By David Futrelle
As I noted the other day, the big thing among right-wing shitposters at the moment is the “NPC” meme — an attempt to insult and dehumanize so-called Social Justice Warriors by declaring them to be, in effect, a bunch of “Non-Player Characters” who respond to everything right-wingers say with a few meaningless catchphrases, much like NPCs in video games.
So, yes, the trolls are trying to convince the world (and, I suppose, themselves) that their opponents are basically repetitive robots by … all using the same insult against them at once. The NPC meme is even more of a self-own than the “cuck” and “soyboy” memes that preceded it.
Now they’ve upped their game — I guess you could call it that? — by creating dozens if not hundreds of obviously fake NPC Twitter accounts to prove that … well, I don’t know what they’re trying to prove, honestly.
I discovered this phenomenon earlier today when a couple of these fake NPC accounts — complete with grey-faced NPC avatars — responded to my original article on the NPC nonsense. Here are their Twitter profiles.
As you can see, they’re not exactly trying to hide the fact that they’re trolls. (I don’t think even these idiots are idiotic enough to think this half-assed trollery is convincing.)
Here are some of Mr. Orange Man’s recent tweets. You might notice a couple of obvious patterns here. Along with the repetitiveness of the posts, most of them are replies to other fake NPC accounts.
I took a quick look at Mr. Orange Man Bad’s profile and saw that he had 70 followers, which is a lot more than one might expect from a throwaway troll account.
So who exactly would follow a completely worthless troll sockpuppet account like this?
Other completely worthless troll sockpuppet accounts. Page after page of them.
What are you even doing, guys? Why go to all this trouble to push a meme that everyone outside of shitposterland sees, at best, as a massive self-own or, at worst, a creepy way to dehumanize your enemies that makes you look a bit less than fully human yourselves? What on earth is the point?
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On Twitter, there are some accounts that if I see someone quoting without comment (a clear sign of support), then I block that someone.
I don’t block the source accounts, of course. But it’s the fastest way to get blocked by me.
Until today.
Reminds me of Tombstone: “I see a gray avatar, I block the account showing it.”
Build a strawman, paint it grey–
Look, another trollish way!
Pity is that no one’s fooled
By that drivel that they drooled.
@Pie
I’ve seen leftists who sound like them and are actually serious… Generally various stripes of TERF, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist, or tankies (i.e. Stalin revisionists). Very much a minority on the left in any of those cases, but still loud and still dangerous.
You know, if they could channel all this energy into something like dog rescue, the world would be a better place (at least for dogs), and they could rail against humans who mistreat dogs ALL THEY LIKE. But, I guess that would require them to do something that would benefit a living being, which does not seem to be how they roll.
@rainwoman0451
Stop dehumanizing those you don’t agree with, or you are in absolutely no position to criticize others for their beliefs, because that’s an incredibly low way of thinking that says more about you than them. We all need to accept that people, no matter how abhorrent, are still people, and all of us are capable of evil, we can only choose to do good instead. Because thinking of people who choose to be terrible as less than human allows you to think you could never do that, because only “wild animals” do that. It’s that exact kinda thinking that gives people an excuse to do horrible things all over the world every day. It’s why most rapists will admit to what they did as long as you don’t call it rape, because they don’t think of it that way, they were only “getting laid”, against someone’s will, “because only monsters rape, and I’m not a monster!”
What really tipped the scales for me was that they followed up a criticism of the “mainstream” left with “the right aren’t much better.”
It’d be one thing if they said “Democrats aren’t much better than the right.” An absurd thing to say in the era of Trump, but not an uncommon sentiment on the far left. But by saying the right aren’t much better than the mainstream left, it suggests they actually have higher expectations of and more affinity with the right.
I still can’t quite wrap my head around taking precious time out of one’s life to create these things. Are they really that hard up for activities?
Is this masturbation?
I’m starting to agree with Lord Vetinari: it is essential that something be found for people with minds like this to do, otherwise they might do anything. Fortunately for all of us, they’re currently confining themselves to what is, essentially, electronic voodoo (attempting to change the world by changing the way things look to them on the internet).
@Megpie71 Vetinari applies some practical ingenuity to dealing with his political rivals too as I recall, mostly by inciting them to feud with each other instead of himself.
@Ariblester
I hadn’t seen rainwoman’s earlier quote. Thanks for posting it!
It’s hard to tell what this person’s motivation is. Is this individual a comedian? A provocateur? Or genuine?
My best guess is that this commenter is a member of a tiny, tiny, tough-talking and possibly violent left-wing splinter group. I think that this individual is actually sincere and is trying to radicalize us. Hell, I’m already radical. But work my enemies to death in a gulag? Mass graves? Commenter person, this is not inspirational: this is sick-making. You might want to rethink your politics, because (do I actually have to say this?) decent people don’t talk this way.
Some of these folks have actually gone through the trouble of dressing up their gray men with hats and eyepatches and such. I have to wonder if some part of them just likes playing paperdolls, but this is the only way they can do that and still feel manly. (Given their wrong, sad, narrow view of what constitutes manly.) Not calling folks out for playing paperdolls, I personally really dig that stuff. Just want to tell them, “Guys, you know that bit of enjoyment you felt when you put that hat on that avatar? If you stopped hating people, you could have that level of enjoyment in your life all the time.”
I love paper dolls! I used to make my own spare outfits for them.
@moregeekthan
Actually, I wonder if this really is the limit to their creativity. Brings to mind that episode of The Simpsons (really, isn’t there one for every occasion?):
http://i.imgur.com/jMn1DhA.jpg
This is literally all Bart’s TV-addled imagination can come up with. And all indications are that their imaginations have atrophied to the point that they can’t actually relate to people outside of their narrow narrative spaces: player characters, non-player characters, background characters, supporting casts etc.
It would explain why they have to continue to appropriate memes that other people come up with. Originality requires thinking outside themselves, which they dare not do for fear of introspection. (And yes, I’m quite aware that I’m using a meme of a 20-year-old TV show to call out overuse of memes. Sometimes they do say things better in a way people can understand.)
I’ve been devoting a lot of time to creativity since I was 18… with my own characters, designs, storylines etc. Being the guy full of self doubt as I am, I’m constantly questioning how good I am, and do experience Imposter syndrome. Yet at least it’s something I can call my own. Something original.
And what’s really sad is that they think they’re the original thinkers. They think they have it all figured out and everyone else is just the NPC “sheeple.”
Dunning-Kruger: it’s not just for ignorance anymore. Now it’s a mental prison.
I saw my first comment referencing “NPCs” on Facebook yesterday, and was glad I had read about it here or I would have had no idea what it meant.
They dont seem to understand that most people won’t know what the hell they are talking about when they use their inane jargon.
So…they’ve recreated “u mad?” and think they’re geniuses?
On the bright side; These troll’s various propaganda schemes are often incredibly ineffectual, nonsensical and down right hilarious.
This is the weirdest yet silliest thing I’ve ever seen. If this is supposed to “Pwn the Libs”, it failed miserably and gave us a good laugh.
I do like the stupid grey man avatars though. It sucks they have to be associated with this *ahem* movement *cough*.
OT: I have a problem, what to do if a familymember tells you she voted for a party which is extreme right (very near in parts to neo-nazis), her reason was fear of muslim murdering her daughter because she could fall in love with one (the kid is three).
How do you react to that? There are still her familymembers to whom I have a good relationship.
If have been asked to not tell another person, because this person would flip, I am more broading about the problem.
Read an interesting article in the future about the fear of beeing acused (wrongly) to be a rapist. What readers here know is the only 2-8 % of the acusations are false (and the numbers of not reportated rapes are very high).
What wasn’t on my radar was that most of the false rape acusation report anonymous rapist so if someone acuses a certain person the rate of the false acusation is problably a lot lower.
English source:
https://www.vox.com/2015/6/1/8687479/lie-rape-statistics
Hope this time the link works.
re: The OP,
Yeah, that’s pretty much the alt-right in a nutshell.
They mock. They know their mockery isn’t based on anything real, and they don’t really care if it is or not. S’why you can say they’re arguing against strawmen until you’re blue in the face and it won’t matter. They know they’re strawmen. That’s the point. They’re mocking because they’ve decided they want to mock you, and the more ridiculous and obscene, the better.
Of course, since memes and anger are the only things rattling around in those domes of theirs, their mockery’s pretty dumb. So you get hundreds of twitter accounts with the same weak-sauce joke.
See, but if they’re the ones doing the mocking, it’s intelligent and informed and deserved. If we do it, we’re just mindless NPCs droning on with the latest inflammatory buzzwords.
re: rainwoman0451,
Yeah, she’s a tankie. At least that’s my read of it. A communist in the “communism really means top-down military authoritarianism” sort of communism. So, fascist.
(Not that I know if she’s a communist at all, just my guess given her disdain for “the left.”)
I replied to her in that particular thread but i did so too late. Waiting with bated breath for the next opportunity.
They really cannot create decent memes can they?
They’re either self owns, incomprehensible or failed edgelord every time
There needs to be a class on how to meme properly
The NPC looks like it shares DNA with Pepe.
Just noticed a revealing exchange on the twitters (in a swamp otherwise dominated by people mocking Elizabeth Warren).
Their non-4chan compatriots are stupid enough to fall for it.
Well, at least this, much like a Pepe avatar or the ❌ emoji, is an obvious “BLOCK ME” sign to the rest of us.