The missing meme

I have, in lockdown times, been spending an awful lot of time on social media. I work in tech so you might think I’d prefer to enjoy my freedom away from a screen, but it’s surprisingly the reverse and the online world has in many ways become where I get my real sense of the community right now. In this virtual escape, I have found solace, rage and humour in the many memes and meme characters of the internet. I am a stereotypical ‘snowflake’ and, I must admit, I do love to be a bit angry at the world sometimes. Whilst I’m aware it’s possibly not the healthiest thing for my brain, I often start off my day going on Instagram and finding someone to be annoyed at and exasperated with. My personal favourite, is a short video featuring ‘a Karen’.

There has been much discussion about the meme phenomena of the ‘Karen’. The middle-aged, middle-class white woman who calls the police when she sees a black man in the street; because she considers the very sight of him a potential threat. The woman who refuses to put a mask on in a shop because she doesn’t like her civil liberties being threatened. You can see why she has become a comical figure of ridicule and disgust. The ultimate symbol of white privilege.

There are other internet symbols of that white privilege and oppression too. We have heard of the ‘Chad’ (a not very bright alpha male, white man who isn’t respectful of women), and also the ‘Becky’ (an also not very bright white girl who is basic and doesn’t bring much to the table), but none is as much maligned as the Karen.

HOWEVER, MY REAL QUESTION HERE IS, WHERE ARE THE MEMES ABOUT ‘JOHNS’?

Where are the memes about white male CEO’s who refuse to listen and continue to ignore the environment of racism and abuse they create and perpetuate in their organisations. Who at the same time engages in blackwashing their company websites to give themselves the illusion of wokeness. They sit on their yacht, or in the back on their Bentley, while writing their name on a report they didn’t write about the positive changes since their offices have introduced recycling bins (all the while buying stock in fossil fuels). We can easily picture them, and they are always in the news as individuals. We know that more CEOs are called John than there are female CEOs, so the name is easy enough. He is the father of Chad and Becky. The husband of Karen. No one does more than a John to uphold the systemic capitalist patriarchy, because he actually owns it. So, why are they not memeified into existence? Why, when it comes to this figure do we prefer to pick on the individual male wrongdoer than to lump it into a group?

Is it a question of passing the blame onto loud women again? Karens can be so vocal. It’s easier to see her and confront her, because she doesn’t own your company and her power is assumed, it is not concrete. It’s always been easier to blame women for all that is wrong with the world, as women are still the moral guardians of our society. As opposed to the Johns who own everything, and whose power is unquestionably absolute. I am by no means suggesting that we stop pointing out the mistakes of the Karens of the world, but am merely wondering why we haven’t offered up the most insidious of all the guardians of white privilege to its rightful place among the memes. ·

“It’s always been easier to blame women for all that is wrong with the world, as women are still the moral guardians of our society. As opposed to the John’s who own everything, and whose power is unquestionably absolute.”

Snowflake – Young person who is left wing and easily offended Meme – An image, video or piece of text, often humorous; which is copied and spread rapidly throughout the internet often with slight variations Wokeness – term implying that a person is ‘awake’ to the issues present in todays society