Several articles were posted at BoardingArea earlier today, Tuesday, January 26, 2021 which used the name Karen in their headlines to describe an incident which occurred aboard an airplane operated by Southwest Airlines pertaining to a woman who refused to get up out of her seat when it was time for the people who were seated in her row to leave the airplane.
Karen. Snowflake. Disparaging Names Do Not Promote Unity. Respect Promotes Unity.
Although the message and video — which was posted on Twitter — did not mention the name Karen to describe the woman, the term was apparently rampant throughout social media to describe the seated woman in question.
As passengers patiently waited, a member of the flight crew who is not shown in the video asks the woman, “Ma’am. I’m right here. Are you going to get off the aircraft — or are you going to sit there and scream? I’m just askin’.” After the seated woman does not answer the flight attendant, another woman — who is standing in the aisle and waiting for her to leave her seat and the airplane — emphasized, “I got to pee! I got to get off of here!” Again, the seated woman did not answer. “Ma’am, I’m tryin’ to…”
After the woman still refused to respond, the woman who was standing in the aisle started to walk past her row so that she could leave the airplane. The seated woman suddenly leaned forward, screamed hysterically, and appeared to reach out with her arm in an attempt to stop the woman from walking past her row.
“Ma’am! Ma’am!!! MA’AM!!!” the member of the flight crew shouted at the seated woman. “I’m watching YOU! That’s her turn!”
“You go out of here”, the seated woman seemed to respond as she gestured with her finger — as if ordering the flight attendant to leave.
“Excuse me!” exclaimed the flight attendant as she lowered her mask down to her chin before ordering the seated woman to get up and leave the aircraft. “I work here, ma’am!!!”
The seated woman obeyed the command as she stood up to walk down the aisle and exit the airplane.
Summary
Initially a derogatory term to describe women who seem to be entitled or demanding beyond the scope of what is normal, Karen is increasingly being used to describe middle-aged white women who use their privilege to demand their own way.
I am certainly not defending the actions of the seated woman; but I have read the articles in question — and frankly, I wondered what exactly was so newsworthy about this incident and its video. I wondered why some of the writers chose to emphasize that the seated woman was white and the standing woman was black. I wondered why some of the writers decided to apply unfounded assumptions as to what the people who were involved in the video were doing or thinking.
Most of all, I wondered why they chose to use the term Karen — or any term whose sole purpose is to demean another person in a nasty, mean, and hurtful manner — in their articles at all. Was it used to sensationalize their articles to gain more views and clicks?
To me, using such pejorative terms as Karen and snowflake and other disrespectful nomenclature to mockingly describe a person in a rude manner contributes to the divisive nature which the United States is currently experiencing. I cannot think of one example in which using the term Karen is actually helpful or beneficial to the advancement of society in general…
…and for anyone in the media who has an audience to use such deprecatory terminology is irresponsible at best.
People are looking to Joseph Biden to help heal the country towards unity. I personally believe that unity and respect towards fellow human beings starts with you and me — not necessarily the president of the United States or any other world leader. Disagreement does not have to automatically mean division, as we can respectfully disagree with each other and learn from differing points of view…
…but simply calling someone a Karen or a snowflake or some other vile terminology — regardless of what that person did — is inexcusable, unacceptable, puerile, and has no place in a civil society. We are better than that. Instead of lowering ourselves to the lowest common denominator, leading by example is taking the higher road towards increasing respect for one another.
Finally, I think about my friend Karen Cantu — who was also known as KLC on FlyerTalk and passed away back in 2012 — and although she was a nice person who is sorely missed, I am glad she did not live to see her name reduced to such vitriol in recent years. She definitely would not have deserved that thoughtless moniker.
The only snowflakes which matter to me are of the frozen precipitation kind. Photograph ©2020 by Brian Cohen.
