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Rachel Marsden: Western ‘Karenism’ is a global plague

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (Abir Sultan/Pool/AFP/Getty Images/TNS)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (Abir Sultan/Pool/AFP/Getty Images/TNS)
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VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Ukraine, Israel, and French daycares all have something in common. From international to domestic household affairs, our Western leaders’ propensity for nanny state hypercontrol over every situation is creating more problems than its resolving.

Don’t like how Russia is behaving? Here come the Western Karens that run our countries, dragging Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky around the world by the hand and demanding to speak to the manager while indulging his neverending wish list of pricey deadly toys.

A spat breaks out between Hamas and Israel on the other side of the planet? Here comes the same brigade of Western Karens to shove their noses into the ordeal, making reckless proclamations that embolden one side at the expense of the civilians on the other — all while the death toll piles up.

Bad seasonal virus? Here come the Western Karen elites to demand that you hide in your home at the expense of your basic rights to earn a living and move around. But don’t worry, because the Karens will be there to dump helicopter money on the problem, which should keep everyone happy. At least until they deregulate the economy completely, driving up inflation. Whoops. But at least you’re healthy! Because the Karens refused to let you travel or go to everyday places like the gym without a vaccination that blocked illness and transmission. Double whoops. It didn’t actually do that.

Has anyone bothered to ask whether the world would be better off if our Western Karens chilled out and stopped behaving like the global neighborhood’s Block Watch captain? Is anyone else saying to themselves that it’s a good thing that some of these Karens’ own household issues have recently taken their attention away from being able to meddle elsewhere any more than they already have? For instance, US President Joe Biden wants yet more taxpayer cash for Ukraine, but the chaos that locked up Congress over the recent Speaker appointment drama meant that the Congressional Karens have been too distracted to sign the permission slip for that one.

Not that they ever give much thought to the real impact of their actions anyway, beyond caring what their other Western Karen friends think of them.

Are fewer Ukrainians dying as a result of more cash and weapons for war? Or would peace through negotiations be a more life-saving option (albeit less profitable for the military industrial complex)? Karens don’t care if they’re ultimately wrong about all or any of it — as long as everyone in their Western coffee klatch agrees that they can all feel good about their virtue-signaling.

One of the most busybody Western Karens, French President Emmanuel Macron, went to Israel last week to propose a real Karenesque solution.

“France is ready for the international coalition against ISIS – in which we are engaged in our operations in Iraq and Syria – to also fight against Hamas,” Macron said, standing beside the store manager — Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, in this case.

Soccer mom Karens like Macron view everything like a team sport. They’re cheering for Team Israel, which is fighting Team Hamas. So Macron wants to draft Team Anti-ISIS to help. He left out the minor detail that much of the heavy lifting against ISIS was actually done by Russia at the invitation of Syria, while Western resources ended up benefiting jihadists fighting against Syria. But don’t confuse Karens with minor details. Particularly ones that could prevent another mistake.

Macron’s government also tabled more nanny statism at home last week with the aim of curtailing domestic unrest, the likes of which flared up over the summer when rioting youth across France set fire to public property the wake of an alleged police shooting of a 17-year-old with North African roots in a traffic stop. The measures include getting French soldiers to babysit hoodlums. “In certain cases, we can consider supervision of young delinquents by soldiers; who will be able in particular to transmit values of discipline and surpassing of oneself,” Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said.

French parents have themselves long been infantilized by the French nanny state Karens, so now soldiers have to step in to raise their kids. Although Borne has now also proposed charging parents for the damage done by their kids, in addition to “parental responsibility courses or community service sentences for parents who evade their educational duties.”

At the same time, the government is proposing the creation of 100 new state-funded “kiddie kennels” in problematic neighborhoods, where future delinquents can be dropped off at as young as 3 months old so parents don’t have to bother. Why not just have French soldiers run those, too?

Our Karen elites treat citizens like they do world leaders whose affairs they insist on micromanaging. The result is ultimately an outsized dependence on Western states that prevents those they claim to want to help and protect from solving their own problems and making wiser, more thoughtful choices.

Rachel Marsden is a columnist, political strategist and host of independently produced talk shows in French and English.