Don't Kid Yourself, Hypocrites Aren't Exclusively Leftists
If you aren't familiar with the hypocrisy of the left, American Thinker has an article that explains it here. However, some conservatives deserve the label as well, especially those that subscribe to authoritarianism. The issue I'll use to illustrate my point is flag desecration.
A typical authoritarian conservative would be offended (triggered) by this image:
They would bemoan the desecration of the flag, and might even threaten violence against the people doing it.
In a previous blog "The Desecration of Old Glory" I pointed out the hypocrisy of someone that claims to support freedom of speech threatening violence against some practicing free speech, but in this blog I'm focusing on another hypocrisy. The same people that get upset at the picture above, aren't offended, and may even support and display the flag desecration commonly used by law enforcement.
This is what George Orwell called "doublethink." Orwell defined it as the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. A more in-depth explanation of doublethink can be found here.
This clearly illustrates the left doesn't have a monopoly on hypocrisy and doublethink, nor are they the only ones deserving of the label NPC. I've met plenty of people both conservative and liberal that have very predictable responses, but are unable to explain the reasoning behind their response. It's as if they were just programmed to think that way, never questioning what they were told to believe by parents, pastors, peers, or professors.
If you truly want to call yourself an independent thinker, you can't just regurgitate information. I think a school system that encourages memorization and regurgitation of information over critical thinking might be part of the problem. Students spend too much time memorizing the who, what, when, or where, and not much time if any analyzing the why.
I'd be remiss if I didn't also point out that as humans, we're all programmed on some level by our genetics and experiences. So, while I do enjoy the NPC Meme, I suspect some that wield it in internet battles have their own programmed responses when their views are challenged. Lucky for them, the left can't meme.