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I Hate My Name
What do you do if your name becomes a symbol of hate?
I cringe when someone asks me my name. I never used to, but somehow around the year 2020 my name became a meme, a joke, a stereotype.
According to the Urban Dictionary it is used to describe a white, middle-aged, middle-class, women with a spiky, asymmetrical bob haircut. She’s depicted as rude, one who throws temper tantrums in Starbucks over frivolous complaints, and demands to “speak to the manager” to belittle service industry workers. Her privileged, racist and entitled behavior earns her well- deserved scorn.
The scorn she receives comes in the form of an insult. She is called “A Karen”.
In 1949, the year I was born, Karen was one of the top ten most popular names for a baby girl. The origin of the name is Scandinavian and is believed to mean “pure, clean, unsullied”.
Now it is tainted.
The origin of the meme is uncertain, but there have been numerous videos posted on social media, of “Karen’s” who have called 911 to report black people over minor, or nonexistent , transgressions.
If I complain about anything, someone will invariably say “Oh don’t be a Karen”. I’ve even heard an anchorman on a national news station report “another incidence of a woman being a Karen in…
