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In the latest edition of Icy Doesn't Have a Blog or Social Media So You Get A Thread: Can we all agree that the "Karen" of 2014 is not the Karen of today?

 

I live in Karenopolis, and have since the trend started. Yes, there are still women - from Boomers to Millennials - who still wear that spiky reverse bob and bedazzled flare-leg jeans, and act like they own the world.

 

Thing is, 2014 Karen is solidly lower middle class. Her son is Kyle, who is that guy who has built his personality and identity around Monster energy drink. Her husband was never really named at the time, but he's definitely blue-collar, owns multiple Ed Hardy and Tapout t-shirts, and is definitely *****-whipped. Karens fill their Facebook feeds with minion memes, anti-vaxx "information," and promotion for their Young Living, Scentsy, LuLaRoe, and Younique "businesses." Her sense of entitlement is just bullying, but for a very specific reason - to get free stuff and/or her way. She was never specifically coded as racist in the antebellum period of the culture wars, although she almost definitely is casually racist that was never a part of the meme. She's just obnoxious white trash.

 

Nowadays, the meme is bigger than ever, but Karen is a completely different woman. Now she's upper middle class, explicitly racist, and genuinely feels entitled. 2014 Karen has to work to keep up that sense of entitlement, because she knows she doesn't actually have it and has to fight for it. That's why she's so exceptionally annoying, she's clearly playing a calculated game.

 

2014 Karen was an equal-opportunity harasser, especially the bane of young customer service representatives at places like Walmart, Target, Costco, Starbucks, and McDonalds. 2020 Karen only harasses minorities, and they don't seem to be calculated incidents the way 2014 Karen operates. I have yet to see a viral 2020 Karen story about actual Karen behavior, just blunt racism. 2020 Karen seems to be a former debutante who has since completely lost her filter and wants to tell every minority she encounters just how she feels about them, or doesn't like living with minorities in the area and does her damndest to drive them out, usually involving the police. In other words, a Becky.

 

I feel like I'm missing a link here. When did the Beckys steal Karen away from the Karens? What do we call 2014 Karen now? Brenda? Because she's still a looming presence out there, too, mostly at Reopen Rallies and on Facebook right now.

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I'm with you, Karen needs specific personalities. I'm all for 2020 Brenda. And I feel like 2020 racist Kevin needs a different, more redneck name. Actually, maybe Brenda needs a Daughters of the Confederacy name.

 

I make lots of jokes about being basic, don't get me wrong. I like pumpkin spice everything, wine, and sweaters and boots. I just got a golden retriever and joined Instagram so I just achieved a new level of basic. But I really do hate a lot of superficial crap like the MLMs and anti-vaxx stuff.

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Imma need to follow you on Instagram for kids + puppy cuteness.

 

There is a huge difference between basic and Karen. Karens may also love their PSL, but the basic girls just gush to the baristas about how theyre just so glad to be able to wear their sweaters and drink their PSL again, while the Karens demand to see a manager so they can get their drink free on the way to taking Kyle to school (he will be late and it will not be Karens fault, evidenced by how she mowed down two cyclists and a pedestrian to get him there, all three obeying the rules of the road at time of mowing).

 

How about Melinda Sue for the 2020 rich filterless racists? :lol:

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I am baffled by nearly every sentence in this thread so far. This must be what it feels like for normal people to overhear nerds saying things like "Who would win in a fight - Hal or Guy or John or Kyle?" or "Babylon 5 makes Blakes 7 look like Seaquest DSV".

 

I just have so many questions :

 

• Who or whom is 2014 Karen(s)?
• Who or whom is 2020 Karen(s)? FOUR THOUSAND AND THIRTY-FOUR KAREN IS TOO MANY KAREN!
• Where is Karenopolis?
• Who is Ed Hardy? Who is Tapout?
• Who is Young Living?
• Who is Scentsy?
• Who is Lu Laroe?
• Who is Younique?
• Who is Becky?
• What is MLM?
• What is PSL?

 

Thanks! I'll take my answers off the air!

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I have an Aunt Karen who is well known in the family for asking to speak to the manager to complain about her meal to try to get it for free. Every time she goes to a restaurant. Even if someone else is paying.

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Isn't it ironic that technology that was designed to improve communication and "shrink" the world, has a culture around that technology that has resulted in people being divided and silo-ed into their own groups and echo chambers of thought? That's the take away I usually have about topics like this, anyway.

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I think you may have more fun googling it for yourself, tbh.

Getting great results so far!

 

See, you're learning new things!

 

I have an Aunt Karen who is well known in the family for asking to speak to the manager to complain about her meal to try to get it for free. Every time she goes to a restaurant. Even if someone else is paying.

 

What's her minion meme game like?

 

I think a better name for the male Karen is Terry, not Kevin.

 

I could see Terry married to Karen, but I still think Kevin is a good name for the best equivalent of the male Karen. The male Karen is that guy with a major Napoleon complex. He is so testosterone fueled that he's a caricature of masculinity. And in his head he is both The Most Interesting Man In The World and Always Right About Everything. Karen, especially middle middle class Karen, could easily raise a Kevin (and all 2020 Rich Racist White Women will raise Kevins, guaranteed), but Karen would not touch Kevin as a partner. That would be a disastrous pairing and everyone knows it. Terrys around here are usually more affable dad/grandpa types.

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Karen would definitely cheat with Kevin

The sex would either be amazing because they hate each other so much, or Kevin would prove that it's all talk and Karen would tell all her girlfriends about how small and unimaginative he is in bed over glasses of cheap wine.

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Terry's are definitely affable and try to be friendly, probably try a little too hard. But Terry's deffo send their meals back if they aren't happy with them, and deffo ask to speak to whoever is in charge. Terry's love leaving yelp reviews and sounding like they know what they're talking about but always slip up somehow.

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Karen only has sexual intercourse in the missionary position with the lights off for the sole purpose of procreation

Because heterosexual sex disgusts her, she'd be a lesbian but Jesus wouldn't approve.

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Okay, we've figured out a new sub-category - Boomer Karen vs. Xer/Millennial Karen. They look the same, and they have the same attitude toward customer service, but...

Karen only has sexual intercourse in the missionary position with the lights off for the sole purpose of procreation

 

Boomer Karen, yes. Xer Karen will try some different positions Cosmo suggested, so she can report back to her girlfriends during girls night at that one wine bar with that really great happy hour. Both nag their partner the entire time.

 

Terry's are definitely affable and try to be friendly, probably try a little too hard. But Terry's deffo send their meals back if they aren't happy with them, and deffo ask to speak to whoever is in charge. Terry's love leaving yelp reviews and sounding like they know what they're talking about but always slip up somehow.

 

Terry is the kind of guy who would marry a Karen, especially Boomer Karen. Abusing wait staff is the one way he can show any control over his life.

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I'm fairly certain I married Karen. Not her real name of course, but I dread going to restaurants with her. Nothing's ever good enough, and to be fair, she does have preternaturally bad luck with orders really being screwed up, etc. And she's forever winging about how this, that or the other thing that she ordered from Old Navy or got shipped through Amazon (whom I refuse to use in any capacity) is the wrong size, color, etc. She's always having to take back the latest thing she got at Walmart or wherever for some reason or another. Half of what she gets is free because she's elevated the art of complaining to the manager and getting compensatory discounts to an art form.

I've recently suggested to her once or twice that she should have her name legally changed to Karen. My sons laughed like hell, she didn't get it.

I could see Terry married to Karen, but I still think Kevin is a good name for the best equivalent of the male Karen. The male Karen is that guy with a major Napoleon complex. He is so testosterone fueled that he's a caricature of masculinity. And in his head he is both The Most Interesting Man In The World and Always Right About Everything. Karen, especially middle middle class Karen, could easily raise a Kevin (and all 2020 Rich Racist White Women will raise Kevins, guaranteed), but Karen would not touch Kevin as a partner. That would be a disastrous pairing and everyone knows it. Terrys around here are usually more affable dad/grandpa types.

Good lord, I pretty much live in TerryLand. Calgary, in the Canadian province of Alberta. This faux machismo and empty headed bravado is what everything's all about here. Not surprisingly, the political culture is right wing as hell - our premier openly looks up to Trump, and is a definite rival in terms of incompetence. My in-laws, who are your out-of-touch normie progressives, are about the only exceptions I know. That and my older brother, a tenured history prof who makes me look like Augusto Pinoche in terms of politics, though he's recently been redpilled after some faculty at the University he works at tried to derail his tenureship on the grounds that he was a "charismatic white guy."

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Yeah, your wife is a definite Karen. Better get her a "Live Laugh Love" sign for the door, and a "It's Wine O' Clock!" t-shirt to warn the world that she's coming.

 

Sounds like you live in KevinLand, tho. TerryLand would be pretty chill and good-natured, as long as you avoid restaurants. A total haven for Boomers, actually. LOTS of New Balance sneakers and cargo shorts. I imagine The Villages, FL is basically TerryLand.

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Yeah, your wife is a definite Karen. Better get her a "Live Laugh Love" sign for the door, and a "It's Wine O' Clock!" t-shirt to warn the world that she's coming.

Ha ha ha. I think she actually has that on a t-shirt. And on one of many motivational plaques hanging on the walls.

 

Sounds like you live in KevinLand, tho. TerryLand would be pretty chill and good-natured, as long as you avoid restaurants. A total haven for Boomers, actually. LOTS of New Balance sneakers and cargo shorts. I imagine The Villages, FL is basically TerryLand.

Ah, my mistake.

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