Okay I have been in a bit of rut of late but no more. It is funny how you can let the big things in the world drag you down, although I wonder if that is a bit of a chicken and egg scenario; do I feel down, so I succumb to scrolling through the slough of despair that is some parts of the internet, or is it the falling into that particular tar pit of information that brings me down.
The pandemic news seems doom laden, climate and environment news is even worse and the news out of the US and China is positively dystopian. I know things are bad when “Karen” videos start popping up on my YouTube feed and I am actually stupid enough to click on them.
Can we come up with a better designation for those sorts of entitled behaviours than “Karen”, my sister in law is called Karen and can think of no one less like the people portrayed in those videos or stories. It seems terribly unfair to designate entitled, hysterical behaviour with a personal name and terribly unimaginative. Can anyone think of an alternative?
A pejorative I have been guilty of using is; “Stepfords” to describe a uniquely middle class, entitled, conformity, it does not really fit the “Karen” phenomena but at least it is a lot less personal, although I concede sexist. I have had the pejorative’ “Okay boomer”, leveled at me , always fairly I have to admit, when I have had a bit of a boomer whinge about something in front of a younger person. It makes me smile and I generally concede I deserved that. Language is powerful, we should remember to at least be a little creative in our use of it. It shapes us and how we engage with the world and how we construct our identities in the world, something worth pondering.
Just as the types of media we consume and how we consume it can impact our outlook. Every time I go to YouTube I seem to see the ugly face of anger of one kind or another and it has been bringing me down. I use YouTube a lot, amongst the dodgy BS is some fantastic content I just have to remember to click on less of that dodgy content and more of the good stuff, inspiring or useful content that is there.
Okay that is probably enough whinging from me. I confess this is probably more of a journal entry than a blog post but I am trying to discipline myself to write more for the blog so this is post numero uno in a new cycle. Stay tuned life is getting interesting again.
Gum trees and Galaxies 
Hello Sharon,
I’ve been wondering how you are…
Here’s a YouTube link to make you smile 😊 (I hope?) – https://youtu.be/cvnSx7d9KNg
I have no idea what ‘Karen videos’ are, but don’t think I want to ‘go there’?!
Love, & happy viewing (for all, not just kids!)
Emily (www.grandmothersquestions.blog)
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Hi Emily, thank you for the link that made me smile. It has been an intense few weeks and now that work is back in full swing I have been a bit swamped. The video was a nice bit of light relief.
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Hi Sharon, I first came across the “Karen” memes etc a while ago and I find them very offensive. I don’t think it is right or fair to personalise a kind of behaviour. How would people feel if it was their name? We don’t get to choose what our parents name us, and since Karen was a very popular name for a while, there are a lot of us. Not our fault our parents lacked imagination. But of all the Karens I know, not one of them fits the idea of an entitled, rude or hysterical personality. I just hope that eventually it will all blow over and we will be able to use our name in public without fear or consider changing it. So, is there a male equivalent or is it just women who attract this kind of ridicule and abuse?
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Yes, I am puzzled about how this came about and it seems remarkably insensitive and hypocritical if you are making a statement about entitled behaviour, how is using someone’s name to describe it any better than the behaviour, I would be interested to see the origins myself. And I have yet to meet a Karen who behaves in the way the term is bandied around, in fact, all Karen’s I know are the complete opposite. Sorry, I probably should not have given the meme any more legitimisation by using it even if it was to question it, mostly I was just thinking out loud. And no I don’t think I have seen a male equivalent which also makes it terribly sexist. I guess what I am saying is “Karen” is just not okay to use!
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I think it is good to question these things and bring attention to how insensitive and sexist they are. Too often, people are so quick to share things around and have a laugh without stopping to really think about it.
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