I feel like it takes a different kind of person to be able to go past a top chart or the FTOM artist and discover that there is more to music (or really any other thing) than whatever the rest of a globalized world finds "good".
Perhaps. But if so, I don't think the difference is in any intrinsic quality, but merely in circumstance. Having been exposed to good music or other art is a privilege. So is having the time to search for it. If the people who listen to crappy mainstream music had more spare time and less stress, they might seek out better alternatives. The fact that they don't doesn't entitle us to dehumanize them by comparing them to computer-generated non-player characters in a game. Instead, we should decry the system that feeds these people crap when they just want some kind of relief from their already crappy lives.
For anyone else who is unfamiliar with this usage of "NPC", here is the definition from Urban Dictionary:
> NPC - Modern (2018): A term now used to describe a 'Social Justice Warrior' or SJW, as their behavior mirrors that of traditional in game NPCs, in that their thoughts and actions are limited to their programming (programming being mainstream media in this case) and lacking any critical and independent thought process.
I think that's wrong. An SJW's life revolves around politics and they have extreme opinions. An NPC doesn't really care about politics. Their involvement is restricted to repeating slogans they heard someone else say. Like game NPC's they all say the same thing, and if you probe further there is no depth. Of course if you change the subject to something non-political that all changes.
Many years ago, before the word NPC had even been invented and when the political battle lines were drawn differently I passed by a small demonstration. I walked up to them and asked what they were demonstrating about and got a short reply. I asked a natural follow up question and got the response that I "should talk with that guy over there, he's the one in the know".
