The Importance of being a Karen

Last week I was visiting my daughter for the first time in a while. As we do, our conversation inevitably swung around to politics. I told her that all of these in-your-face protestors look like steroid-chomping, bad-ass bikers with tats, shaved heads, impressive beer bellies, and beards down to their "moobs."

She said, "Really? All I see are a bunch of Karens."

"What're you talking about? What's a 'Karen?'"

"They're these bored white ladies who wanna raise hell everywhere they go. Wait...let's look it up. Google can explain it better than I can."

But I knew what a "Karen" was already, oh, yes I did. It's the kind of woman who (even though she's fit and takes Pilates) demands to see the manager of a clothing store and further demands that they start carrying a certain dress in plus sizes. Or the woman at work who wears all kinds of ribbons, buttons, and safety pins to show she stands up for doing the right thing and yells at anyone who thinks differently. Maybe it's the woman who starts a fight in the grocery store because someone's walking down the wrong way in newly sanctioned one-way aisles.

That's a "Karen." We've all known them. Or at least heard them. And...I realized I've been guilty of some Karen-like behavior in the past as well. I once outed someone publicly for not recycling a plastic bottle. Guess that makes me a "Karl."

Along with a little help from Wikipedia, my daughter found the "official" Karen definition: Karen is a pejorative term used in the Western world for a woman perceived to be entitled or demanding beyond the scope of what is considered appropriate or necessary. A common stereotype is that of a racist white woman who uses her privilege to demand her own way at the expense of others.

Okay, so maybe I'm not such a "Karen" after all. But Donald Trump is the biggest, baddest Karen of them all.

But let's not be too hard on the "Karens" of the world. They're needed, too, part of the circle of life. For you see, they balance out the "Joe-Bobs" of the world, and if you've been following the news (how can you not? We're inundated by it!), you know exactly what they're all about.

The interesting thing is all of us are getting different stories from the media. My daughter sees "Karens" screaming at cops. I see bikers. A friend of mine sees inner-city kids and he said I'm getting a different message. He's right.

It pisses me off that the media's playing us--becoming actual news-makers and influencers themselves--instead of just reporting. No matter the source, (right, left, or other wing) they all have agendas these days.

That's why my wife fled to the BBC. The Brits with their stiff upper lips don't have too much of an investment in the stupidity rolling through our lands right now (they've got their hands full with Brexit).

Whoops. Gotta run before things get ugly. A Karen's screaming at a Starbucks manager because she didn't get a double-shot.

Speaking of other things that piss me off, check out my short story collection, Twisted Tales from Tornado Alley. In addition to being frightfully scary and scarifyingly amusing, these tales were written in a post-Trump-trauma state of mind. Enjoy!