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In reply to the discussion: Central Park "Karen" has lost her job [View all]RVN VET71
(2,689 posts)She's mentally unstable, clearly. It's not her racism alone.
Something triggered Karen. Her reaction to the man's request that she follow the posted rules was bizarre. It was as if she was seeing a different event unfolding than the one we witnessed in the video.
Years ago there were two elderly women who shared a house on my block. One was quiet and withdrawn the other was paranoid and vocal. Her insurance agent -- who was also my family's insurance agent -- told us that he was driving to a client's house in the rain and happened to see her walking and getting wet despite her umbrella. So he pulled over and offered her a ride, calling to her by name and saying "It's me, Sam Smith (not his real name), your insurance agent. Can I give you a lift?" Her reaction was an angry panic: "Go away, you animal," he said she screamed at him. "I'm not some common pick-up!"
She called the police! This we knew because we had seen a squad car outside of her house on the very afternoon Sam was talking about. My Dad told him about the squad car and Sam laughed and said something about how weird his business could be. (She maintained the client-agent relationship and apparently never raised the issue with him!)
But the Point is, the old lady didn't see a man, a familiar face, offering her a chance to get out of the rain. She reacted because she apparently feared a sexual assault. Why? It certainly wasn't her physical allurements. She was just a coat of green make-up away from being the spitting image of the Witch of the West, only with a deeper scowl. Maybe she'd suffered an attack earlier in life, or maybe her sister or some other family member had and she was traumatized by it.
Whatever it was it made it impossible for her interpret what was actually happening when her insurance agent offered her a ride.
That's what I thought of when I watched "Karen" making a lying, racist, fool of herself as she was videoed.