Below are a few variations of the “I support the current thing” meme floating around the Intertubes.
The memes feature a sketchily drawn, grey-skinned “non-player character”(NPC) surrounded by symbols and icons of various newsworthy topics and causes.
Non-player character?
Yes. Non-player characters are computer-generated figures in video games. Unlike human players with their joysticks and keyboards and avatars, NPCs are pre-coded into games as digital figures milling about with no agency of their own. They are algorithm-directed.
Wikipedia explains:
A non-player character (NPC) is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player.[1] The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster or referee rather than by another player. In video games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer (instead of a player) that has a predetermined set of behaviors that potentially will impact gameplay, but will not necessarily be the product of true artificial intelligence.
Real-world human players in a video game can get into all sorts of interactions with other real-world human players, limited only by the options offered by the game itself. In contrast, non-player characters have a relatively narrow range of preset behaviours.
(Examples of NPCs would be roadside figures in a video game like Grand Theft Auto. Action-oriented interactions with them are distracting but limited. NPCs are not the avatars of other players.)
The “I Support the Current Thing” meme is built around a character called “NPC Wojak.” He represents the average news consumer who reflexively supports the news cycle’s ‘current thing,’ with the predictability of a non-player character.
The NPC Wojaks among us - and sadly, they represent the majority of the population - obligingly think and behave according to information from corporate news platforms and outlets. Whatever the current thing - COVID, variants, vaccine mandates, monkeypox, the Russia-Ukraine war, a newly discovered additional gender identity - these are the sorts who fall for the dominant narrative with depressing regularity.
NPCs are encased in a false virtual world they are incapable of seeing through and past. There’s no use trying to explain this to them; they can’t process any input that isn’t pre-programmed by CNN, CBC, BBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and other “legacy news sources.” You might as well try to talk cosmology with your cat.
A friend recently suggested I do Biden as an NPC. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea, considering how the stumbling, fumbling US president is shuffled by handlers from photo ops to sporting events like an animatronic doll with a bad bluetooth connection. As Empire’s dulled spearpoint for the ‘current thing’, he seemed like a perfect choice for mashing up with NPC Wojek. See below!
Reminds me of the film "Free Guy" where Ryan Reynolds plays an avatar with only a few set personality traits and daily actions. Unfortunately it's those at the World Economic Forum who think of us this way. With Klaus Schwaab's favourite philospoher being Yuval Harari, writer of the book "Sapiens", he makes great utility out of the idea that we're just programmable and unfree agents subject to galvanizing cultural memes that can shape us in any way that these global elites see fit.
On a different note; gotta say that I loved the band that you linked to in this article. I can just imagine them as the kind of guys who frequent Stone Henge or wander around freshly minted crop cirlcles.
Love it!
Ha! I'm going to try that 'talking cosmology to your cat' thing...since nobody else wants to talk about it and I am keen. That band is brilliant, thanks for the intro.