Warning: this is mostly an opinion piece, and I have multiple conflicting opinions on the subject. Enter at your own risk. ;)
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Part the First — introduction
A confession, of sorts, before I get into logic and go all meta once more.
Yesterday I got my first COVID-19 vaccination (Pfizer), which was also my first major expedition out into the world in several months. Waiting in line at Walgreen’s for the paperwork, i was talked at, incessantly, by a lady with a mask that didn’t manage to cover her nose about half the time, who was determined to tell me all about her problems and advise me on all of mine. I am white; she was white; so were some of the clerks behind the counter, who she also talked at. So were none of the other customers waiting with us, who were ignored.
I have some problems interacting with people who talk at me, so my confusion level was climbing each time I didn’t manage to end the conversation, until the clerk called “Karen?” and she turned to pick up her paperwork. I have never been so happy to have had a meme to apply, even if it wasn’t quite the right one, because my confusion all made sense to me at once. I no longer had to find a way to be polite, I only had to keep from laughing out loud. What’s more, no matter what the name of the next person who talks at me may be, I have a valid response that I can make. Which is, effectively, to try not to laugh.
Whoever came up with “Karen” as a meme, I thank you, even while a part of me wonders if it’s a good idea. I couldn’t have handled a more complex expression of the problem at the time.
But this couldn’t have been a karen moment, because I’m not black, and I wasn’t at risk, and...
On to the pieces I can separate out...
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Part the Second — an historical meme comparison
Looking around for a topic this week, and shrinking a little from tackling the latest administration pronouncement, this poem came to mind. (Hence, the title)
Who is Silvia? what is she,
That all our swains commend her?
Holy, fair, and wise is she;
The heaven such grace did lend her,
That she might admirèd be.
Is she kind as she is fair?
For beauty lives with kindness.
Love doth to her eyes repair,
To help him of his blindness;
And, being helped, inhabits there.
Then to Silvia let us sing,
That Silvia is excelling;
She excels each mortal thing
Upon the dull earth dwelling;
To her let us garlands bring
William Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona; Act 4, Scene 2
There is some excuse for this; it was, after all, Shakespeare’s first play, and young lovers are historically notorious for bad poetry, but still…
Nevertheless, it fits the pattern behind a meme. What would the Sylvia’s of the world, then and now, have thought of it? It’s certainly not a put-down, but rather a glorification of the woman behind the name. If I were a Sylvia, I’d be pissed, I suspect, because every third rate wannabee amateur comedian would be quoting it to me when we first met. Would it increase my popularity? My ability to earn a living? The number of dates I had in any given week? Hell, no. It might let people remember my name more easily, but that’s about it.
Would my irritation extend to trying to do something about it? Hell no, again. All I could do by arguing would be to extend the effective spread of the meme, and insure that I would have to deal with it longer, and probably more often.
So, that’s one opinion.
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Part the Third — the bigotry exception
I made the point a couple of months ago that
We are evidently currently allowed to be bigoted with respect to political affiliation. I’m not sure that’s a good idea, but as it has so far been impossible to enforce, I can’t argue too much. Might be worth discussing, though.
Whatever the other significant points are for the Karen meme, one that seems to be accepted implicitly on DK is that a karen is probably a Republican. Probability may be weighted in that direction, but unfortunately Republican/Democratic is not wholly congruent with Racist/Acceptance. Nevertheless, one of the main points of argument against the meme is that it’s splashing Democrats with the same vitriol that is only supposed to hit Republicans, and thus shouldn’t be allowed.
If I may point out an incongruity — it seems to me that a number of the people who are trying hardest to make this case have also defended their slurs against Republicans as wholly reasonable. It’s going to be really hard to have it both ways for very long, but that doesn’t seem to bother those commenters/diarists. (No, I don’t have numbers for this statement, just a feeling. Sorry...)
Another opinion, or maybe more than one, all tangled together. Next...
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Part the Fourth — Help desk response?
One thing that I am surprised about is that there does not seem to have been an equivalent instruction issued to the Help Desk about the type of moderation and penalties desired in the case of an argument with the Karen meme. There was scarcely time between the keying diary and the new definition being handed down. Nevertheless, a word dropped from admin to the Help Desk while the arguments were going on could have produced a flurry of penalties at the time, purely aside from any community moderation that was being done. So, that evidently did not happen, and the Help Desk may have been just as surprised as the rest of us. Not a good idea, all things considered. It would be useful to see what public moderation of policy is being made by the Help Desk in response to the diaries in question, simply as a guideline for commenters.
The statement that the Karen meme is not a slur on DK does not seem to be adequate to cover the situation, which seems likely to remain ambiguous. I could certainly manage to insult another user by calling them “a karen,” given the right circumstances. Does this mean I couldn’t be penalized for it? Someone should be rethinking such a broad brush being taken to the rule on bigotry.
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Part the Fifth — A Prior addition to the Community gestalt
Back in 2013 (Was it that long ago? Really? Wow.) Black Kos published a diary; well, two diaries, because the first one got unmanageable, asking the community to sign on to some changes in what types of comment about President Obama, or any black politician, were acceptable. Between them they got 3,400 comments and more than 1400 recs, and the changes were pretty much accepted by the community. Well worth reading for comparison purposes. Many of the same arguments used there are currently being used in favor of continuing the Karen meme as it’s currently being stated. Particularly of note, I think, are the descriptions of how people were opposing changing direction in the requested areas. How much of it is pertinent to this particular discussion, of course, is arguable, along with whether the two situations are really comparable.
if you don’t remember it, or don’t remember it very clearly, please take a few minutes and read it, now, because I think it’s pertinent.
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Part the Sixth — The diary in question/the actual meme
To be clear, the diary in THIS question is the diary by Lauren Floyd, from 6/17, not FaithGardner’s statement of policy.
Can we first agree that the original “Karen” meme is about a category of white woman who will call the police on a POC on what is perceived to be a trivial basis, and try to get them in trouble/arrested? That’s certainly what the first several dozen stories about I read wrt this meme were about, anyway. Good enough? Next.
Because this isn’t what happened to Jessica Sutherland, even if she chooses to write about it that way. There is nothing in the diary, as written, or in the tweets that it showcases, that makes the case for the mouthy woman in question fitting the meme description, or being racist in the first place.
All that can be proven, unless there was some muttered sub-text that I didn’t see, is that she ran into a typical, overbearing, entitled white woman who may, for all I know, treat everybody except her perceived social “betters” exactly the same way. The same kind that I have run into again and again, as a white woman, all my life. And have cringed from, all my life, because one can’t ever be quite polite enough, or whatever, to avoid whatever pointed comments they may decide to make on the spur of the moment. For being too tall. Or not dressed the way I “should” be. Or occupying too much space too near where she has chosen to sit.
Mind you, I’m not saying that the woman in question here wasn’t racist, only that there’s no specific point that proves she was, rather than simply being an annoying, mouthy, entitled woman who is down on everybody with whom she thinks she can get away with it.
But all the pro-meme arguments in the comments in Faith’s diary made the assumption of seriously racist behavior, even though the basic outline of the meme was never met in this instance. And most anti-meme arguments began by totally accepting that racism was a problem, but argued the case for unintended anecdotal consequences being more important. That’s two different universes, people, with nary a reality check happening. What’s going on here, anyway? There were reasons aplenty thrown in, but none, however seemingly reasonable, that made any difference.
My only suggestion at the moment is that maybe, just maybe, the “Karen” meme has gotten overgeneralized, and is being used to cover situations, and paint those situations as racist, where the interactions aren’t necessarily a function of racism.
Think about it. If you can, please, come up with an explanation that works more effectively. Because so far, none of the explanations have helped at all.
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Part the Seventh — That’s a wrap; for now, anyway
Have I given you enough to think about for the time being? I hope so. Aspirin and Tylenol are in the medicine cabinet for anyone else that needs them. Thanks for reading; comments are open; try to keep it civil, please.
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The Archive for the group “A Guide to Community Moderation” remains, and I’d appreciate it if people would comment or message me with links to new diaries that you think might belong there. I expect to be doing these at least once a week for some time to come, as open threads. Think you have an interesting topic? Leave a comment, or send me a message. Tuesdays at 8 pm Central continues to look like a good time. ;)
Thank you all.
General Caveat:
I am not on the Daily Kos Staff; I have no official position at Daily Kos, except Member and Trusted User. I do not speak for the Help Desk, and just about everything in these except for direct quotes from the Rules of the Road is my personal opinion. Some of it I can back up with numbers, some is pure guesswork, and some of it is pulled straight out of thin air (or something), because it seemed to make a reasonable argument at the time.