The Left, Doublethink, and Individual Thought

“That’s an interesting point.  Come on, let’s get into character.” – Pulp Fiction

Such stunning bravery and individualism!

Not quite a year ago a meme broke out into the wild – the Non-Player-Character (NPC) meme.  The meme originated with video games.  In video games that follow a storyline, there are various characters that exist only to move the story forward.  While you can play a video game character that’s a 4’2” Asian female bodybuilder with tattoos and bright red hair, you can’t play as an NPC.

NPCs can create unplanned humor because they are programmed and react in only very predictable ways.  Slug one, and they don’t care.  Meet up with the same NPC for the tenth time?  It’s like you never met before.  They have no original ideas.  They exist only to fulfill their programmed destiny.

The connection made, probably at 4Chan back in September of last year is that an NPC is really a great analogy for a Leftist that has given up completely on the idea of independent, individual thought.  The contradictions that are contained within liberalism abound, but even more striking is the degree of programming present.  An example:

Stephen Colbert is a late night talk show host who is famous for hating President Trump.  In the show after former FBI® Director James Comey was fired, Colbert mentioned Comey was fired.  The crowd was used to Comey being a villain.  Why was Comey a villain?  On the eve of the election of 2016, Comey announced a new investigation of the “newly-found e-mails” off of convicted creep Anthony Weiner that cost Hillary the election.

The crowd cheered because Comey got fired.  Until Colbert reprogrammed them that, instead of being a bad guy, Comey was now a good guy.  See for yourself:

Today, obviously, Comey is a hero of the Left.  I would imagine that, if you asked a Leftist, you’d find that Comey was always a hero and they didn’t recall at all that they ever thought he was an evil Trump supporter.  It’s like a quote from Orwell’s 1984:

And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed – if all records told the same tale — then the lie passed into history and became truth.  “Who controls the past,” ran the Party slogan, “controls the future:  who controls the present controls the past.”  And yet the past, though of its nature alterable, never had been altered.  Whatever was true now was true from everlasting to everlasting.  It was quite simple.  All that was needed was an unending series of victories over your own memory.  “Reality control” they called it:  in Newspeak, “doublethink.”

And the worst thing is when the update is downloading that the NPCs can’t do anything else until they reboot.

When you view it from outside, it’s easily seen.  But from the inside, it’s not.  The basic contradictions are astonishing in their scope and presentation of Doublethink:

• Pregnant men. Perfectly normal.
• Islamic feminism. No philosophical inconsistencies here!
• Roe versus Wade is written in stone, but the Constitution is a “living, changeable” document.
• Transitioning a nine-year-old to a new sex is normal and healthy. Has been going on for thousands of years.
• Speech you don’t agree with is violence. I’m triggered!
• Violence you agree with is free speech. Punch a fascist!

No, surely it’s not that.

I could go on in naming examples, and likely so could you.  Are there contradictory views on the Right?  Certainly, but they’re mostly not at core of the philosophy on the Right as they are the very core of the philosophy of the Left.  And, unlike the Left, the Right typically doesn’t end it all in a Purity Spiral (Robespierre, Stalin, Mao, Mangos and A Future That Must Not Be).

I’ll even admit that one time, I was an NPC on the Right.  There was a point (long ago, college time) when a Democratic congresscritter proposed a national tax cut.  President George H.W. Bush opposed it.  So I opposed it.

Huh?

I had always been for tax cuts as a general rule.  I stopped and thought . . . Why would I support not cutting taxes that the Democrats want to cut?  Just because they’re Democrats?

I decided that the Democrat congresscritter was right.  Cut the taxes.  Obviously, that solved all the problems that our nation has.  Oops.

The cure for being an NPC is thought.  Since that time, I regularly examine what I think – this blog is a part of that process.  I also examine why I think it.  If the reason that I believe something is because other people believe it, is that a good reason?

No, it’s not really a good reason.  Unless you’re a Leftist.

I think the reason Leftists are more susceptible to the Doublethink that drives them into the NPC cult is that they’re more r-selected – they come from an environment that values conformity and group inclusion.  I write about r-selection versus K-selection here (r/K Selection Theory, or Why Thanksgiving is Tense* (for some people)).  r-selected animals, like rabbits, move in groups.  They’re prey animals, and know that the only safety that they have is in numbers.  Doing something that’s different than the herd singles you out.  It gets you killed.  Rightists are K-selected – they’re predators.  Individual behavior is not only tolerated, it’s the only way to get your genes propagated.

Okay this wasn’t an original, but was too good to pass up.  I think it came from 4chan.

This explains several things about the Left.  They reacted so quickly to the NPC meme that they had NPC-themed Twitter® accounts banned within a month of the meme making widespread appearance.  How do you know something bothers someone?  When it creates such a strong reaction.

Are all Leftists NPCs?  Nope.  I know a few I can discuss politics with and we can still be friends.  They admit when I have a point.  I admit when they have a point – a few very popular posts have had their genesis with conversations I was having with Left-leaning friends.  But discussing politics with the typical NPC should be avoided.  There is nothing more personal to them than the ideas that they have that don’t impact them at all.  Really.  Why would a fifty-year-old cat lady be more passionate about illegal aliens than anything else in her life?

By definition, a religion punishes heresy and blasphemy above all else.  To call NPCs cult members might sound strong, but the reality is that they probably are.  Notice the reaction when a newly-revealed religious revelation presents itself:  “DACA”, “living wage”, “Maxine Waters is not the reincarnation of James Brown’s hair”, “religion of peace”, “bake my cake”, or “white privilege” begins.

I’d call it a tie.  But unlike Maxine, James liked “Living in America.”

To be against any of these is to be filled with hate.  Being left alone is not an option.  Having no opinion is not an option.  From their perspective, the only opinion you can have is the correct opinion – their opinion.

Me, I think I’ll keep thinking for myself.  But remember, that’s dangerous.