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Can we stop using "Karen" as a slur? [1]

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Date: 2023-02-10  

"Karen" also helps train service dogs.

I know a Karen. Granted I haven’t talked with her in a while as she lives on the other end of the continent and I don’t get out her way much. But she and her husband are two of the best people I’ve ever met. I met Karen at a progressive summer camp in upstate New York. She is awesome. She is fun to be with, kind, and exhibits none of the traits associated with “Meme-Karen” other than being a white woman. She is (or at least was) involved with training service dogs. She also belongs to a movement dedicated to countering oppression and racism. While she is far from perfect, none of us are.

I know a different Karen and it’s also been a while since I’ve seen her. While she passes for a white woman she is from a Latino culture. I don’t know her politics and perhaps she has some traits of “Meme-Karen” but I never witnessed those. She’s bright, rides a motorcycle, and when I knew her worked in Biotech on sequencing the mouse and dog genomes at MIT.

As a kid, I got endless refrains of “Peter, Peter, Pumpkin-eater” from other kids. KIDS. While the song is nonsense (in modern usage, the backstory to it might make sense) I still didn’t like it.

Now, most of us on Daily Kos are adults. We should be beyond childish associations of names and using them to shame others. I haven’t talked to either of my friends named Karen concerning their feelings on the topic. Perhaps they adore being associate with privileged, white, racist women. But I don’t think so. I certainly wouldn’t want Pete or Peter to become the new “Male Karen”. And I’m pretty sure none of you would want your name to be associated with such a negative description.

I know we can’t control the whole internet and the “Meme-Karen” goes far beyond Daily Kos. But can we at least be adults here at Daily Kos, supposed supporters of progressive politics where we fight to put into law measures designed to respect everyone’s right to live and prosper?

Or do we fight only for those not named Karen?

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/10/2152269/-Can-we-stop-using-Karen-as-a-slur

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