Hilarious memes sweep the internet mocking 'Karens' who berated staff at Bunnings, refused to wear masks and flouted public health orders
Title : Hilarious memes sweep the internet mocking 'Karens' who berated staff at Bunnings, refused to wear masks and flouted public health orders
Link : Hilarious memes sweep the internet mocking 'Karens' who berated staff at Bunnings, refused to wear masks and flouted public health orders
- Hilarious memes have been circulating online mocking 'Bunnings Karens'
- Memes took aim at Lizzy Rose - a 'witch' who filmed herself burning a mask
- They also mocked Kerry Nash, who went viral after refusing to wear a mask
- 'Karens' have been mocked for their refusal to follow public health orders
Hilarious memes have been circulating on social media mocking women who have flouted public health orders.
The jokes took aim at Lizzy Rose, Kerry Nash and Jodi Grollo, who have all made headlines for their outlandish COVID-19 views or comments.
Rose is a self-proclaimed 'witch' who filmed herself burning a mask, before proudly strolling through a Melbourne Bunnings without a face covering.
Nash went viral after she was filmed berating Bunnings staff who asked her to put on a mask, while Grollo was quickly dubbed 'Brighton Karen' after she complained she had walked around her whole affluent suburb due to lockdown.
One meme had photos of Rose, Nash and economist Gigi Foster over the faces of Harry Potter characters.
Foster was slammed as 'heartless' for suggesting Australia should follow a Swedish-style lockdown - that could kill up to 25,000 people - to save Australia's economy.
'Why is it when something happens, it's always you three at Bunnings?' Professor McGonagall asks the women.
Another meme put the faces of Elizabeth 'Lizzy' Rose, Kerry Nash and Gigi Foster over the faces of Harry Potter characters
A woman dubbed 'Brighton Karen' was also used as inspiration for a Kath and Kim meme of the snobby character 'Prue'. Jodi Grollo moaned she had walked all the streets of Brighton, Melbourne due to lockdowns
A meme mocked 'Bunnings Karen 2.0' Lizzy Rose, who identifies as a witch, and filmed herself not wearing a mask in Maribyrnong Bunnings
A 'free for Karen' sticker was left next to a Bunnings themed face mask
Another meme put typical 'Karen' haircuts over the faces of Patty and Selma from The Simpsons.
The short haircut originated from the meme 'Can I speak to the manager?'
Homer Simpson is dressed up as a Bunnings worker wearing a mask, with the caption 'time to take out the trash'.
A number of meme-makers got creative with Bunnings references.
One meme replaced Bunnings' slogan 'lowest prices are just the beginning' with 'Bunnings Karen. Lowest IQs are just the beginning'.
Another made a fake ad for a 'Karen Kit' with the comment 'just ask for the manager' - a reference to the saying associated with 'Karens'.
'Brighton Karen' aka Jodi Grollo was used as inspiration for a Kath and Kim meme of the snobby character 'Prue'.
'I've done all of Braaahton,' it read, mimicking Prue's posh accent.
Ms Nash went viral after filming her shocking outburst inside the store in the Melbourne suburb of Narre Warren.
Another meme put typical 'Karen' haircuts over the faces of Patty and Selma from The Simpsons. The short haircut originated from the meme 'Can I speak to the manager?'
Another meme took inspiration from a classic meme template, implying 'Karens' compare wearing masks to capital punishment
One hilarious meme put the original 'Bunnings Karen,' aka Kerry Nash, next to 'Brighton Karen' and compared their viral catchphrases
She accused staff at the store of abusing her human rights by politely asking her to wear a mask, and was briefly arrested after clashing with police outside.
Her behaviour sparked widespread criticism online, with many outraged by her attitude towards the workers, police, and the COVID-19 regulation.
But despite the backlash, Ms Nash continued her anti-mask crusade, with another video surfacing two days later of her ranting at a mask-wearing Australia Post worker.
The video of the Ms Nash extraordinary rant inside a Bunnings store was posted to Facebook on Sunday as Victoria recorded 459 new coronavirus cases and ten deaths.
'It's a breach of the charter of human rights,' she said as she aggressively filmed the staff on her mobile phone and threatened to sue them for discrimination.
Ms Nash filmed staff during the dispute and refused to stop despite the calm requests of a male employee.
Other videos posted on Facebook show her later being arrested by two police officers outside in the Lauderdale Road car park.
She eventually revealed she had a medical exemption for not wearing a mask after a drawn-out standoff with police.
When more officers arrived at the scene, Ms Nash had her handcuffs taken off but launched into a debate with officers as to why her arrest was unlawful.
She claimed legislation in place allowing police to arrest her was not voted upon by Australians or approved by the monarch.
'You're talking about legislation that hasn't been presented to parliament three times, we the people haven't given our consent to act under it, and it hasn't been consented by the queen,' she said.
'That legislation is fraudulent. It doesn't apply to me.'
Other memes took aim at another 'Bunnings Karen 2.0', who filmed herself burning face masks in a fire pit before declaring she will travel through up to five Melbourne suburbs a day without wearing a mask.
Lizzy Rose, who identifies as a witch, bragged that she would be 'walking the streets with no mask;
'And I will be telling anyone who is interested to not consent. To not comply. To not put your life and your health at risk,' she said.
Rose was also captured calling masked customers 'zombies' while she walked through Maribyrnong Bunnings.
'People are so very silly,' she said. 'And they're so silly and it's so very sad that they're not evolved enough to see.'
Another joke replaced Bunnings' slogan 'lowest prices are just the beginning' with 'Bunnings Karen. Lowest IQs are just the beginning'
Another made a fake ad for a 'Karen Kit' with the comment 'just ask for the manager'
One meme called out 'maskholes,' a play on the word 'a**hole' used to describe people who refuse to wear face coverings
Ms Rose was seen arguing with a checkout operator before she turned the video off.
The hilarious online content didn't stop there, with some memes also mocking a woman dubbed 'Brighton Karen'.
Jodi Grollo went viral last week after she complained to the media about Melbourne's second lockdown.
The mother moaned she had walked all the streets of the affluent coastal suburb earlier this month.
'Well, you get sick of walking the same streets. You know, I've done all of Brighton,' she told Nine News while walking the city's Tan Track.
ANTI-MASKERS' DUBIOUS 'LEGAL' ARGUMENTS DEBUNKED
By Nic White for Daily Mail Australia
Groups opposing lockdowns, mask wearing, and police authority in general rely on a series of dubious arguments that are easily discredited:
Rules are 'directives' not 'laws'
A common theme to infuriating exchanges with police is that the public health orders are invalid because Parliament never approved them.
They claim such 'directives' can only be enforced by 'consent' and thus can be ignored at will.
However, the Public Health and Wellbeing Act of 2008 does give state governments and their chief health officers power to impose restrictions.
Section 200 of the act explicitly states they can can restrict movement or 'give any other direction that the authorised officer considers is reasonably necessary to protect public health'.
These powers kick in when a state of emergency is declared by the state government, which Premier Daniel Andrews did in Victoria on March 16.
Extra powers kick in when a state of emergency is declared by the state government, which Premier Daniel Andrews did in Victoria on March 16
Section 193 of the act allows for stay at home directions, which Deputy Chief Health Officer Finn Romanes enacted on July 22.
This directive also covers the wearing of face masks, as it states people can only leave their house while wearing one - exceptions notwithstanding.
Victoria also passed its own COVID-19 Omnibus (Emergency Measures) Act 2020 to strengthen these emergency powers.
State of emergency is invalid
Some conspiracy theorists claim the state of emergency shouldn't have been imposed in the first place.
They quote what they believe to be the conditions that must be established, including that a deadly pathogen must be present around the country.
As they deny the seriousness of Covid-19, they declare there is 'no deadly virus' in Australia.
The 167 Australians who have died from coronavirus, and their families, would beg to differ.
Police don't have authority to enforce orders
Many of the video feature coronavirus deniers refusing to answer police questions or give their details.
They make bizarre appeals to common law overriding state legislation, which are discussed at the end of this article.
Again, the Public Health and Wellbeing Act of 2008 comes into play as it empowers health officials to ask police for help enforcing directives.
Police officers can usually only ask for someone's details if they are committing a crime or are reasonably believed to be about to be.
But the Act extends this to investigating, eliminating or reducing the risk to public health.
Police can also detain anyone deemed a 'serious risk to public health', so long as they are warned that refusal to comply would lead to their arrest.
'We will not hesitate to issue fines to people who are obviously and blatantly showing a disregard for community safety by failing to wear a mask,' Victorian Police said on July 26.
'Police are working incredibly hard to keep the community safe and this type of behaviour is unacceptable and unnecessary.'
Police are violating human rights
Conspiracy theorists make frequent reference to the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
This does not actually create any laws, it is just an undertaking to preserve and protect human rights around the world.
What rights citizens do have are in the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act.
This compels Parliament to balance any infringement on human rights, as laid down in the act, and produce a 'statement of compatibility'.
This balancing act is known as 'proportionality testing' and weighs, in this case, forcing people to wear masks with the threat of illness and death.
Parliament took this into account when passing the Public Health and Wellbeing Act of 2008, and health officials have done the same this year.
Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton even explained on Tuesday that human rights laws enshrined the right to exercise during lockdown.
'They are entitled to exercise within their home and their garden, ideally. People who have no garden and have no other option, have a right to exercise,' he said.
'The Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities is pretty clear that if you aren't giving people an option to exercise then you are effectively putting them in prison and that's not something that can be done for a case of coronavirus or for anyone else for that matter.'
Mr Andrews has very little time for human rights arguments, pointing out that not dying of coronavirus is a rather important right.
'Seriously, one more comment about human rights - honestly. It is about human life,' he said.
'If we continue with this stuff, standing in the car park of Bunnings reading whatever nonsense you have pulled up from some obscure website...'
Mr Andrews later apologised for losing his cool, but reiterated that police were doing what needed to be done.
'[Police] are trying to be as fair as they possibly can be,' he said, 'but if you're just making a selfish choice based on your belief, your personal belief, quoting something you've read on some website, it's not about human rights.'
Even Human Rights Law Centre executive director Hugh de Kretser isn't giving the conspiracy theorists any cover.
'Being required to wear a mask in public in Melbourne does not breach human rights,' he said.
'It's a very small limit on personal freedom for a very good reason; saving lives and protecting public health. There are sensible exceptions set out in the rules.
'Those who claim their rights are being breached are wrong.'
Businesses are discriminating by requiring masks before entry
Some anti-maskers have accused businesses of being in breach of anti-discrimination laws by refusing them entry.
Wesfarmers CEO Rob Scott said he stood behind the Bunnings workers in the video
The problem with this argument is that all the other regulations around mask wearing aren't even relevant because businesses have the right refuse entry at their discretion.
Rick Sarre, the Adjunct Professor of Law and Criminal Justice at the University of South Australia, says Australian businesses have the right to require customers to wear face masks.
'Australian law, quite simply, says that private landowners or occupiers can take reasonable steps to protect themselves, their employees and people on their property,' he wrote in The Conversation.
'So it would be legal for businesses - including cafes and supermarkets - to make it a condition of entry that customers wear a mask and sanitise their hands.'
Ms Nash claims she has a medical exemption to wearing a mask, which she never specified.
If she had produced proof of this, the whole situation could have been avoided.
Why these people are dangerous
Associate Professor Luke Beck Monash University's law faculty said the group appeared to be an offshoot of the sovereign citizen movement.
'These people make these kinds of pseudo-legal arguments, usually to try and get out of parking fines or paying council rates or things like that,' he told SBS.
'Some of these people think if you utter particular words or emphasise particular 'facts', it will somehow get you out of things.'
This is problematic for functioning society at the best of times, but University of Melbourne law Associate Professor Jonathan Liberman said it was downright dangerous during a pandemic.
'These people are trying to encourage others to do things that put people's health at risk and that will ultimately lead to these restrictions being in place for a lot longer,' he said.
'They are also promoting a rejection of the rule of law and a rejection of a harmonious society.'
Hilarious memes sweep the internet mocking 'Karens' who berated staff at Bunnings, refused to wear masks and flouted public health orders
Enough news articles Hilarious memes sweep the internet mocking 'Karens' who berated staff at Bunnings, refused to wear masks and flouted public health orders this time, hopefully can benefit for you all. Well, see you in other article postings.
Hilarious memes sweep the internet mocking 'Karens' who berated staff at Bunnings, refused to wear masks and flouted public health orders
You are now reading the article Hilarious memes sweep the internet mocking 'Karens' who berated staff at Bunnings, refused to wear masks and flouted public health orders with the link address https://randomfindtruth.blogspot.com/2020/07/hilarious-memes-sweep-internet-mocking.html