The first act of deception comes in the very colors they present themselves with. Green symbolizes growth and balance. While one may think this “growth” represents the growing of a community, it serves as a clue to the greedy nature of HOA’s and their need to grow wealth at the cost of their fellow neighbors. Even if one did not know the meanings of green, blue is able to allude to the deeper authoritarian nature of HOA’s. In America especially, blue is almost entirely associated with the police, or the “men in blue”. Just like police, HOA’s are meant to protect their communities and serve the people; however, even more similarly to the police, they often harm more than they help. Moments of abuses of power of a cop gone too far at a traffic stop mirror that of a Karen’s outburst over the way one mowed their lawn.

Starting from around 2018, and especially after the George Floyd incident, the Black Lives Matter movement has continuously gained popularity and support. The movement heavily criticized the governments and police forces of America for seemingly racially motivated actions and disparities towards African American citizens. Specifically, it referred to the way officers were not properly charged for abuses of their power. Officer body cam footage reveals many instances of excessive gun usage, denial of entitled liberties and rights to citizens, and injustices committed against the public. From this came a slogan “defund the police”, which is what the shirt is alluding to. By using similar phrasing, the shirt is able to connect the tyrannical and oppressive view the original phrase has towards cops, and apply the same level of abuse and injustice to HOA’s, thus successfully creating a negative connotation beyond the basic print.

Ad hominem is a fallacy that attacks or discredits the person or side arguing rather than the topic itself. The TikTok is a satirical representation of a real HOA policy, no loud sounds after x-time of day. It takes this common rule and provides a “why” for its enforcement through depicting the member as insecure and hurt that he wasn’t invited to the party, hence why he's reinforcing the noise policy passive-aggressively and thus attacking the character of a typical HOA member. Typically, logical fallacies like ad hominem are a sign of weakness or bad logic in a proper argument and inspire doubt in a reasonable audience. But this TikTok is not aimed at a reasonable audience. Those who live in HOA’s often dislike them and are extremely biased against the actuality of what HOA’s are like. Therefore, they’re not looking for a reasonable argument, they’re looking to make fun of, to attack, and for a community that understands their frustrations. So, the TikTok is protected from being received negatively from its targeted audience because it used a logical fallacy. Rather, it adds fire to the flames of the people who actively want to dislike and make fun of HOA’s, managing to successfully depict them as insecure and bitter people.

The purpose of caricatures within this reel is to mock the “Karen”-esque complaints for the smallest of things HOA’s have now become infamous for. The relation to a “Karen”, an internet famous caricature of an entitled or demanding middle-aged woman often on a power trip with power they have no claim to. For example, in this reel, the creator adopts this power trip part of the caricature through the issuing of violations over tiny details to an annoying degree. With the position of an HOA member, this association of behavior to the likes of a “Karen” essentially mocks the authoritative figure by comparing them to a middle-aged woman on a tantrum. Using this association is especially effective on an online social media platform like Instagram Reels and TikTok because of the “Karen” trend that arose especially during the 2020’s. Social interaction was limited, so online spaces became more popular and thus the idea of a “Karen” became almost universal across the digital space. Therefore, associating the caricature of a “Karen” to HOA’s attaches the understood and infamous characteristics of a “Karen” caricature to mock and take away the respect of an HOA’s authority.

A hyperbole is an exaggeration of something to an extreme level, and in this case, is used to discourage anyone from buying a home with an HOA. Sentences such as “You’re their slave” serve as fear mongering through great exaggeration. Slavery is illegal and has been since the late 1800’s, so anyone reading the post knows and understands that this must be false; however, the direct expression of an HOA being so bad that it feels as though there are no rights and no freedom creates negative feelings inside of anyone reading the response post. It suggests that HOA’s are borderline unconstitutional because of how much they control anyone that’s a part of it. This use of a hyperbole is effective despite being such a great exaggeration because it inspires fear and apprehension. The phrase “you’re their slave” is so abrasive that it brings the reader to experience great emotions, moving them to side against HOA’s out of fear.

In any argument, being able to admit the limitations of your point of view falls short and there may be different opinions is a show of maturity. The entirety of the post is written from the author’s point of view and written in forms of “I think” and “I believe”. This is typically a flaw in argumentative writing because it can weaken the delivery of points. However, this is a highly opinionated piece and, because the author chooses not to speak in absolutes or in a manner that implies, she believes she is right, it comes off less aggressive and open to responses. This makes you come off as more reasonable and easier to believe because of added nuance. Inviting response through rhetorical questions becomes more effective because the author has made an effort to show that she is aware she’s writing from her opinion and others may differ. So, she encourages a continuation of the discussion in a healthy way rhetorically.