RevKarla & the Patriarchal Bogeyperson

In Which I Take Apart A Long TikTok

File: Brooklyn Museum - Here Comes the Bogey-Man (Que viene el Coco) - Francisco de Goya y Lucientes crop.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

I am deep into my RevKarla of TikTok project. That has meant diligently transcribing the substance of much content, headphones jammed over my ears, stopping and starting over and over again trying to write it all down. As a treat, I have a RevKarla TikTok that I thought would be fun to plod through together. After all, Advent isn’t over. A little bit of suffering will probably do us some good.

In this TikTok, RevKarla is responding to someone named Cara who believes many people are being “insensitive” about the CEO of United Healthcare being killed. RevKarla is pretty scathing about her. In the spirit of giving and taking and receiving and gifting, I will probably not be able to help responding in kind, though I will do my best. Here is RevKarla’s TikTok transcribed for your edification:

Hi Cara and absolutely no hate towards you. This video is for educational purposes, but you need to sit this one out. And I’m gonna get a little mystical here, because you attempted to apply duality versus nonduality to the fact that some people are expressing their frustration and outrage with United Healthcare. You’re saying that both can be true. Cara, both are true. But what you’re saying is that people don’t have the right to express their outrage because there are people who are grieving and that’s why you need to sit this out. Because what you then are doing is expressing a heteronormative standard that you believe you have the right to express. Where does that come from? It comes from a place of privilege. And I talk about this all the time, this is about patriarchy and classism. Patriarchy and classism intersect to concentrate the power and the resources in the hands of wealthy men. It is inarguable that United Healthcare is the largest and the most despised healthcare provider in the United States. This unaliving provided a conduit for the outrage that people feel towards United Healthcare because their voices have been silenced for so long. Not only related to healthcare but related to many other parts of their lives. That’s because our system of patriarchy here in America is under a lot of strain and tension right now. Expecting someone who has been unalived doesn’t require the silencing of those who have been harmed by the system that that person represents and also has benefited from. This outrage isn’t about a lack of empathy. It’s about the real systemic harm that companies like United Healthcare have done to people. Patriarchy and classism teach us to revere power and privilege. When we tell people how to express their frustration and outrage we are reaching for the privilege that’s afforded to us under that patriarchal structure so we can say to them you’re not doing it right. We believe that we have the right to gatekeep how people are going to show up. We believe that we are the holder of heteronormative standards and you must abide by those standards. No, we can’t do that anymore. We need to take a seat and listen to the voices of the people who have been victimized by these exploitative systems. Respect for humanity starts with justice for the living. Yes, both things can be true, but you’re not the keeper of it. I’m gonna end this video with something that I have said many many times. Patriarchy here in America is crumbling. Those who have suffered and been exploited by this system are tired of it. I celebrate and welcome and will work towards its demise.

I am embarrassed to admit that before this, I had not heard the term “unalived.” My children, when I asked if they knew about it, told me it is quite an old word, that they heard it on some wretched children’s program ages ago. How linguistically creative everyone is.

I have so many thoughts about Rev Karla’s sentiments. Let me attempt to be systematic. First of all, I’m glad RevKarla doesn’t mean any “hate” towards Cara. Isn’t it awful that disagreeing about substantive issues continues to be cast as a matter of “hate?”