I learned a lot from [JD] about the origins of Karen as a category, and how that casts its ab/uses of gender and sometimes age in sharp relief. In particular, the complicated play of a woman asserting authority in the absence of male allies, who often appear in absentia in the form of the state. That’s my own offhand, not what JD said, so blame me. But here we have YA video, this one a counter-case or maybe Kounter-Karen: an older white guy playing DON’T TOUCH ME with a younger, taller, slender, and I’m pretty sure darker guard. HIs arguments — there’s no law, you don’t own this store, you’re nobody — all terminate in a ridiculous and barren model of the world: Real Men standing on Their Property and speaking on Their Own Authority. The video’s short (55 secs), and It’s interesting to watch a few times for what he doesn’t do: try. It points up how awkward these assemblies of white people are: they don’t really know how to be, or move, with others in public, so they loiter around menacingly or drive pickups or ride jetskis or whatever. And it reminds me how much of masculinity has been reconstructed, not around the dignity of labor or pride in a community but, instead, around consumption so conspicuous that it has to take the form of brandishing. Kounter-Karen has none of that: he’s alone and in a state of want, almost but not quite on the threshold of a store. The guard is great.Updated Jul 19, 2020 10:57:28 pmJul 19, 2020 10:57:28 pm