Althouse: Proposed book title: "From Caring to Karen: A Woman's Journey."

May 31, 2020

Proposed book title: "From Caring to Karen: A Woman's Journey."

I thought of the title. It's writing prompt for you. What's the story?

51 comments:

RMc said...: I haven't read the book, but I demand to see your manager!; 5/31/20, 8:25 AM
Gahrie said...: The evils of 21 century feminism.; 5/31/20, 8:40 AM
Temujin said...: A moving story about one woman's growth that follows her life from suburban high school cheerleader, to senior high school activist, to Wellesley Double Graduate in Gender Studies/Journalism!, to a volunteer year in Ghana, then a corporate position with P&G in Cincinnati. A tale of a keen minded liberal woman who thought she was standing up for the rights of the oppressed until the day she walked her dog in the park and realized, she was the oppressor!"

"Stunning! 4 stars!", Minneapolis Star Tribune.
"A story for our times!", Harvard Weekly
"Reads like Faulkner, without the words!", Antioch Review
"A real page turner. I could not wait for it to end!", Buffalo News; 5/31/20, 8:46 AM
Madero said...: It's the story of a woman who grew up receiving moral guidance from her family and her church. She learned and applied the virtues of helping the less fortunate, and she was Caring.

As she grew up, she leaned toward the Democratic Party, because that party seemed to be the one more interested in helping the less fortunate. Plus in college, all the cool people (and even her professors!) seemed to be liberal, and she wanted to fit in.

After college, she started spending a lot of her time on social media. Because she and her friends were mostly liberal, most of the stories she saw were from a left-leaning perspective. These media stories appeared to be coming from a place of caring and providing the same moral guidance she used to get from other sources. They purported to be pr-science, which was an important value to her since she was college-educated.

However, the woman didn't realize that the main goal of these stories was to scare, sensationalize, and cheerlead one point of view. Without realizing it, the woman started to become less open-minded and started getting her opinions from social media and the stories she saw there.

She started criticizing others in public who didn't follow the coronavirus guidelines recommended by the media. After all, she learned growing up that it was important to stand for what you believe. And she saw a bumper sticker once that Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History. That made a lot of sense to her. When she posted about her criticism of others on social media, she received hundreds of likes, which made her feel good and led to more of the same behavior. She had become a Karen.; 5/31/20, 8:46 AM
Matt Sablan said...: It's a Greek Tragedy, where the character's tragic flaw is her perfectionism combined with her inability to compromise. We see how it is beneficial to her; she excels in school. She is determined, competitive, but then it starts to have downsides. She picks fights over little things. She gets into disputes with her neighbors after becoming the leader of her HoA. At work, her performance is excellent, but she clashes with management and is a micro manager herself. It's just a slice of life story where we watch a successful person slowly, due to their inability to do more than just fake empathy ("Oh, those poor people!" and the like), she slowly ostracizes herself, all while not realizing that it is her own incredibly high, and often contradictory standards. It's a tragedy, so it has to end sadly, but since it is an American novel, also in a weird way, so perhaps, like The Great Gatsby, someone she offended seeks revenge in the last 15 pages as the author realizes they're up against a deadline and figures, "Screw it, I need an ending."; 5/31/20, 8:53 AM
Whirred Whacks said...: 2020 seems to be popping along with its own crazy weirdness. If it keeps it up, it may join 1968 as the all-time chaotic weird year (in my lifetime).

1968:
— 539,000 American troops in Vietnam (Jan)
— Surprise Tet offensive by Viet Cong causing US media to say war is “not winnable” (Jan)
— LBJ shocks nation by withdrawing from presidential race (Mar)
— Martin Luther King assassinated causing five days of race riots and burning throughout many cities (Apr)
— Robert Kennedy assassinated after winning California presidential primary (Jun)
— Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact forces invade Czechoslovakia to quell “Prague Spring” (Aug)
— Chicago Democratic Convention erupts in chaos as protesters/rioters fight with Mayor Daley’s police (Aug)
— “Hong Kong Flu” arrives in the US: will kill 100K (Oct)
— Nixon elected president (Nov)
— Apollo 8 circles the moon on Christmas Eve as astronaut Frank Borman reads from the book of Genesis (Dec); 5/31/20, 8:54 AM
rhhardin said...: Eudora Welty, One Writer's Beginnings; 5/31/20, 8:59 AM
Ken said...: A woman has a clear vision of how to make the world a better place for everyone, and she grows increasingly frustrated with those who don't share her vision or act as necessary to achieve it.; 5/31/20, 9:01 AM
Paddy O said...: The descent into panic while maintaining a self identity as caring.; 5/31/20, 9:03 AM
RoseAnne said...: I prefer "From Karen to Caring: A woman's journey" I am about 4 years younger than you, Ann so I remember, rather than just read about, some of events that shaped attitudes toward women in society. Being a whole lot less self-confident/aware than you seem to be, I spent a lot of time speaking about those things that I thought I "should" fight not necessarily the things that actually bothered/affected me. Over the years I found out what Van Jones spoke about this week to be true: the Hillary supporter (male or female) is the that you have to watch out for. They are united in their desire to get ahead and will cover for each other's "crimes against diversity" if it is beneficial to them and their careers. So as I have gotten older I try to spend my time more on projects than can impact my community positively and avoid the manufactured outrage from people with other agendas.; 5/31/20, 9:13 AM
Rob said...: The story is about a Midwest accent that causes someone to pronounce “caring” and “Karen” with the same vowel sound. A sequel will be titled “From Ferry to Fairy.”; 5/31/20, 9:13 AM
Anne in Rockwall, TX said...: An Althouse Journey.; 5/31/20, 9:33 AM
LordSomber said...: "Caring" ('seen as doing good' rather then actual 'doing good') is the intended public persona, but those on the receiving end just see Karens Karening.; 5/31/20, 9:35 AM
Paul Zrimsek said...: "She's the sort of woman who lives for others-- you can always tell the others by their hunted expression." -- C.S. Lewis; 5/31/20, 9:35 AM
Wince said...: Proposed book title: "From Caring to Karen: A Woman's Journey."

As for genre, I'm going with true crime (hat-tip Jim):

That night, Damond had called 911 twice to report hearing a woman "making sex noises” in the alley behind her house. She told the dispatcher that she wasn't sure "if she’s having sex or being raped."

Noor and Harrity responded to the call in their squad car, which Harrity drove through the dark alley to search for the source of the sounds that Damond reported.

When Harrity stopped the car at the end of the alley to let a person on bicycle pass by them, both men testified about hearing a loud thump or bang on the squad car. They saw a figure approach the driver’s side, which prompted Harrity to yell, “Oh, Jesus!”

“He turned to me with fear in his eyes,” Noor told the court, referring to Harrity’s reaction.

Noor testified that he knew his partner feared for his life because there was a threat.

“And my intent was to stop the threat,” Noor said.

Noor said he saw a woman with blond hair who was wearing a pink T-shirt raise her arm outside Harrity’s car window.

He testified that although he did not see anything in the woman’s hand, he believed that she could have a weapon in her hand and that “[his] partner would have been dead.”

Damond had her gold iPhone in her hand.

Noor told the court that he rose from his seat on the passenger side, put his arm across Harrity’s chest to protect him from the shot he was about to fire, extended his gun past the steering wheel, and then fired a single shot at the woman outside the driver's side window.

When the officers got out of the car and realized Damond was unarmed, they began performing CPR on her, but she was pronounced dead a short time later.

The officers’ body cameras were turned on only after Damond was shot, and the footage captured her final moments where she said to them, “I’m dying.”

Noor’s defense team argued that based on the officers’ testimony, they feared a possible ambush. They said that Noor’s police training informed his actions to protect himself and his partner.

For police officers, "if you're reacting, it may already be too late," Noor's attorney, Thomas Plunkett, said in his closing arguments on Monday, according to tweets from a reporter present at the hearing.

Prosecutors argued that Noor was reckless in his actions and questioned him about why he found Damond’s “blonde hair, pink T-shirt, and all” threatening.

They also cast doubt on both officers’ testimony about hearing a thump on the car, as neither of them had initially reported hearing the sound immediately after the shooting.

Based on forensic evidence, prosecutors argued that Damond’s fingerprints were not found on the squad car, suggesting that she never thumped the car. Prosecutors also highlighted inconsistencies between Noor's and Harrity's testimonies of what happened that night.

A Minneapolis Cop Was Found Guilty Of Murder For Fatally Shooting An Unarmed Australian Yoga Teacher
Mohamed Noor was convicted of third-degree murder for killing Justine Ruszczyk Damond after she called 911 to report a possible sexual assault.

Mohamed Noor, a former Minneapolis cop, was found guilty of murder for fatally shooting an unarmed Australian woman who had called 911 to report a possible sexual assault.

A jury on Tuesday convicted Noor, 33, on charges of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He was found not guilty of the most severe charge of second-degree murder.; 5/31/20, 9:38 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "I prefer "From Karen to Caring: A woman's journey"..."

Yeah, I realized when I wrote it that it could be put in that form, but then it's more of an anodyne self-help book for the overly scrupulous.

I like it my way — more edgy and tragic. And I do think it is more realistic: The young person hears the message to be caring and shapes a shallow life around manifestations of empathy — looking like one of the good people — but it does something to her soul and over time what made her look superficially good and won her some social success takes her into a darker place and she only realizes it as she gets into middle age.

I mean, you can make it a cycle. Karen then finds her way into *true* caring, not the shallow social caringness that served her interests when she was young and naivety seemed charming enough for her circle of self-admirers.; 5/31/20, 9:39 AM
JAORE said...: I am truly caring. I have been allmy life. But I realized a year ago that I could not persuade all those bigots and homophobes. So now I work to disappear them.; 5/31/20, 9:46 AM
Ray said...: Volume II:
From Karen to MAGA; Mugged by Reality (And ANTIFA)

After a month in intensive care due to the injuries suffered after trying to stop looters from destroying her small second-hand shop, Karen learns how to drink through a straw and write with her left hand due to permanent nerve damage on her right side. She fills in her mail-in-ballot while no one is around. She chooses Donald Trump, but keeps it quite for fear of losing her friends. She then learns she doesn't qualify for disability because she was the owner of the shop and it was officially closed during the riots, as well as not being an employee. Her business insurance doesn't cover riots, and she had let her health insurance expire because her shop was closed due Covid-19 and her Democrat Mayor extending the lock down until a vaccine is available. The "friends" she rejected four years ago because of their Trump yard signs visit her and offer to help. She is torn about accepting because of fear of her other friends finding out. She then checks and realizes she is not in "Bizaro Land"; 5/31/20, 9:46 AM
Lurker21 said...: That is indeed the fate of many a social worker.; 5/31/20, 9:57 AM
Big Mike said...: How about this for a subtitle: “A Descent into Madness”?; 5/31/20, 9:58 AM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: HI. I'm Karen.

I used to care.
Now I just virtue signal and shame. I'd like to cut off speech to anything and anyone where I disagree.
I have a hard-on for the owner of Twitter and google.; 5/31/20, 10:00 AM
Matt Sablan said...: "but it does something to her soul and over time what made her look superficially good and won her some social success takes her into a darker place and she only realizes it as she gets into middle age."

-- The Portrait of Karian Gray. (I prefer Portrait to Picture, even if the second is more correct.); 5/31/20, 10:00 AM
Darkisland said...: Rhhardin,

Say what you will about Eudora Welty, at least she invented a decent email program.

Let that, not her writing, be her legacy.

John Henry; 5/31/20, 10:02 AM
Wince said...: "From Caring to Karen: A Woman's Journey."

How about:

"Karen, Karen: A Young Girl's Strange, Erotic Journey from Milan to Minsk"; 5/31/20, 10:05 AM
Yancey Ward said...: "Reads like Faulkner, without the words!", Antioch Review

🤣; 5/31/20, 10:07 AM
Charlie said...: "From Caring to Karen: A woman's journey"

The Autobiography Of Gladys Kravitz.; 5/31/20, 10:14 AM
JaimeRoberto said...: It sounds like the opposite of a young girl's strange, erotic journey from Milan to Minsk.; 5/31/20, 10:18 AM
Yancey Ward said...: It has never been easier to signal virtue in meaningless ways.

I watched a lot of riot video this weekend, and one of the shocking things was the numbers of women I saw actively participating. They don't seem to realize how precarious their situation is, and I am not talking about the police and national guard here- I am talking about the danger from their male compatriots. If the chaos continues to descend, those males will start raping them. The veil of civilization of is pretty damned thin.; 5/31/20, 10:23 AM
Caligula said...: "Stunning! 4 stars!", Minneapolis Star Tribune.
"A story for our times!", Harvard Weekly
"Reads like Faulkner, without the words!", Antioch Review
"A real page turner. I could not wait for it to end!", Buffalo News

I used to read newspaper book reviews, but then I realized that what they reviewed, and whether the book was praised or trashed, depended entirely on whether the book's subject included a politically fashionable subject where the author treated the subject in an entirely predictable, politically correct manner. Quality was irrelevant.

So, I came to think of such reviews as "POLTITBOOK" and no longer bother to read them as their content is, after all, as predictable as the proverbial stopped clock.; 5/31/20, 10:32 AM
Josephbleau said...: Yes, the formulaic girl finds caring, girl looses caring, after years of pain, girl finds caring again.; 5/31/20, 10:41 AM
Yancey Ward said...: I think it should have been, "A Young Girl's Erotic Journey From New Jersey to Wisconsin."; 5/31/20, 11:12 AM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: The left started "Believe all women", then it blew up in their hypocrite faces.

NOW- as leftwing fascists break things - the liar-loyal left hivemind will find a scapegoat.; 5/31/20, 11:17 AM
RoseAnne said...: I like it my way — more edgy and tragic. And I do think it is more realistic:

It could be the better story. It also could be more formulaic.

My response was influenced by another book I am currently reading, "Fortitude" by Dan Crenshaw. He uses his various experiences to talk about developing mental toughness including the importance of accepting personal responsibility. Has me reflecting on past choices. There is plenty in his book to promote discussion and disagreement.

BTW, I like the prompt. I don't know if you have done similar things in the past, but hope you do more in the future.; 5/31/20, 11:29 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: Caring: everyone likes to believe that they are caring people. Some people fall short, some know that they are lying, some are looking to take advantage.

As for me: I chose caring as a profession. No, I am not a doctor or nurse, or -- God Forbid -- a schoolteacher; I am a hospice worker.

I care for the people who have nothing to give you in return, except for gratitude and words of kindness.

Of course, some of those in my care are assholes; being near death doesn't make everyone introspective and aware of life's little things. But I care for them all, and -- yes -- sometimes I cry.

I found that, when I do not allow myself to cry, a reservoir of misplaced resentment and rigidity overflows my discipline -- that I become the person that I don't want to be. I wish I could say I was above such things, but some people need to be alone in the ocean before they appreciate being dry.

Two weeks ago I finished a 16-hour shift. Mrs. Madison passed alone, Mr. Clay with his family beside him. They were both good people, but if I broke down every time good people died I would not be able to do my job.

I left work and stopped at the fast-food drive-thru. Problem number one: I always grow frustrated with myself when I take the easy way, and there isn't much easier than a couple of tacos and a Pepsi when you're bone-tired and just want to go home and do as little as possible.

And -- yes -- I have compassion for the workers of the service industry; I don't see myself as that different from them, really. But can they at least look in the damn bag and make sure I have my tacos and hot sauce?

Problem number two: I pulled away without checking the bag. Never pull away without checking the bag.

I stopped my car a few feet from the exit, and looked in the bag: only one taco. I realize it is a small thing, but can't I expect people to be able to count to two? Is that too much too ask?

I backed-up, only to be honked at by the driver behind me. I then circled around and entered the drive-thru again, and explained my predicament to the voice on the intercom. Problem three: I hear laughter in the background.

When I pull up to the window I feel all of my day's frustrations and clenched feelings like snakes under my skin; the teenage girl smiles and asks me to repeat my problem. The. problem I just had explained to her less than two minutes ago.

So I did it: I asked to speak to the manager.

Another teenager comes to the window and identifies herself as the manager. I explain the problem -- again -- and she asks for my receipt.

Problem four: I don't remember receiving a receipt, just a medium Peopsi and a bag missing one taco.

I explain that I did not receive a receipt, to then be told that they always give out the receipts. Like I'm sure they always give out two tacos when someone orders two tacos. meaning: 'always' ain't 'always.'

I ask if there is anyone else I can speak to, but the smirking teenager in front of me is as high as the ladder of this particular restaurant goes. She does suggest that I can register a complaint online or through a twenty-four hour service number.

Problem five: I choose to call the twenty-four hour service number....

I am Laslo.; 5/31/20, 11:52 AM
Sebastian said...: "From Caring to Karen: A Woman's Journey. How I learned to love dogs more than blacks."; 5/31/20, 12:07 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: It’s not a story of transition. It’s a story of consistency.

The genuinely compassionate women that I’ve known have never felt that it was their duty or right to police other people (other than their children). The goose-stepping signalers on the other hand, with even the mitigating sweetness of youth lost to them, have grown ever more whiny, entitled, and controlling. It’s more sad than annoying, but I can’t help enjoying their time in the dunk tank.; 5/31/20, 12:10 PM
rehajm said...: ...but it does something to her soul and over time what made her look superficially good and won her some social success takes her into a darker place and she only realizes it as she gets into middle age.

I have a darker read- The caring is a cultivated self-image. Deep in her heart every woman longs for an opportunity to bully.; 5/31/20, 12:13 PM
Kate said...: A book written by an endocrinologist. "When she was young and full of estrogen, she wanted to love the world and all the babies her body wanted to produce in it. Then the estrogen diminished, the world turned into a bitter husk, and childish behavior became intolerable."; 5/31/20, 12:32 PM
gadfly said...: Another black comedy written, produced and directed by the Coen Bros. As usual , the heroine also starred in another Coen movie , so “Karen” is played by Mary Beth Winstead.

Although advances in animal and clinical research have improved knowledge on the pathophysiological course of Alzheimers disease, even drugs with successful preclinical assessment have not been effective in reversing or slowing down AD.

Karen Karran (Winstead) has been working diligently with her test rats to find a cure for the dreaded disease when she slipped on a carelessly thrown banana peel and knocked over a rat cage containing AD-induced rats and her friend and lover from Fargo, Ray Stussy (Ewan McGregor), spent the remainder of the movie attempting to reverse her rat bite acquired dire AD condition. In the end, another rat chewed on her respirator and she died.

“Boring!” York News-Times
“Wake me when its over!” Owosso Argus-Press
"I stupidly thought this would be another Coen Brothers winner!" Moundsville Echo; 5/31/20, 12:53 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: The story remains the same: A young woman's erotic journey from Minsk to Milan.; 5/31/20, 1:15 PM
Drew Cloutier said...: How about From "Kitty to Caring to Karen: A Woman's Journey in a White Chrysler LeBaron"?; 5/31/20, 1:43 PM
effinayright said...: Temujin said...
A moving story about one woman's growth that follows her life from suburban high school cheerleader, to senior high school activist, to Wellesley Double Graduate in Gender Studies/Journalism!, to a volunteer year in Ghana, then a corporate position with P&G in Cincinnati. A tale of a keen minded liberal woman who thought she was standing up for the rights of the oppressed until the day she walked her dog in the park and realized, she was the oppressor!"

"Stunning! 4 stars!", Minneapolis Star Tribune.
"A story for our times!", Harvard Weekly
"Reads like Faulkner, without the words!", Antioch Review
"A real page turner. I could not wait for it to end!", Buffalo News
**************************

"Once I put it down, I couldn't pick it up!", Michiko Kakutani; 5/31/20, 1:44 PM
Joan said...: God bless you, Laslo. Hospice workers have a special vocation and not many choose that path.

I hope corporate sends you coupons for lots of free tacos that you can get at another, more respectful location.

As for the prompt, I avoid books like this but I’m enjoying reading the proposed plot summaries and reviews. Thanks for the light entertainment on such a grim weekend.; 5/31/20, 2:24 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: WTH???

Two people beat me to it?

Getting old ain't for wussies.; 5/31/20, 2:25 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: The essence of Karen is making lower status people comply by threatening them with an authority figure.; 5/31/20, 2:40 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: Temujin-

I was thinking more like a Psychology degree and a career in HR.; 5/31/20, 2:41 PM
Kirk Parker said...: For starters, the title is too short. Let me suggest:

"From Caring to Karen: A Woman's Journey Into Madness."

Because that's where it will end. (F'n control freaks... If I sound irate it's because there aren't nearly enough Homeowners Associations to absorb these people's output, so it ends up spilling over on the rest of us.); 5/31/20, 3:01 PM
Night Owl said...: From "Caring" to "Karen": A Woman's Journey

A narcissistic and insecure young woman, with no talent with which to gain attention, discovers she can find praise by paying lip-service to the platitudes of 21st century "Liberal" orthodoxy. Simply repeat that you care about the poor, that you denounce racism and vote Democrat, and you will be lauded as one of the "decent" people. She finds security in her Liberal bubble, and her feelings of inadequacy are replaced by a smug sense of self-satisfaction.

But during a national crisis she finds herself confronted by people she thought were "her kind" offering criticism instead of agreement. Rather than question the belief system that brought her such comfort she decides to use the power of the Liberal bubble in an attempt to harm those who disagreed with her. She feels safe not caring what happened to these people. She didn't need to care about those she disagreed with. Or so she thought.

One fateful day, in an act so outrageous it surprises even her, she exposes the ugly hypocrisy that lies in the Liberal soul-- I'm not a racist... until you dare to oppose me. For that revelation she finds herself expelled from the bubble. She discovers she is deplorable. What does the future hold for Karen?; 5/31/20, 5:29 PM
PluralThumb said...: 11:52 am.

1 burrito, 2 burrito ?

May I suggest; up the burrito order.

Example.

Once upon a time I ordered 10 burritos.
I was able to eat 5. 2 were warmly donated as per they were still warm. The other 3 I ate for breakfast, soggy and very soft.

The end.; 5/31/20, 8:53 PM
Anna said...: I just read this book by its alternative title, "Little Fires Everywhere"; 5/31/20, 9:12 PM
Sydney said...: LOL, Laslo. That was beautiful.; 5/31/20, 9:53 PM