Deconstructing Karen

(Review assumes you know premise - this is a filmed dinner party - or have watched this doc).

Saira Rao is a bully. Her aggression is repellent, suffocating and risibly self righteous; yet, she's ostensibly offering important enlightenment for ignorant humanity. Nope.

She visibly gets off on hurting and humiliating people. And, apparently, white women are paying to be her target because she promises to *checks notes* "smash your white fragility"? Seriously?

The objectives envisioned by Rao and her co-creator, Regina Jackson, of "Race2Dinner" are unattainable, largely due to their being so vague. One objective appears to be to "talk to people".... I think...but, Rao detests anyone else talking. She'd prefer, as with a communist re-education camp, to stuff her opinions down your throat and have you parrot them back. No fuss, no muss, here's your script; so, conversion, not conversation.

Their utopian vision is used as a cudgel to beat women they obviously, what...hate? Envy? Want to exploit? The zeal to kick these ladies' asses is so palpable, what good is supposed to come of this? Rao just bullies, Regina just complains, everyone else is shut down, disrespected and humiliated. The dinner guests are fire-hosed with blame, but aren't allowed a word of defence. How can this farce help with healing wounds or serious problems like voting rights and police brutality?

I guarantee, most of the dinner guests will be "having conversations" about how obtuse and repugnant the hosts were, and that's it! I know, I know, the participants aren't allowed any human reaction because it's not about them. But, obliterating their humanity makes this formula so inherently dysfunctional that it's ultimately useless.

In one of the most surreal segments, Rao shames the participants for feeling emotion over stories of racial injustice and tells them they can't have such reactions in the future. If I'd been in attendance, that would've been my "eff you very much, I don't have time for this gong show....um, can I get this to go?" moment.

Rao and Jackson don't want a world where our shared humanity is encouraged and cherished; they want a world of revenge and verbal face punching. They're too angry, censoring and (after reading more on Race2Dinner) avaricious to really want healing change, maybe cha-ching change - are they aiming for a reality show?

Of the eight women who participated, only three agreed to a follow up interview. The three who responded just virtue-signalled themselves into a meaningless caricature. What does that tell you? FAIL!

If one really wants to change hearts and minds, kindness and respect always win the day. But, Rao and Jackson are getting something out of feeding the fires of hate and anger, and that's on them. Again, their calculation might be the mercenary "enragement leads to engagement", or, they're just bullies. Because what they're doing isn't helping and I can't believe they don't know it.

I pray their scheme doesn't last. These shallow, self-interested posers can't be forgotten soon enough.

I checked out some reviews prior to watching this film and due to the ratings, my expectations were fairly low. However, after watching the film, in my opinion, a lot of the negative reviews are fairly similar to the responses of the women at the beginning of the dinner. Defensive, poor me, victim mentality. I do agree that Saira and Regina come off as direct and blunt, but in my opinion that is a key point to the film that adds a sense of urgency and seriousness to the dinner that may otherwise have been missed. Part of deconstructing Karen is to eliminate the need to be "nice" and sugar coat statements and hard truths. Which I believe Regina and Saira accomplish successfully. Another point these two are trying to make is that they do not owe it to white women to "be nice" while people of color have not been treated "nicely" for hundreds of years. To say Saira is a bully for being upfront and direct while communicating with the women at the dinner table (not to mention continuously repeating herself for those choosing not to hear her), sure is an interesting take. Unfortunately I think some of the dinner attendees in this film, along with many of the 1/10 star raters, are proof that this country has a long way to go when it comes to listening and ending white privilege and fragility. If this film has upset you to the point you go out of your way to leave a review telling others not to watch. If all you can think about is how badly this film personally offended you. If you find yourself subconsciously defending the white women at the dinner table. If you have no take-aways other than the blame you have placed on Saira and Regina for somehow making things worse. It may be a great idea for you you to challenge yourself, change your mindset, and watch this film again.

Everyone who is not a person of color benefits from America's institutions. No one blames you. There is no shame in admitting this. This documentary challenges our willingness to accept that truth and then examine how we can unlearn what we think is true about "the others." The privilege that comes with not believing what huge swathes of Americans are telling you is true is astounding. The documentary takes on several issues that could be episodes within themselves - historical race-based trauma, white fragility, the silence of liberals/progressives - which makes it feel rushed. I am thankful that at least the conversation is happening. Kudos to these ladies for taking on this work. It's a heavy lift - threats on their lives notwithstanding.

Maybe white women are the problem. After all, way too many of them seem to be ready, willing, and able to fall for this BS obvious grifting, Is it really all about self-abasement and the virtue signal? Jesus Christ. Rao and her friend come off as repellent bullies. While whining and moaning about their oppression (come on. They live better than the majority of middle America. Oh how oppressed they are. *sarcasm*) they are purposely haranguing the women in their dinners who disagree or question.

My biggest question is why would women pay to go through this humiliation ritual. They're already mostly democrats. Isn't that humiliation enough?

Seriously though, Rao is asking that white women spit on their ancestors. Hell should freeze over first. Regardless of from whence one comes, one should never, ever spit on their ancestors. Maybe they should stop thinking of themselves as "white" and start thinking of themselves as of "English," "German," "Scottish," "Czech," etc. Descent.

Or, maybe they should get a man to moderate this because women obviously can't handle this on their own. They all came across as a bunch of ...well I can't say that word in a review here. But rhymes with witch.

I will say this, I love to see how much grifting this race baiting nonsense has birthed. BLM, etc. You can't blame people for taking advantage of stupid. That's the real lesson here.

I was so excited to watch this movie as I am always looking for ways to be less racist, less prejudiced, learn about other cultures and become a better human being. However, I found that the movie didn't so much provide an opportunity for open conversations as it gave a platform for scolding white women for being racist. Yes, white women have a lot to learn, but this movie could have encouraged them to ask more questions and become more aware of their privilege, not simply scolded them for living in the only realities they've ever known. Change happens when people can truly see each other - it doesn't happen by simply telling a whole group of individuals that they are bad.