I’ve been noticing a new trend on social media. Some ‘Karen’ acts out and does something inappropriate on video. That video goes viral. Someone with a large following asks their audience to identify the person, or they dig into what the ‘Karen’ thinks is an anonymous profile they posted on, and their real identity is discovered. Then the viral video or mean/racist/rude comment is shared with their boss or the company they work for, and the person is fired. Then the person that did this gloats, often going viral with the news of the person losing their job.
There is no doubt that some of these people deserve this. If you are choosing, in this day and age, to be blatantly racist, or to ridicule someone handicapped or less fortunate than you… and you work representing a company who does not (and should not) share the same lack of values… well then that company should be able to say they no longer wish to have you work for/represent them.
That’s the power of living in a connected world. When enough people are involved in looking for you, you can’t be anonymous on the internet. Act poorly in public, and that behaviour can be traced back to you, even if you don’t share your name or any other personal information.
Some behaviour is truly deserving of this. For example, someone spewing racial slurs, or physically abusing a store employee for getting an order wrong. However this trend concerns me a bit. It is about revenge rather than restitution. Where is the line? If a person says something in anger should their entire livelihood be destroyed? How bad does the transgression need to be? Who decides?
When it comes to issues like this, I’m not sure the herd mentality is always appropriate? When does the herd become a mob? At what point does a bad decision equate to someone being a bad person? And again, who decides?
Are many of these people deserving of the consequences? Probably. Maybe not all of them though. Furthermore, I don’t think this kind of retribution necessarily changes attitudes and behaviours.
The trend often ends with the line, “Enjoy the day you deserve.” But the aftermath of losing a job, and trying to support a family, and social ridicule, and embarrassment seems like it could be worse than a short term prison sentence. How big a transgression should it be to go through this? Again, I think some people act in a truly reprehensible way and deserve to have consequences, but I worry that some people will suffer far more than they deserve. When this happens the point seems to be more about inflicting suffering rather than creating an opportunity for forgiveness and restitution. I don’t want to live in a world where revenge is the first form of conflict resolution.
