NICOLE FRITZ: As Karen meme morphs it can obscure privilege instead of showing it up
Complain about bigotry, and there’s always plausible deniability: the issue is you, not our treatment of you
04 March 2020 - 17:03
There’s a meme recognisable in much of the world: Karen. In the US she’s an obscene racist, calling the cops on black families peacefully looking to barbecue in areas of the park designated for barbecues. In SA, we have our equivalents: Penny Sparrow, Vicky Momberg, and even a judge, Mabel Jansen.
It’s a meme intended not only to capture the vile bigotry of some white women, but also to underline a ridiculous level of entitlement and oblivious privilege. But Karen comes in a range of levels of obnoxiousness, the most ubiquitous being the “can I speak to the manager?” version...
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