Current Events > Is it me or did the definition of a Karen change?

(+) Yeah! (+)

It used to just be an annoying middle aged to older woman with a specific bobbed haircut who always makes pointless customer complaints.

Now it refers to women who have racist outbursts in public? Huh?

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I thought it was just making a scene in public

Used to mean white women who complain to managers in hopes of getting an employee fired or free shit

now its white women being complained about to the manager in hopes of getting fired or free shit

Like all memes, once they get too popular, the original meaning glides into oblivion.

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Sictis posted...

Like all memes, once they get too popular, the original meaning glides into oblivion.

Once the media touches memes it's over

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I do see Karen being used as a slur more often these days. Like it is usually the fringe type people resorting to this stuff.

I'm not sure how people defend the usage of this term in any other way than "I'm ok with expressing racism in this way towards white people."

Like I'm not saying the level of severity between the Karen term is anywhere close to slurs used towards minorities, but I don't see how that makes the Karen term usage acceptable.

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Permit Patty
BBQ Becky
Pool Patrol Paula
Corner store... I forgot.

Those were the cool names.
Calling everything "Karen" is lame.
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It's the same type of person, just a different words.

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The type of person to be the former was usually racist as well.

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It went a similar way as how 'boomer' used to refer to a specific generation being born between the end of WW2 and 1960'ish, but now apparently it just refers to literally anyone over 30.

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because karens changed

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It's one of those things where all of Y is X but not all of X is Y. They are all Karens, the racist ones are just a more specialized version.

Laserion posted...

Permit Patty
BBQ Becky
Pool Patrol Paula
Corner store... I forgot.

Those were the cool names.
Calling everything "Karen" is lame.

Those were better though. The recent freakout videos I have seen have been the cameraperson egging things on and actually saying "Karen", which is just cringey to hear someone actually say it.

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It is reserved for white women who weaponize their race and sex against minorities and service workers

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justaguy3492 posted...

It's the same type of person, just a different words.

There is a weird paradox where the eagerness to label someone as racist without sufficient evidence is a racist tendency.

Think of like assuming the South is nothing, but a bunch of Hicks who hate non white people. You're judging people to be a stereotype by assuming they're all racist idiots.

Not to undercut actual examples of racism though. There certainly are more than a few examples of people with the word Karen often ascribed to them who express racism.

It just seems like the same people who love to throw the word Karen around. Like ridiculing someones name as an extension of their race has been a thing for a long time. This just seems like such a blatant way to be publicly racist against white people or I should say white women in particular.

Like I get that these videos of so called "Karen's" are quite unpleasant people, but ascribing a term like Karen to it seems off putting to me.

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Did I kill the topic? Did people realize that if you were to refer to a certain type of Hispanic women a bunch of Maria's that you'd rightfully receive some backlash. Perhaps there is something flawed about referring to people as pejoratives.

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TommyG663513 posted...

Did I kill the topic? Did people realize that if you were to refer to a certain type of Hispanic women a bunch of Maria's that you'd rightfully receive some backlash. Perhaps there is something flawed about referring to people as pejoratives.

Shut up Karen

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nah its changed and people use it for literally everything i got called a karen for telling someone a half gallon "tank" is not an acceptable way to keep a fish. they replied "ok karen nobody asked" im like huh?

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They turn to racism when there's no manager around to complain to

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Aressar posted...

It went a similar way as how 'boomer' used to refer to a specific generation being born between the end of WW2 and 1960'ish, but now apparently it just refers to literally anyone over 30.

Ironically the same kind of people who like to misuse the term boomer are the same types who get uppity about people misusing the term millennial.


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Karen isnt a person, its a behavior. A behavior that spawns from a sense of entitlement.

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