Ever talk to someone about politics only for them to come to a dead stop? They reached the end if their script. I've had so many unwilling conversations with right wingers regurgitating what they just heard without actually thinking about what they're saying.
I don't think it's just right wingers, I've seen people that just regurgitate information in most social groups I've been in, including lefty communities.
I'm just speaking from personal experience and using right wingers as the ironic example as the Manospere is what popularized the term. I've also had this experience with tankies as well. The Lazerpig vs Lira debate where Lira was absolutely running off a dialog tree he made is another example.
Information is fine. A lot of people just regurgitate talking points and clearly have no idea what they mean. I call it bumper sticker politics, and both sides are guilty of it ("Go woke go broke!" "Corporations aren't people!"). If your entire belief structure can be boiled down to one sentence that you don't even understand, you are not helping.
Sure but the difference is NPCs do not have the capacity for thought. These people have the biological capacity yet choose not to use it. That's a huge difference. Most of these idiots if they had been raised properly would be just as varied and dynamic as you or me.
They're not fundamentally different than us, they're just mentally stunted by their upbringing. We shouldn't think of them as a lesser class of human beings, because we all know where that train of thought takes us.
You may be overthinking the idea. Referring to someone as an NPC is just a shorthand to describe people who fit into the crowds, who don't make real impressions on you, who really don't have anything to contribute to your life, but who likely contribute a whole lot to the people in their lives.
You're an NPC to almost everyone, just as everyone is an NPC to almost everyone else.
You can't always drill down into people's personalities to give them real unique identities in your mind.
It's like walking into a crowd during a concert. Everyone else is an NPC to you except the couple people you went with.
Yeah and I'm saying that's a dangerous mental habit to fall into. Keep in mind that all people are people, and at least have the capacity for rich, varied, interesting lives and thoughts and emotions. You don't have to care about them, but keep it in mind.