People, really!
Have you ever read a book or watched a movie, and discovered that the villain shared YOUR NAME?
What did you do with that book or movie? Did you put it aside, switch it off, give it away – or did you read or watch to the end, cringing every time and trying to associate with the villain? Or trying to defend the villain? Or having to add “not me” in your mind every time the name was mentioned?
Now imagine this is not a movie: It’s Real Life.
Someone has decided that YOUR NAME, which happens to be Karen, an insanely common name, stands for everything they hate about white women. From bad hairstyles to bad attitudes to whatever, you name it.
Every time someone says “she’s a real Karen”, you, who are a genuine Karen, cringe. It hurts. You know what they mean. They are hating on the name, piling manure on it. All over social media, wherever you look.
Every Karen I personally ever encountered, is a nice person. Karen means “beloved”. If you are privileged to have that beautiful name, hold your head up high and remember you were given it by your parents who love you. Not by some brainless little twits on social media.
It is worse than that tough: A whole demographic ( young to middle-aged white women) is being maligned here. People, have you learnt nothing??
Here is my wish:
May every last brainless little twit who references a “real Karen” that way, experience the same level of bullying about something that is genuinely about them. Something they can’t change. Like, their name. Or their face. Or possibly, their (brand-new, never used) brain.
That would be Karma.
Be ashamed! Be very ashamed.
(The deep irony of this is that the original “Karen” from the meme isn’t actually even a Karen. She goes by another name. But neither is it ok to take that other name and drag it through the mud, because there are thousands of women by that name too who haven’t done anything. — A few years back there was something similar about “Steve”. Some brain-dead company vilified the name in an advert. It turned into a meme. They had to face a class action suit by people named Steve.)
(Disclaimer: I’m not mad often. But when I am, I’m hoping to make Waves!)