The Reaction to the “Central Park Karen” Incident Was an Abysmal Failure of Logic
What happened to Amy Cooper was a tragic injustice.
Just by sheer coincidence, the two characters involved in the “Central Park bird watching incident” both had the same last name, Cooper, however, this has metaphorical relevance, because Amy Cooper and the “victim” Christian Cooper are two heads on the same coin.
We all know the story. An African American man who enjoys bird watching told a white woman to leash her dog, which was a rule required by the “Ramble” section of Central Park, and the woman subsequently lost her mind, eventually uttering a nasty threat while seeming to choke her dog on a leash:
“I’m calling the cops … I’m gonna tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life.
The story and associated video went viral and sparked outrage…of course.
The video also happened to emerge on the same day as the arrest and killing of George Floyd, propelling Amy Cooper into infamy and sparking a raging discussion about racial prejudice and racism. In fact, the two incidents seemed to feed off of each other.
The vast majority of viewers condemned the actions of Amy Cooper, who was, of course, referred to as a “Karen”, while Christian…