes place after the Karens telegraph their desire to ask for green card/call 911/use epithet. And most Karens have admitted they acted obnoxiously after the video goes viral. Few if any still defend their filmed behavior.

Yes, I think this is true of most of the incidents that have gone viral. Things like screaming racial slurs at people simply cannot be justified by any sort of context, and such people do deserve consequences. My concern is the precedent set in our culture where people want to film everything, report everything, etc. It can easily spiral out of control if everybody is expected to be a citizen journalist at all times.

[Ronson]

One could argue it subtly implies that white people are not supposed to be poor.

Agreed. When I hear whites (or anyone) say "white trash" they are insinuating that whites are/should be better than that. That to be trashy and white is some sort of anomaly. It is a thinly-veiled bigoted comment, IMO.

[seanD]

What's somewhat unusual is that both political sides are using it against and to describe the other.

[LeaC]

Few people who film these incidents have a reason to film from the outset. By nature, the filmed evidence takes place after the Karens telegraph their desire to ask for green card/call 911/use epithet. And most Karens have admitted they acted obnoxiously after the video goes viral. Few if any still defend their filmed behavior.

"Few". Yet there's already been at least one grifter(Karlos Dillard) who harassed a woman into breaking down on video in order to sell "Karen" t-shirts, and a video taken by a black mother and daughter who were provoking a reaction from a white couple. On a more general note, I don't like the idea that every jerk who does something dumb or racist in public needs to be on display for all the world to see - nor have the risk of their jobs(or even lives) threatened when it isn't related to the incident, or their children harassed. There will always be some level of racist behavior in society, the question is how much are we willing to tolerate vs how much expectation of privacy do we expect everyone to give up to try and prevent it?

[whag]

"Few". Yet there's already been at least one grifter(Karlos Dillard) who harassed a woman into breaking down on video in order to sell "Karen" t-shirts, and a video taken by a black mother and daughter who were provoking a reaction from a white couple. On a more general note, I don't like the idea that every jerk who does something dumb or racist in public needs to be on display for all the world to see - nor have the risk of their jobs(or even lives) threatened when it isn't related to the incident, or their children harassed. There will always be some level of racist behavior in society, the question is how much are we willing to tolerate vs how much expectation of privacy do we expect everyone to give up to try and prevent it?

Links?

[Leonhard]

The grossest example I've ever seen was a conservative at a Trump rally who asked a Native American whether he was here legally.

[whag]

What's somewhat unusual is that both political sides are using it against and to describe the other.

“Unusual” my foot. The extreme sides have always dominated the public discourse and have never not been mirror images of each other.