There were a bunch of people who did say "I bet a leaf fell off a tree when you snapped the photo" - and the OP insisted that didn't happen.

Well, to be fair, he was correct. That's not what happened.

Nobody dare to insult saying that the leaves must have been in front of a face, just like nobody would dare to say to "google search doesn't work on my computer!" - "did you turn it on?".

Still interesting to see how people can rush to blame ML post-processing over a trivially overlooked parallax effect even when the former argument/theory may still potentially exist.

> btw, is the "Karen" reference really necessary

No, it wasn't necessary but at this point, what isn't considered a slur anymore?

Genuine Q: how is it racist?

A demeaning term applied to a subcategory of whites.

Stereotyping != Racism

Every culture, color, creed, nationality, and gender has Karens.

Karen is a pejorative term for a white woman perceived as entitled or demanding beyond the scope of what is normal [1] so it is just as "racist" as many other "racist" things. If "Karen" isn't racist then neither are many - if not most - things which are deemed racist. I'm fine with that so I hope you're sincere and are willing to follow this old-new definition of racism. If the term goes back to where it belongs - the assumption of people's traits based on their physical appearance with a heavy emphasis on skin tone - and it ceases to be bandied around as a label for anything which happens to displease the one doing the labelling the world will become a better place.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_(slang)

I sincerely appreciate your comment! With that definition in mind then I can understand why people downvoted my comment so much.

To anyone I offended, I sincerely apologize.

The truth of the matter is that I'll call anybody a Karen who is dumb enough to deserve the label. I don't care about color they are I don't care where they're from I don't care what they look like or how their hairstyle is done or what they're wearing or how many kids they have or how rich they are or how poor they are. I could have just as easily said a***e.

But I chose Karen because people who act like a Karen are idiots.

Its racist against the group that you "can't" be racist against

It’s racist against the group who can handle a bit of racism.

You didn't define which group that is... maybe you can enlighten us.

White people, particularly white women. I'm fairly sure you knew this? Here's the definition of the pejorative "Karen" [1]:

Karen is a pejorative term for a white woman perceived as entitled or demanding beyond the scope of what is normal. The term is a meme depicting white women who use their privilege to demand their own way.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_(slang)

> is the "Karen" reference really necessary? It's a sexist, racist insult

And also misused quite frequently. Its origin was a white woman who called the police on a group of black people who were doing nothing wrong other than being black in the wrong place.

I don't know where you heard that, but for a long time it was just a fill in name for a middle aged woman with a short hairstyle who would usually cause issues at customer service in retail. The "I'd like to see your manager" and the Karen stereotype go way further back. It's not usually about race with a Karen it's about power and getting their way even if that's not how the rules are set up. (This coupon is a year expired but I want it, this TV was marked for a dollar so you have to sell it to me, etc.)

Incorrect. Karen was originally someone who tried to wield power over retail workers, and always demanded a manager. The white lady calling police on black people usage came wayyy later.

Now it's been abused and overused to where I don't even know what it means anymore. Lady comes outside to ask TikTokers to quit doing burnouts in her yard and it's 'shutup kawen, stupid kawen LOL amirite'

I know exactly what the origin is (and as somebody commented below, it predates the incident you refer to). I also used it because it aptly describes people whose exaggerated sense of entitlement and privilege overshadows their desire to think critically.

My daughter saw this in person, where a woman was mad at people at the butcher section of the grocery store, calling woman who bought a whole chicken an 'animal murderer'. Plot twist: the very same woman had chicken breasts and thighs in her cart, but because they were not a whole chicken, she disassociated them from the animal they came from. I rest my case.

you can’t very well say a meme is misused, a meme is whatever it is.

Also, central park karen is a recent addition to the long history of using karen as a punchline, anytime you think you know the origin story, check know your meme first, you might be surprised: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/karen

Anil Dash's interview with one of the co-founders of that site was interesting.

https://blog.glitch.com/episode/function-episode-3

So to make it meme it gets abstracted to "some self absorbed busybody stirring up unnecessary trouble for other people" or something similar. Nothing really racist or sexist about it at that point is there?

When we make every abstract thought racist, it weakens and renders the word "racist" into a casual meme, not unlike the name "karen".

Its origins are "racist" and "sexist" in that the stereotype is specifically a white woman.

I don't think there's anything wrong with a little stereotyping: the only reason it's "bad" is that actual bigots ruin the fun, so to speak. If anything, I feel bad for people named Karen.

No it wasn’t- there was just a heavy intersection between middle aged women complaining and BLM + other wokeness. “Karen” is used correctly here and your origin story is completely false.

You don't see men playing the victimization card at the drop of a pin. It is a genuine social phenomenon worthy of disregard.

> You don't see men playing the victimization card at the drop of a pin

I don't believe this was said jokingly, but just to be sure, this definitely happens all the time.

Where do you see men okay the victimization card at the drop of a pin? As far as I know there are as rare as hen's teeth, I have not seen a single example of either. If you have some examples I'd be interested in learning about them.