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+--- Thread: About that NPC Meme (/thread-250.html)
About that NPC Meme - jaybreak - 10-23-2018
NPCs, or "Non Player Characters," are primarily computer-controlled humans (or some sentient being) in role-playing games that help the player further along in their quest by providing basic world information or actual side quests. Since they have no agency of their own, as compared to PCs (player characters, as in, human-controlled characters), NPCs are limited in what they can say and do. They are basically dummies to enhance in immersion into the game's universe.
The alt-right* commandeered and remixed the NPC concept into a meme that targets newer-style globalist and extreme left political types (this video is a good explanation; language warning there). In doing so, alt-right folks point out how repetitive and "programmed" the new American left sound and act. An alt-right meme is nothing new; business as usual, but the NPC meme has "legs" because the many left-globalist folks are incredibly upset about it. Naturally, if a tease produces a reaction, more teasing will follow. A simple Google News search indicates the amount of negative coverage the meme has been receiving.
While the alt-right vs. globalist fight has the two sides enjoying distinct advantages, the globalists have, for starters, the mainstream media on their side, so they can refer to "official opinions" of journalists as social currency. While this tips the war in their favor, in reality it exemplifies the very thing the NPC criticizes: that globalists are merely Borg-like parrots only able to repeat mainstream media programming downloaded into their brains.
While the alt-right certainly can be labelled as NPC as well, they are largely a self-deprecating folk. Alt-righters grew up on the Internet and know how to not take themselves too seriously, with their self-described "weaponized autism" and chronic irreverence for sacred cows. Insults will be met with "LOL" or some form of scatological retort. That tactic just won't work against them.
We teach here that taking yourself too seriously is not a personality fault, but a moral error, another form of idolatry in which the self is placed higher than God. The only thing God requires us to take seriously is the mission He gives us. Indeed, it's the only thing we really have control over, not because we're really smart or clever enough to how to work the system, but because He tailors the mission just for us. In many ways, our mission should fit like a glove—others should be able to see our distinct personality embedded in our field work. The alt-right is correct in thinking that the left takes itself too seriously, but they also show good sense when they don't take themselves seriously, at the same time.
* Standard disclaimer: We at Radix Fidem are not alt-right, since our political views do not fit well into Western categories so easily. We propose that small-scale, covenantal tribal living as seen in the Ancient Near East (ANE) is the best way to take exploit our fallen human condition. To those unfamiliar, that sort of idea appears theocratic, anarchist, or authoritarian. Maybe so, but the real essence defies all of those. English is simply not well-equipped to explain it properly without getting into the technical weeds. So it goes. However, that doesn't mean we can't find meaning in current political movements, especially those that are highly critical of Western systems in the first place. It's always a shifting window: today's rebels will be tomorrow's state authority. Currently in the U.S., the alt-right is one of the most accurate and effective critics of the system as it is, therefore we feel no moral apprehension in looking at their ideas an mining them for God's preferred way of organizing society. Granted, there's plenty of dross among the nuggets of gold, but it's up to our sense of God's moral law to discern between the two.
RE: About that NPC Meme - Ed Hurst - 10-23-2018
I seem to recall that displaying an NPC meme can get you censored on some services. This is simply a sign of where we are headed; the various social media services are more responsive to whiny snowflakes than to those with a stronger stomach.
RE: About that NPC Meme - jaybreak - 10-24-2018
Yes, it can get you censored, shadowbanned, etc., depending on the platform and how many fingers get pointed at you. The fragility of mass beliefs system can br astounding...it's treating a taunt as a sin. These types of people will go insane outside their enclaves.
RE: About that NPC Meme - jaybreak - 10-24-2018
(10-23-2018, 08:43 PM)Ed Hurst Wrote: I seem to recall that displaying an NPC meme can get you censored on some services. This is simply a sign of where we are headed; the various social media services are more responsive to whiny snowflakes than to those with a stronger stomach.
Relevant ZeroHedge article. Twitter is at the forefront of banning, maybe because the meme's so prevalent there.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-10-16/4chan-sparks-mass-triggering-npc-meme-twitter-responds-ban-hammer