The NPC Meme Perfectly Explains Why "The Left Can't Meme"
The NPC Meme Perfectly Explains Why "The Left Can't Meme." NPC is meant to describe someone who doesn't think critically. Memeing requires a mass amount of individuals constantly evolving an idea and constantly making it funnier. The right has embraced the humor and fun while the left has rejected it. Among the left social justice activists tend to follow the collective narrative or identity this means their thoughts are more likely to be homogeneous where as the right is more individualist and this allows ideas to evolve much more quickly.
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With the explosion in popularity of the NPC meme, the mainstream media is trying to get in on the action.
Tons of articles have popped up trying to explain exactly what this meme is.
Some call it a pro-Trump meme, some say it's the right-wing internet attacking liberals, and one outlet even called it an Election Day hoax.
They don't seem to understand memes.
Though they get close, they kind of miss the point.
And this got me thinking.
People often say that the left can't meme, and that's kind of true, at least apparently true.
Sometimes they do have memes, sometimes ideas can go viral among the left, but for the most part, memes that go viral are typically associated with the right.
In reality, I don't think it has anything to do with right or left, but there is a core issue here.
People who are producing memes might not be Trump supporters, they might not be right-wing, but they are probably more likely to be contributors and to be individualists, and the people associated with the left are more likely to be collectivist and less likely to contribute.
Therefore, it stands to reason, not that the left can't meme, But that those who can't meme tend to lean left.
So today, let's take a look at some of these mainstream media stories, and then I want to show you some interesting data points, or I should say, interesting examples of how meme culture isn't necessarily right-wing, and the left can't meme.
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First, let's take a look at the New York Times.
They almost got it, but what they said is, And they have this amusing photograph of various NPC Twitter accounts, and look at this great diversity.
People actually spend time designing their own NPC meme avatar, and I think, in my opinion, the funniest one is the actual human, and it's an Antifa NPC meme.
They say, over the weekend, Twitter responded by suspending about 1,500 accounts associated with the NPC trolling campaign.
The accounts violated Twitter's rules against intentionally misleading election-related content, according to a person familiar with the company's enforcement process.
The person, who would speak only anonymously, was not authorized to discuss the decision.
If you're confused, you're not alone.
Here, we try to unpack the NPC meme, what it means, and why it's causing trouble on Twitter.
First, they explain what a non-player character is.
If you're not familiar, it's basically a computer-controlled character in a video game.
They mention that on 4chan, someone brought up the idea that some people might not have inner monologues, meaning they might be computer-controlled and not sentient beings.
However, they say that it was specifically to refer to liberals.
That's not really true.
The original idea is just referencing automatons, people who have canned responses.
And they say, it's a long story, but the short version is that a group of young, extremely pro-Trump internet trolls have spent the past several years mocking anti-Trump people as whiny, easily triggered snowflakes who are primarily motivated by social acceptance rather than by logic and critical thinking.
Right away, I take issue with this article because I don't think this is unique to extremely pro-Trump internet trolls.
When Bill Maher can go on his show and say these people are insane, and say that liberals understand in their private conversations this kind of behavior is insane, it's not just pro-Trump people who recognize this.
The New York Times then says it came from the Donald, which is kind of not true, but it's not wrong.
The Donald did have a bunch of posts about NPC memes, but it's just the internet.
They say Reddit's largest pro-Trump forum decided to take the NPC meme to a wider audience, but it's kind of just how memes work.
There's no central hub determining where and when something will go viral.
And he points out that they're probably not trying to influence the election, they're probably not Russian bots, but he says, it suggests they're mostly just attention-starved gamers looking to impress one another by triggering the libs with edgy memes.
We then have The Independent, which just published the liberal bashing meme sweeping social media ahead of the U.S.
midterms, which I believe can on the surface appear to be true, but I also think is not entirely accurate.
The BBC wrote about it.
What are NPCs and why are they all over social media?
I'm sure many of you watching or listening understand memes, at least on a surface level.
I'm sure there are a lot of people who don't really understand what's going on, but I want to explain something, at least from my perspective.
I think it's really hard to quantify how meme culture actually works.
There are a bunch of memes I have, I just, I can't even decipher.
I have no idea what they mean.
People were sending me images of, like, people holding eggs, and they're like, this is a meme, and I'm like, I guess so.
Like, there is a culture of people who are actively just iterating and making new jokes.
But there's something interesting about this idea that the left can't meme.
And I think what actually happens is, inside these memes, these NPCs, as we saw in the New York Times story, you have a bunch of different avatars for their Twitter accounts, and these people were making their own versions of the NPC meme.
That's what makes the idea funny.
Someone made an Antifa version of the meme, and it's a new version, it's an iteration, it's an evolution of the idea, and it keeps the joke fresh.
This then spreads far and wide.
So first, you need someone who is willing to contribute.
Someone who is confident enough to be like, I'm going to make something and share it.
And then, if that idea is good, it gets shared far and wide.
But what if someone says, I just want to lurk, and I don't want to produce these things, and they're not interested in exploring the meme more and being a part of this culture?
In my opinion, these people are more likely to gravitate left.
That's why people associate the canned response, the automaton, the NPC, with the left.
Not that it's intentionally trying to insult liberals, but some people are.
It's just an idea that if you're not critically thinking, then you're a non-player character.
There are a lot of people who just listen to the news, and don't post, and don't contribute.
And because of this, they're more likely to just believe what they hear, and go with the mainstream narrative.
Thus, people will call them NPCs.
But the thing about memes, the thing about 4chan and Reddit and various other internet forums where memes persist and are pervasive, is that they also make fun of themselves.
This meme isn't meant to specifically target liberals.
It does a lot of the time.
But it's not a pro-Trump meme.
It's just a meme about how some people aren't thinking.
In fact, here's a version of the meme making fun of Trump supporters.
They have the same programming jokes, and it's a bunch of non-player characters wearing Trump MAGA hats.
Somebody made an NPC version of Donald Trump.
There's an NPC version of a Trump supporter.
YouTuber Sargon of Akkad has an avatar, and someone made a non-player character version of that too.
And then my favorite!
The NPC version of me.
This is a photo from my Facebook, and it's my YouTube avatar, and someone made me an NPC.
Actually, I take that back.
This is probably my favorite, because I have no idea what it's supposed to mean.
But this is the Canadian flag with the NPC face, and it's just funny.
I don't even know what they're trying to convey with this meme.
It's just funny.
The Daily Dot is so out of touch with what's happening, they said, Twitter suspends 1,500 accounts as part of election date hoax.
They really don't understand it.
They said, the New York Times said, that the spread of misinformation came from a group of internet users who were
disguised themselves as pretend left-wing activists.
Twitter suspended the accounts for violating its rules regarding intentionally misleading election-related content,
according to the report.
I think at the core of what the left and the right is, is collectivism versus individualism.
When we often refer to the culture war and we say left versus right, it doesn't always mean the same thing.
Colloquially, left and right are kind of nebulous terms that even I can't decipher.
But often, we see conservatives talk about personal responsibility.
We see people like Jordan Peterson talk about individuality versus collectivism.
And we see the left talk about collective identity.
And thus, you can say that, at least to some degree when you refer to left and the right, you do have this idea of individualism versus collectivism.
So think about it.
An individual is going to think about what they're doing, what they want to do, and they're more likely to be confident, at least in my opinion, and thus produce memes and share them.
Because of that, they're in on the game of making funny jokes, even at their own expense.
As I showed you, they make fun of themselves all the time.
Was this an attempt to game the election, to hoax people into believing the NPC accounts are actually liberal activists?
No!
It's meant to poke fun at liberal activists.
But the meme itself isn't inherently political.
It's just a joke, plain and simple.
And people in the media don't understand this.
In my opinion, there are a lot of people in the media who are left-leaning and collectivist.
And thus, they're not going to explore these issues.
They're going to look at the surface level and say, this is what I think it is, without actually communicating with those who make the memes in the first place.
You'd think the New York Times would reach out to people who are making some memes and ask them why they did it.
They didn't.
They just probably browsed the internet and said, I think I understand what this is.
Admittedly, I don't even think I understand the entirety of what's going on, simply because it's individualism.
It's a bunch of different people with a bunch of different ideas contributing to those ideas and creating something bigger.
And that's what 4chan and the internet have done for decades.
The idea of this Anonymous, and whatever it was originating from 4chan's B-board back in the day, that led to all these protests, led to these ideas, it's simple.
Someone creates something, and if people like the idea, it rises to the top and then gets more traction.
And then from that, people iterate and slowly change it, creating a rapid evolution of jokes that can persist a lot longer.
But there's more than just the idea of individualism and collectivism.
Like I said, I think if you're someone who's just going to follow the pack and you're less likely to engage, you'll find yourself among the left because you're just believing what you hear from the mainstream.
But there's also the issue of political correctness and not offending the group.
People associated with the right have no problem being offensive because they are individuals.
They're not concerned with the group excising them, and they're not concerned with being ostracized.
People on the left are.
So they're less likely to iterate on memes and make things that are funny.
Because of this, the left is perceived to be unable to meme.
Sometimes they have memes.
Sometimes it works.
But typically, it's not going to happen.
But there you have it, another video about memes.
Because I find the whole thing fascinating.
Someone sent me this mini-doc about how Donald Trump used memes to get elected, and I found it fascinating.
So let me know what you think in the comments below, and we'll carry on.
What are your opinions on the left not being able to meme?
On this meme being called pro-Trump?
Again, comment and we'll keep the conversation going.
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