It is well documented on my blogs that I am in a near perpetual state of confusion, when faced with the Internet in general and Facebook in particular. Yes folks, it is another Internet rant but I promise you, a short one.
Over the last few years I have become aware, primarily through memes but also via YouTube, of the Bob, Bill and Karen phenomenon. For those who do not know, these are rather random named characters that are presented as behavioural examples in memes. In these memes they are used to either promote or criticise particular modes of behaviour. Their use to criticise negative behavioural traits, is far more common than their use as examples of positive traits. This is to be expected. It is a natural and a common human trait itself, to focus on the negative.
One character however, has gone beyond the meme, assuming the meme came first. This is the Karen, who is now used to represent a particular type of person. Most often young, white and entitled. She is possibly a mother with a two year old child. It is very much a stereotype and she may even be blonde.
In these examples this Karen is the sovereign citizen, the person who believes that laws only apply if they consent to them. Here in the United Kingdom, they refuse to accept that the Magna Carta has been replaced by new laws and rights. Which means that they argue with Police Officers and generally get themselves arrested. Much to the amusement of any bystanders.
Karen is the type who in a department store, wants to speak to the manager. You know the type, you must know the type; we all know that type. It is a stereotype in itself and I assume, something of an embarrassment to the nicer Karens that I am sure we all know.
The question I find myself asking, is who are Bob, Bill and Karen in this context? How did they come about? How did they develop? Who decided on the names and why? Did someone wake up one morning and say; ‘Today I am going to invent Bob, Bill and Karen?’ I have tried to research this social wonder of the modern age. I have found nothing of any importance or relevance. Clearly there must have been a first use, a proto-trope so to speak. This proto-model construct, being seized upon by the Internet community has now gone viral. It has developed into something tangible and instantly recognisable. An example of, ‘we all know your sort.’
An issue that does rather disturb me when looking at the use of the Bob, Bill and Karen theme, is whether the use of such examples, either as memes or in general conversation; is an act of condescension in itself. Is it so very patronising to call someone a Karen? Why is Karen so much more of a problem, than Bob or Bill? Why is the young white female; with a two year old child, presented as the epitome of antisocial behaviour? Why not a male forty year old black hippie with dreadlocks? I choose to use another social trope or stereotype, as an example to illustrate the juxtaposition. Is there an underlying sexism at play? If Karen was black, would the trope be racist?
As is often the case today, I find myself asking questions in my writing that I am unable to answer. This is becoming increasingly common. Society, the Internet and life in general, does throw at me with almost predictable regularity, these puzzling phenomena. I am by nature inquisitive, I read and I study. I ask questions. Perhaps sometimes however, I ask questions that no other person would.
Knowing the origin and development of Bob, Bill and Karen, would obviously serve no practical purpose. It would however, satisfy an intellectual curiosity. I do not necessarily lie awake at night to ponder these enormously important questions. Yet there are matters pertaining to phenomenological sociology, history, religion and occasionally even politics; that may intrigue me. I clearly spend far too much of my time, attempting to understand a world that is near impossible to fathom; at least by me. My vain attempts to understand this increasingly complex and confusing world, leaves me detached and aware that I am not part of that same world. Yet I have this feeling still, that we all must know a Bob, a Bill and definitely a Karen.
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Daniel Bran Griffith - The Chattering Magpie 
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