They weren't joking when they said they want people unaware and compliant. The NPC meme is dangerous to them, because by mocking the behavior it actively encourages people to start thinking for themselves and stop letting themselves be told what to think. They literally built their political power and apparatus on people not knowing what is happening around them and just going-with-the-flow, but by questioning the flow itself (not even just the direction but that you even need to go with the flow to begin with) and making fun of those on-board you suddenly have people trying to go out of their way to prove that they aren't just part of the crowd. It is anathema to their desired population of interchangeable replaceable mongel-bred debt slaves, and that's why it hurts them so badly they fight it the way they are.