Memes are ideas or beliefs that spread and change as a result of selective pressures, from funny pictures to entire cultures.
Karen is one of the main characters on SpongeBob SquarePants and serves as Plankton’s wife. In many episodes she supports his evil plans while still loving him regardless of his flaws. Additionally, Karen possesses skilled inventing skills.
Origins
Richard Dawkins introduced the term “meme” in his 1976 book “The Selfish Gene,” but its widespread adoption came with internet use. Memes are ideas, behaviors or beliefs spread from person to person through imitation with symbolic significance that over time mutate and evolve with changing social or cultural conditions – similar to biological species which respond to selective pressures and adapt accordingly as they spread.
The Karen meme is an ideal example of this process; over time it has evolved as more people adopt its use to describe both their own and others’ entitled behavior. Furthermore, memes can be used as a vehicle for making fun of specific groups or individuals: in this instance it targets women who act selfishly and entitledly and is based on stereotypes associated with suburban women that have long existed in popular culture.
As previously used, Karen-related memes mostly played off ironically until the Covid pandemic and election of Donald Trump led to more negative connotations than previously imagined. This resulted in more people refusing to wear masks and ignore warnings to remain indoors while calling police on those they suspected spreading the virus. This trend led to more Karen-related memes being posted online such as videos featuring people refusing masks and calling police on those suspected of spreading it.
As a result, many individuals have been classified as Karens despite not fitting any classic stereotypes. Karens include men and women of various backgrounds from all walks of life who can include white, black, Asian or Latino ethnicity groups. Reasons behind their behavior vary but most commonly it stems from feeling entitled to what they already possess.
Karen had long been part of our everyday vernacular, but its popularity skyrocketed following the introduction of dank memes. These viral posts feature overly dramatic facial expressions and words while often featuring profanity or other inappropriate content.
Evolution
Memes are self-replicating ideas that undergo an evolutionary process similar to biological information. Coined by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, the term “meme” refers to cultural ideas or behaviors that spread among members of a culture from person to person and often carry meaning that represents specific phenomena or themes. While genetic replication occurs only vertically, memes can spread horizontally as well; their transmission being hastened by social media platforms or new image or video formats available to spread them further.
The Karen meme has grown from being simply a first name into a widely recognized shorthand for obnoxious, entitled behavior, making its introduction decades ago no surprise. Social media has fuelled its widespread acceptance; viral videos and political debates frequently incorporate this term.
Like other online memes, the Karen meme is constantly adapting and evolving. While some changes may be small or subtle, others can be more dramatic; such as dank memes’ introduction from text-only memes to image and video formats; since then its popularity has skyrocketed and will likely keep growing as people find new ways of expressing themselves through humor.
One of the greatest obstacles to memetic theory is determining whether a distinction can be drawn between concept and medium. This issue is of great relevance as it challenges Dawkins’ definition of meme, while some scholars like Limor Shifman argue this distinction may even be misleading.
As we head into 2020, the Karen meme is expected to remain popular. It has even inspired an entire subculture focused on creating and sharing Karen content – providing a useful window into larger issues of entitlement and social media use.
Representation
As social media has become a leading form of communication in our globalized world, memes have taken on new meaning and expanded in scope. No longer limited to funny cat pictures and cringeworthy video compilations, memes now also serve as an outlet for political and cultural expression – for instance the Karen Meme has become an iconic representation of an entitled woman who often complains about service industry workers over seemingly trivial matters.
The meme depicts a middle-aged white female with a spiky blonde haircut demanding to speak with her manager at a restaurant or other public service location regarding any minor inconvenience, from an error in a receipt to missing straw or ice cube in their beverage. While many find the meme amusing, others see it as inaccurately representing women in the workplace and its depiction is harmful and inaccurate.
Some are responding to this perception of their character by initiating a petition to change how others see them, with some even starting a drive against this sort of “name shaming.” Though some may see this as “name calling,” its main goal is highlighting how dangerous it would be to categorize entire groups by their worst examples of behavior – similar to how Green Book was widely criticized for depicting systemic racism despite simply using its most outrageous examples to highlight a larger issue.
Although its exact origin remains elusive, the Karen Meme can be traced to Richard Dawkins’ 1976 book The Selfish Gene. According to this theory of meme evolution, just like genes undergo natural selection so do ideas and beliefs; some may pass from generation to generation while others lie dormant for longer.
Scholars have been critical of this theory due to its lack of an empirical model and inability to account for differences between genes and memes. Kim Sterelny and Paul Griffiths note that genes must balance biological selection pressures with mutation rates while memes may not. Meanwhile, semiotic theorists Terrence Deacon and Kalevi Kull point out that memes ignore fundamental elements of sign theory theory.
Influence
Memes, or cultural memes, are ideas, behaviors or styles that spread quickly by imitation across cultures. From an image with caption to entire concepts or ideologies – memes have become one of the most powerful forms of communication used not just among younger generations but Gen Alpha and boomer adults alike – used for everything from amusement purposes or explaining certain situations to marketing products or influencing politics and politicians – memes have become an essential component of everyday life and communication today.
The Karen meme has quickly taken hold, becoming associated with many behaviors. Most commonly used to refer to women who exhibit rude service worker interactions or exhibit entitled behaviors; often accompanied by their inability to understand other perspectives.
There may be those who wish to tarnish the name Karen due to recent examples of unfortunate behavior; however, there are plenty of people with this name who carry it proudly and do so without shame – it would be unfair for an entire group of people to be judged because of actions committed by just a few.
Furthermore, it is crucial to assess the implications of memes in terms of their replication and evolution. A common criticism of meme theory asserts that its gene-meme analogy is incomplete due to certain restrictions in ideas’ reproduction; however, evidence exists of self-regulating mechanisms similar to genes which help protect against transmission of falsified or inaccurate information.
Modifying existing memes allows us to generate new ones, something which was evident during the COVID-19 pandemic when people developed numerous Karen memes depicting issues of race and white fragility. Other memes encourage COVID-19 denial while advocating religious liberty – these were among some of the most divisive aspects of meme culture.
