Mask mandates are still in place throughout much of the U.S., although far too many people still refuse to abide by them. Anti-maskers throwing fits of rage in public spaces, often called “Karens,” get harder to watch as the death toll from COVID-19 continues to rise.
But despite simply refusing to wear masks, a number of these folks are trying to get their local mandates struck down entirely.
One woman’s comments during a public meeting of the Johnson County Board of County Commissioners in Kansas City sparked annoyance online as they seem to represent so much of the entitlement problem with the anti-mask stance.
“I could say a lot about my time in Johnson County not wearing a mask, which is my choice as a free individual, but I’ll boil it down to one point, which is discrimination,” the woman said.
She insisted that the discrimination she faces as an “unmasked individual” has “nothing to do with a virus, and has everything to do with how we treat one another.”
“I am discriminated against every single day in my count now. Sometimes multiple times a day,” she continued. “I’m told ‘Stand back! Stand back,’ ‘You don’t care about other people,’ ‘You can’t come in here,’ ‘Ma’am! Ma’am! Excuse me, ma’am, you have to wear a mask!’ And the best one: ‘Leave.’”
The woman shared a story of taking a package into FedEx and being asked to stand away from the counter as the employee helped her anyway. She cited said she was as “a diseased leper.” Unlike the coronavirus, however, leprosy is treatable and cannot be spread through casual contact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“This is the division that has been created by you guys allowing these mandates to continue,” the woman told the commissioners. “You guys are dividing us every day, more and more.”
The video comes from a Sept. 17 meeting that was streamed live to Facebook. The clip was reposted to Reddit on Friday, where commenters ripped into the woman for showing off her entitlement.
“Typical Karen, feels that clerks in the service industry are her personal slaves, to the extent that they must leave their families every day to be exposed to hundreds of people just like her who don’t care about their wellbeing,” wrote u/RioGreenFeather.
“Wearing masks and social distancing doesn’t divide a community,” u/toastinski pointed out. “It brings [the] community together, every time you see a mask, or people distancing, it is people actively protecting themselves and others.”
Plenty of folks noted that members of the woman’s community trying to protect themselves from becoming infected with a potentially devastating or even fatal virus is hardly discrimination.
“Guys, guys! She had to walk AROUND the counter. AROUND! If this isn’t discrimination, I don’t know what is!” joked u/Epicfailer10.
Despite this Karen’s protests, the mask mandate in Johnson County currently remains in place. The County Commission voted to continue face mask requirements in public.
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