The soundtrack to the revolution #FreeKaren

The government’s new anti-radicalisation handbook for schools has come under a fair bit of flack today for including a case study about ‘Karen’, a fictional girl who gets lured into scary “extremist” practices at university like “the alternative music scene, student politics and left-wing activism” before going on to protest a mining site in the forest.

Why doing stuff like that warrants inclusion in a booklet designed to combat terrorism isn’t clear, but people are having plenty of fun with the idea in the meantime — Karen’s become a bit of a counter-culture icon among all the filthy lefty terrorists hiding in the internet’s darkest corners, and #FreeKaren is trending nationwide.

Death Cult /deth kuhlt/ n. 1. Islamic State. 2. left-wing student politicians who listen to alternative music. 3. Karen. #freekaren #auspol — Andrew Wilkie MP (@WilkieMP) September 25, 2015

Radicalisation kit appears to be working because I wanted to get milk out of the fridge but started making a bomb instead. #freekaren — Sean Bedlam (@seanbedlam) September 25, 2015

Hope no-one finds out I listened to the toothfaeries in the nineties #freeKaren — Terri Butler MP (@terrimbutler) September 25, 2015

Going off the government’s assumption that the average person can be converted to violent extremism by listening to some Smudge, the NSW Young Greens have put together ‘Karen’s Mix’: the ultimate playlist for the glorious day Karens everywhere finally rise up and bring the revolution.

The Clash? Check. Midnight Oil? Absolutely. ‘Bad Girls’ by MIA? You’d better believe it. It even wraps up with the entire score from Les Miserables, for the true radicals with plenty of time on their hands. Once this succession of dank extremist beats hit the eardrums of the nation’s impressionable youth, not even that Vine of Tony Abbott wearing the speed dealer sunnies set to Darude’s ‘Sandstorm’ will be able to pull the Teens back from the dark side. This is how civilisation ends, Australia.

While it’s an incredible playlist, it shamefully omits the greatest anti-establishment song of all time: the Ramones playing Mr Burns’ birthday. That set was so radical, it got the Rolling Stones killed.