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Andre BrockAndré Brock, associate professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication, was quoted in the article "How 'Karen' Became a Coronavirus Villain" on May 6, 2020 in The Atlantic.
The article dissects the meaning and evolution of the label and meme of "Karens," which has taken on a new twist since the coronavirus pandemic became the dominant news story of the day. Brock, who has extensively studied communities and memes on Twitter, spoke to the current relevance and purpose of the meme.
Excerpt:
André Brock, an associate professor at Georgia Tech who has studied Black Twitter, says Karen memes are freshly resonant now because they allow people of color the chance to indulge in dark comedy about the way the pandemic is disproportionately affecting them. In reference to another varietal of Karen, the type of suburban liberal who uses the Nextdoor app and a Ring security camera to surveil her neighbors and monitor their behavior, he called it “deeply ironic” that white women isolating in single-family homes—whose lifestyle puts them at low risk of exposure to the virus—have been getting militant about teenagers wearing face masks or judgmental about city dwellers’ inability to execute perfect social distancing.
