It’s pretty well known that Karens are white women, and as Ligaya Mishan writes in the New York Times Magazine, we’re discovering more Karens as people film everything with their phones. What we hadn’t considered, though, is that every white woman could be a Karen. Mishan traces the history of Karens back to Emmett Till and even further back to the antebellum South, where Karens on the plantation were known as “Miss Ann.”
"Widen the lens and any white woman — every white woman — could be a Karen, if she’s perceived as taking for granted the advantages bestowed by her skin color and ignoring the labor and suffering of others," writes @ligayamishan in @tmagazine. https://t.co/invuQnLyqO pic.twitter.com/Z3fhAxRELF
— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 12, 2021
Mishan writes:
Likewise, today’s Karen contains multitudes. Her bias isn’t necessarily overt; she may believe she doesn’t have any. She’s the liberal white girlfriend perfectly at ease dissing the cop who asks her Black boyfriend for I.D., counting on her whiteness to prevent violence, and simultaneously a psychopath who sees Black people as mere vehicles for white self-actualization, as in Jordan Peele’s 2017 film, “Get Out.” She’s bipartisan, at once the conservative TV show host Megyn Kelly, waxing nostalgic in 2018 for a time when blackface was “OK,” and the progressive senator Elizabeth Warren, who, as a law professor in the 1980s and 1990s, identified herself as Native American (and was accorded minority status) based solely on family folklore about a distant ancestor at least six generations removed.
Widen the lens and any white woman — every white woman — could be a Karen, if she’s perceived as taking for granted the advantages bestowed by her skin color and ignoring the labor and suffering of others.
So don’t be a Karen, OK?
— Sound the Dread Alarm (@_ThisJustin_) August 12, 2021
https://twitter.com/mifftyy/status/1425923137217064961
Karens can be of any race or gender, and I love them all.
Thanks to all the Karens for making the world extra interesting! pic.twitter.com/ZriNKyUAZ1
— Saren Calvert (@sarenc) August 12, 2021
https://twitter.com/DChristofersen/status/1425950896530198531
— GC (@Fafner55) August 12, 2021
I’m not sure lumping all white women into a single group and characterizing them in a negative way helps with progress and understanding. I’m a white woman and I’m not a Karen. I would never and have never lumped people into one group based on their skin color.
— Donna (@ht4304) August 12, 2021
We’d say that, going by Ibram X. Kendi’s thesis that there’s no such thing as “not racist,” there is probably no white woman who’s not a Karen, despite what they claim. In fact, denying that you’re a Karen is probably a sign that you are indeed a Karen.
Leaked transcript of the NYT official mission statement:
race race race race race race race race race race race
race race race race race race race race race race race
race race race race race race race race race race race
race race race race race race race race race race race— Alessandro Giacomini (@13_giacomini) August 12, 2021
— That's Illegal (@AlwaysIllegal) August 12, 2021
— Burner Cat 🇺🇲 (@grumpykittah) August 12, 2021
The @nytimes just publishes racism now with a completely straight face. Perfectly normal world we're living in here.
— Maitiú ÓRiagáin (@nymattregan) August 12, 2021
"Widen the lens and any newspaper — every newspaper — could be a tabloid, if it's perceived as taking advantage of the hot-button issues of the day and sensationalizing them in a manner that sheds no light and educates no one"
— Count Threadlow (@dissentery) August 12, 2021
Men can also be Karens. Why are you misogynistic?
— Dog925 (@Dog9251) August 12, 2021
This rag pic.twitter.com/BuUiTVW5p8
— 🇺🇸Sobo-Wan Kenobi 🇵🇱🇹🇼🇦🇺 (@The_Real_SOBO) August 12, 2021
— HR 1 IS EQUAL PROTECTION (@barricko_bama) August 12, 2021
— Sam Beckett (@samFlaggbeckett) August 12, 2021
— Deploreable dogface pony soldier (@J0hnnyD0llar) August 12, 2021
— Captain Archibald Haddock (@captainoldsalt) August 12, 2021
It must be exhausting to think this way.
— Bumblybuzz (@Bumblybuzz1) August 12, 2021
Ivy Leaguer with plum job as "culture" reporter in elite media:
"Ordinary white people are privileged."
— Jimmy (@SobePartyChick) August 12, 2021
You blog about food for a living. You're the last person to lecture anybody about "privilege".
— Tohru Adachi 👁️💖🥛🔑 (@adachiscastle) August 12, 2021
Journalism is such a fucking plague.
— Ducky ¯_(ツ)_/¯ (@thatjerkme) August 12, 2021
What’s most amazing is that there are people who can manage to read the entire article without falling asleep. This crap is boring and tired.
— Sakurajima Daikon (@SakurajimaD) August 12, 2021
this sucks so bad
— Zoot (@justzootnow) August 12, 2021
But it had to be said.
Related:
Aubrey Huff fires back at the 'beta c*cks and liberal Karens' who got him suspended from Twitter https://t.co/XLPhA5VlHN
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) August 10, 2021
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