At first, “Karen” memes seemed harmless enough. However, over the past several months, videos have surfaced of Karens being aggressive toward employees at retail and restaurant shops and demanding to speak to managers over minor inconveniences.
What lies at the root of such entitlement? Why do people take so much pleasure in bullying random employees and strangers with their personal problems?
1. Privilege and Social Status
Recent years have witnessed an upswing in videos featuring white women referred to as “Karens.” A “Karen” refers to any white woman who thinks her privilege allows them to abuse service workers with overeager or indifferent attitudes, often going so far as to call the police on Black Lives Matter protestors or stenciling “Black Lives Matter” graffiti on walls in her neighborhood – incidents like these becoming increasingly frequent as more people capture these moments with smartphones.
Karens are easily identifiable due to the stereotype they embody – middle-aged women with blonde streaks in their pixie haircuts who typically carry this name. But this term has also been applied to other kinds of women and it’s important to understand why it persists.
Privilege refers to unearned and unfair advantages individuals receive due to their social group and place of birth. While such advantages can help individuals advance, they can also put them in an unfair disadvantage as they interact with other groups of people. It may create a sense of entitlement among its recipients as some feel like they deserve things that others do not possess.
Privilege has an effect on an individual’s ability to empathize and self-awareness. People lacking these two traits tend to act more entitled, not taking into account other people’s needs or the impact their actions may have. For instance, Karen may feel entitled to speak to the manager at a restaurant about an issue with their order, forgetting about all of its other customers that require service as well.
Lack of empathy and self-awareness can also increase people’s likelihood of complaining, especially those from privileged backgrounds. Research has indicated that one’s name can serve as an indicator of propensity for complaining – John and David being among the most frequent complainers; female names like Lisa or Emma tend to engage in less complaining behaviors than their counterparts.
2. Lack of Empathy and Self-Awareness
When the Karen meme first emerged on social media, most took it as a humorous swipe against entitled behavior. This name refers to someone, typically white women, known for being rude and confrontational – behavior which not only offends but can be dangerous towards those being harassed or bullied.
People who act like Karens may display this behavior due to an inability to empathize and self-reflect on themselves and others, prioritizing their desires without considering their effects on others, causing them to get upset when their demands don’t materialize; for instance, if a restaurant employee informs them their pizza isn’t ready when they arrive to pick it up, a Karen may become furious with them for not accommodating her desires and may start shouting at the employee in frustration for not accommodating their wishes.
Karens may also exhibit this behavior to gain control over themselves and maintain an air of superiority. They may feel entitled to certain privileges and accommodations due to their gender or social status – for instance, women with higher social standing may receive preferential treatment at stores and restaurants which may lead them to believe they deserve such benefits without paying for them themselves.
Karens often act in such ways because they lack flexibility and cannot adapt to changing circumstances, for instance when stores don’t carry her desired product or airlines change flight times, Karen might become upset and shout at employees or companies for not accommodating her needs.
Entitled Karens can be an ongoing problem due to their intolerant behavior towards others. They may reject those who differ with them and will sometimes even treat those sharing their name indifferently – this makes it vitally important that individuals recognize and address any biases within themselves and learn the signs of an entitled Karen.
3. Fear of Losing Control
Have you seen those viral videos of Karens creating havoc in public? These middle-aged white women with questionable haircuts and trivial grievances like expired coupons want nothing but to talk with managers or demand refunds over trivialities such as this behavior – even though their behavior is dangerous and offensive to all others present. Such entitled and rude behaviour can be difficult to deal with; yet what lies at its heart are actually fears of losing control that are driving this behaviour.
The Karen meme has seen great popularity over recent years as people use it to call out entitled behavior and reinforce negative stereotypes of middle-aged white women. Unfortunately, though, some critics have also accused it of being sexist and ageist while reinforcing negative associations between it and middle-aged women in general.
These women aren’t the only ones engaging in entitled behavior; this practice is common among both men and other races as well. Bionic, a company that analyzes patterns of behavior, found that those named John or David were more likely to complain than people with more neutral names such as Lisa or Emma.
Karens may be stereotyped for having an overinflated sense of entitlement and exploiting privilege to get what they want; however, this shouldn’t be taken as evidence that all entitled individuals act this way; there could be other factors behind their behavior.
One such story involves a woman who screamed at Burger King employees for not giving her a refund when the restaurant caught fire – an example of Karen behavior that was unwarranted and racist in its nature.
Incidents involving Karens can be extremely embarrassing for those involved and damaging to our society as a whole. But the good news is that attitudes like this can be altered; change begins by changing social norms. Therefore it’s crucial that when they see someone acting inappropriately towards Karens they stand up and speak out. It could be their only chance at making them understand that what they’re doing is unacceptable and needs to stop immediately.
4. Reinforcement from Social Media and Online Communities
If you have been alive over the last decade, chances are you have at least heard of Karen, an insult commonly used against those who throw public tantrums for seemingly no good reason. These individuals tend to be middle-aged women who think the world revolves around them and whose self-entitled actions often land them in hot water.
Karens can often be seen prowling stores and restaurants looking for opportunities to attack workers with white privilege. Additionally, these individuals often appear in parks or city streets looking for an argument-starting moment with those going about their daily business or simply enjoying themselves.
Karens can often be caught on camera, leading to their behavior becoming an online meme. There are even Instagram accounts like @karensgoingwilds where angry outbursts from Karens are documented and mocked up for public consumption. Though these videos may seem chaotic at first, experts claim there’s a plan behind all the mayhem.
Publicly being heckled can make an individual feel empowered and validate their own belief that they’re right; perhaps this explains why many Karens want to turn their anger into viral videos, as it confirms their own notions about society and life in general.
Experts agree that to combat the negative reinforcement, education is key in handling entitled people effectively. Dani Weller of Bionic suggests attempting to understand where Karen is coming from before communicating in an amicable and respectful manner with them.
Understanding why Karen acts this way is key to dealing with her. By understanding why, we can work towards changing a culture which fosters entitlement and anger among both genders.
