It was always destined to explode beyond that though. It couldn’t have gone any other way. By the time it’s run it course, it will drag down black women and other WOC as well. It cannot go any other way. It was petty and ill conceived. It did not “punch up” at a legitimate problem. It “punched out” and hit a bunch of collateral targets. It’s still punching.

I’m already seeing Karen applied to black, Hispanic, and asian women. Just the begining of it, but it’s so predictable. If you haven’t felt the boomerang yet, you will. It’s just a matter of time now. It won’t matter how much you point out that you’re not white so you can’t be like that. It won’t matter how much you cry out that Karen is about race not gender. It will fall on deaf, derisive ears. It couldn’t be any other way.

I’m not saying that there’s not a legitimate problem within white women as a group. There is, absolutely, and it needs a reckoning. I’m just saying that “Karen” isn’t the answer. It was never the answer. It’s only going to make things worse for all women. I’m saying “Karen” amplifies the problem both in actual prevalence (number of white women who actually behave this way) and scope by spreading out to all women and ignoring non-black men who do the same damn thing.

It couldn’t have gone any other way. It really couldn’t.