Karen Culture

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IMADreamer
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Karen Culture

Post by IMADreamer »

One of the weirdest things about today's culture is the need for people to put other people on blast on social media. I don't know for sure what they get by doing this, I guess free internet points. There is a local facebook group about community happenings and such but there is always someone posting something like "was driving down the road and this person blew their grass clippings in the road." They will take a picture and post it.

Well this weekend I was the victim of this and well it was extra stupid and I handled it in my typically classy way. My wife and I were out about 10:30pm Saturday night and as I approached a light as the light went yellow, I'm pretty sure I would have not stopped in time had I hit the breaks, so I hammered down and went though the yellow. I didn't think much of it but this car came rolling up behind me really fast and then backed off and turned.

Well flash forward a little bit and ole internet Karen posts a picture of my car and plate on the facebook group with the title "this person was driving wrecklessly and could have killed someone." After a good lambasting from the people with nothing better to do someone finally had sense to ask the question what it was I did. Karen's response "he ALMOST ran a red light." That's right, I went through a signal on a yellow. It's a capital offense I hear.

So I had lunch with a bunch of friends yesterday, we do it about one Sunday a month and of course they were all giving me a hard time and laughing about it. A lawyer buddy of mine goes with your permission I'd like to take care of it." So I say go for it.

Now of course he knows this is nothing official and means nothing and is total [expletive], but he's a professional troll. So he post.

"Dear (Internet Karen). My client has asked for us to send you a cease and desists letter as you're publicly doxing my client. This is not only against the Facebook terms and services, but violates Illinois Statute. If this post is not removed in one day's time we will take further legal action by recommending you for criminal action to the States Attorney. "

The post was taken down pretty much immediately. lol

AWvsCBsteeeerike3
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Re: Karen Culture

Post by AWvsCBsteeeerike3 »

That resolution was much calmer than I was imagining.

Sometimes I wonder why people feel the need to go on the internet and shame people. Then I realize I'm on a cardinals forum shaming the cardinals over and over again...so, okay.

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Big Amoco Sign
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Re: Karen Culture

Post by Big Amoco Sign »

IMADreamer wrote:
May 1 23, 11:49 am
One of the weirdest things about today's culture is the need for people to put other people on blast on social media. I don't know for sure what they get by doing this, I guess free internet points.
Or it's a racist clown who deserves it.

Permit Patty, BBQ Becky, etc. All deserved scorn.

Sometimes it's very warranted. Also that white lady who harassed the black kid in Central Park and acted like she was in danger and that the man was messing with her dog (he clearly wasn't). She sucked too.

It should make people think twice about what they do in person. I don't see the issue. But in your case with the car...that's stupid as hell. There's nuance and levels to when it's necessary, like with anything. I [expletive] hate Nextdoor and Ring and all these little neighborhood Karen apps, full of people seething over someone stepping on the parking strip by their house or whatever minute problem they have.

I really hate the surveillance culture, and funding our own panopticon, but if you're going to have it--then use it against the awful people on the fringe of society. Like why would it be bead to ever film a cop, for example. The ones who need to be watched harder than anyone.

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IMADreamer
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Re: Karen Culture

Post by IMADreamer »

Big Amoco Sign wrote:
May 1 23, 1:23 pm
IMADreamer wrote:
May 1 23, 11:49 am
One of the weirdest things about today's culture is the need for people to put other people on blast on social media. I don't know for sure what they get by doing this, I guess free internet points.
Or it's a racist clown who deserves it.

Permit Patty, BBQ Becky, etc. All deserved scorn.

Sometimes it's very warranted. Also that white lady who harassed the black kid in Central Park and acted like she was in danger and that the man was messing with her dog (he clearly wasn't). She sucked too.

It should make people think twice about what they do in person. I don't see the issue. But in your case with the car...that's stupid as hell. There's nuance and levels to when it's necessary, like with anything. I [expletive] hate Nextdoor and Ring and all these little neighborhood Karen apps, full of people seething over someone stepping on the parking strip by their house or whatever minute problem they have.

I really hate the surveillance culture, and funding our own panopticon, but if you're going to have it--then use it against the awful people on the fringe of society. Like why would it be bead to ever film a cop, for example. The ones who need to be watched harder than anyone.
I am all for calling out racists and bigots. I'm not for calling out people who innocently screw up, or just do something people don't like. For example I see a lot of posts about people parking over the line in a parking spot. I'm not talking about egregiously taking up two spots, I'm saying someone's tire is touching the line. We've become a culture of tattle tails.

Heck I have another example in the works. Where we live is on a lake and there are 7 other houses. The way it's all set up is your house basically has a little neck of the lake that makes it private. It's beautiful because you can not see your neighbors houses. A good friend of ours across the lake got tired of taking care of a second lot he owned and wanted to sell it, but of course didn't want someone to buy a house and put on it. After some discussion I mentioned I'd be interested in buying it and doing a prairie grass restoration on it. He loved the idea so much he sold me the land and paid for the prairie grass seed. So now, when we are fishing on our property we can look across the neck of the lake and see native prairie grass. We have deer, turkey, and other wildlife that have moved in there and it's just nice.

Well our old arch nemesis Charlie and Joan who live on the other side of the lake and can't even see the prairie grass just threw a fit. It's been an on going thing and he tried to get the law involved and make us turn it back into a lawn. He says it looks like hell. Of the 7 houses on the lake, he is the only one who doesn't like it. It's not his land, it's sure as hell better for our lake than a lawn that get chemical dumped on it so it's green and pristine, and it gives up a cheap thrill of watching some wildlife. What's not to like? But there's always someone who has to complain.

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CardsofSTL
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Re: Karen Culture

Post by CardsofSTL »

Social media bullying is easier than playground bullying because you don't have to be bigger than the other kid.

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G. Keenan
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Re: Karen Culture

Post by G. Keenan »

Medieval peasants with pitchforks at light speed. Same [expletive], different century.

Eliminating the friction required for people to judge and condemn others has not been good for society. Millions of people throwing stones from their anonymous glass houses. It's all stupid. Just check out from all of it. Nothing that "happens" on social media is worth paying attention to. The smartphone beckons you to waste your life paying attention to the ephemeral, endless BS.

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haltz
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Re: Karen Culture

Post by haltz »

CardsofSTL wrote:
May 1 23, 4:08 pm
Social media bullying is easier than playground bullying because you don't have to be bigger than the other kid.
It's road rage with a self-selection bias.

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BottenFieldofDreams
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Re: Karen Culture

Post by BottenFieldofDreams »

Cancel Culture really does blow, mostly, but it's hard to talk about it without sounding alt-right with no sense of irony. Maybe if I'm a drinking a Bud Light while I do?

Jon Ronson's So You've Been Publicly Shamed was an interesting read (or listen). I bet he's revisited this by now. I should look into that.

Arthur Dent
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Re: Karen Culture

Post by Arthur Dent »

BottenFieldofDreams wrote:
May 2 23, 12:15 pm
Cancel Culture really does blow, mostly, but it's hard to talk about it without sounding alt-right with no sense of irony. Maybe if I'm a drinking a Bud Light while I do?
Agree. I feel like almost everyone who tries to talk about it immediately falls into pointless and unproductive old ruts.

That said, I feel like for most adults, it is not too difficult to not get caught up in these things by just choosing not to participate. If you have a media job that requires you to be on Twitter all day or are in the small minority of workplaces that have cultures like this, it may be a big problem. I guess also if you are in some community where you feel like you need to know what’s happening on Facebook or NextDoor or whatever, but personally, it feels super easy to just not ever bother with that.

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Big Amoco Sign
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Re: Karen Culture

Post by Big Amoco Sign »

Big thing about the life before Internet is that it kind of sucked pretty hard. A parking lot Tik Tok confrontation of people arguing over a parking space, sure [expletive] it. That stuff is lame but, like, behave better lol. Not hard to avoid many of these things. And I get mistakes happen. I don’t put all these things into the same bucket as Imadreamer’s social media blast situation either—which is Karen the other direction. Doxxing Nazis and Klan members has been a thing since the early 1990s and existed pre-Internet.

Without social media we have cops killing POCs with no body camera footage. We have cops getting called with racial biases using deadly force at a much higher rate.

We have Weinstein elites preying on women and children again.

I can’t tell if some of you hate the Karens or the the opposite. In OP's situation the Karen is using the tactic that's used against typical Karens. Or do you all solely wish for their crimes to be handled outside of social media? Innocent mistake (Brendan Donovan being a stupid teen) versus George Floyd filmed for the world to see. I think most sound minded people are against bullying. There’s just a new way to do it now. These are obvious to me and most people, there doesn’t need to be a Nuremberg on it.

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