Items

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  2022-01-29

  Govern Me Harder Daddy

  This is an Instagram post by jakewienhold. The picture posted by this user shows an NPC accepting all the COVID restrictions. The NPC is the grey character. The NPC itself is a meme that got popular in the late 2010s and has continued to have popularity into the 2020s. NPC stands for "Non Playable Character." The term has its origins in gaming where characters that have a pre-written script and can't go beyond that are an "NPC." This term has gone beyond gaming and has been used to refer to people of any political stripe as an NPC as an insult. It insinuates that people who would follow herd mentality for any cause have no thoughts of their own, like an NPC in a video game. The context of this picture shows an NPC having multiple vaccines injected in, while wearing a mask and a ball gag. The vaccines are referring to the COVID vaccines that some places have asked for people to go beyond two and get boosters. To critics of this, they see this as a ploy by big government and pharmacy to gain more money at the expense of the health of the people, as it is a common belief among the critics to claim that the vaccines are not safe. The mask has been a common trend during the pandemic, and is commonly used by critics to show that people following the rules imposed are being submissive towards the government. The ball gag is an extra thing that was added to show submissiveness and has some sexual connotations. The barcode on the forehead is a mark of being branded by the government and being tracked by said government. As with the things explained of this image, majority of the criticisms of the pandemic are based on the government response to it. For how much it limited some people's ability to make money or get things done that they needed to do, a lot of that anger is toward those governments limiting those freedoms.
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  2022-03-02

  I Support the Current Thing

  This is an Instagram post by waking.the.dead. This is an NPC meme of people claiming they have a healthy distrust of authority, while supporting things imposed by authority. The NPC meme is a meme that gained popularity in the late 2010s and has had continued popularity in the 2020s. NPC stands for "Non Playable Character", which is a term used in gaming for pre-programed characters that have a set script for when the players interact with them. This has expanded to apply to people, with it being used as a slight towards any and all political sides, and portraying the side they don't agree with as having no original thoughts of their own. The context of the NPC meme with the "I have AIDS" thing at the bottom is a reference to the claim that some of the COVID vaccines actually weaken immune systems and sometimes give people AIDS. The mask with the Ukraine flag refers to the current war between Russia and Ukraine, and support of Ukraine in some circles has been seeing as "following the herd because the media/government said to." The top part of "I have healthy distrust of authority" is meant to be ironic, as the NPC has fallen for all the current narratives without question.