In New York City’s Central Park this Spring, a white woman called the police because “an African-American man” was threatening her life. It turned out the man was a birdwatcher.
The woman’s name was not “Karen,” but many people said she was “being a Karen.”
Why “Karen”? It’s a matter of race and what American’s call “white privilege,” which means “authoritative social status.” Karen has become the term to signify that a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) woman is using her “white privilege” to control or disrespect people of different races and social status.
Attitudes about race and social position are “baked in” to the America experience. From the beginning of the European conquest of eastern North America, WASPs have been the ruling class. Immigrants and citizens who are different in appearance have not been welcomed by the Karens (and their male twins “Chad” or “Chip”) of America.
Things are changing, however. We non-WASPs (my ancestors are from Catholic Ireland) now outnumber the Karens and the Chads. Many WASPs don’t like this fact because it means they can no longer escape the consequences of selfish, arrogant and demeaning behavior.
“Being a Karen” is now a common idiom indicating disapproval in America; it’s uncool. To me, that’s a culture and society attempting to move in the right direction.
Central Park in New York City by William Gargan
“Baked in” is an idiom that is easy to understand. It means something is a part of the original ingredients or causes of a current situation, most often a social or organizational problem.
Read “Being Cool” in this batch of Doing English.
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