Dreaded “White Lady” meme: Queen Karen

Have you ever seen a middle-aged, mostly white woman asking, “Can I speak to your manager?” with a tone of superiority depicting their entitlement? Or are you the type of gal who always demands to call the manager when you feel you have been wronged? Perhaps, you are also one of them — a Karen. It is now one of the trends this year and is now used as a moniker for someone who is thought to be acting inappropriately, rudely, or in an entitled manner. This name has been selected to call out that socio-cultural faux pas online.

Imagine calling the police to shut down a kid’s buko juice stand — simply because they don’t have a permit or because they don’t pay taxes. You would not envision someone doing this until you think of a Karen. With a deep breath and a sigh, you can only tell her, “Calm the heck down, Karen!”

This infamous name was once again trending because of a white woman, with the name Amy Cooper, who called the police to ask for help and told the authorities that an “African American man is threatening” her life. This was far from the truth as a video circulated showing her accidentally strangling her dog as she berated the innocent bird-watcher for telling her to put a leash on her dog. It gained various reactions from the Internet. Some were anxious and some were angry. After the incident, “Dog Park Karen” was fired from her job, forced to surrender her dog, and charged with one count of falsely reporting an incident in the third degree.

There is also a special breed called the “COVID Karen”. There was a case in California where a bitter Karen was suing a Starbucks employee who received almost a hundred dollars in tips online after being reprimanded by the mask-less Karen for refusing to serve her. She expressed that she is exempt from wearing a face mask because of her “underlying health issues”, including asthma and mask-acne. Lots of “COVID Karen” were also spotted throwing fits over face masks in Dairy Queen and Home Depot. 

There are various types of Karens. There are “Parking lot Karen”, “Cough Karen”, and even a “Not winning Karen”. However, their origins are kind of really hard to pin down. One thing is for sure, though — the World Wide Web will know when it sees a Karen. Let us hope that the Philippines does not have these entitled people living amongst us or we will be facing a force far greater than we have ever imagined. So, do you have the guts and qualifications to be a part of their growing family? 

LAYOUT BY: Laiza Simeoune B. Sanchez

PHOTO SOURCE(S): Wallpaperplay, Redbubble, and PNGTree