History Main / PostMortemConversion

Compare InTheOriginalKlingon.

* Casey Sheehan by his mother and virtually the entire anti-war (and anti-capitalist) movement. The younger Sheehan volunteered to serve in the military and fight in Iraq. After he died, his mother began to use him as a symbol for struggle against the Bush Administration, as well as for socialist principles, all the while claiming this is what he would have wanted, though his service record would suggest otherwise.

** It's doubtful whether Reagan fits this trope: he was widely seen as being ''extremely'' conservative before, during and after his term of office (more conservative than, say, his Vice-President and successor George H. W. Bush, or his Republican predecessor Gerald Ford.)

* Dante Alighieri was born in Florence, and participated in a civil war. After that, he was exiled with a lot of the loser faction. Dante become Florence’s ButtMonkey ([[NeverAcceptedInHisHometown When his natal city declared an amnesty for all the exiled politicians, he was the only one not included]]). He begged all his life to return to Florence, but he never could. He died in Ravena in 1321. When they realized Dante was [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative the greatest modern Italian poet]], Florence came to regret Dante's exile, and made repeated requests for the return of his remains. The custodians of the body at Ravenna refused to comply, at one point going so far as to conceal the bones in a false wall of the monastery. Nevertheless, in 1829, a tomb was built for him in Florence in the basilica of Santa Croce. That tomb has been empty ever since, with Dante's body remaining in Ravenna, far from the city he loved so dearly.

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** For what it's worth, the Church teaches that the deceased persons have the opportunity to accept or reject these baptisms on the other side.

[[AC:WebOriginal]]
* {{Conservapedia}} has recently recast MartinLutherKingJr and GeorgeOrwell as conservatives.

* FriedrichNietzsche despised anti-Semitism, nationalism, and (towards the end of his life) Germany (he took to insisting that he was ''Polish'', which is as false as it is hilarious). It is therefore quite natural that ThoseWackyNazis appropriated his notes--heavily edited by his proto-Nazi sister--to make themselves seem like they had an intellectual program besides hating the Jews ([[LongList and the Roma, and the Poles, and the Russians, and...]]). Unfortunately for the world, [[DichterAndDenker Martin Heidegger]], a student of Nietzsche's thought, believed them....

* A common problem in modern American politics, and [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement let's leave it at that.]]

* FriedrichNietzsche despised anti-Semitism, nationalism, and (towards the end of his life) Germany (he took to insisting that he was ''Polish'', which is as false as it is hilarious). It is therefore quite natural that ThoseWackyNazis appropriated his notes--heavily edited by his proto-Nazi sister--to make themselves seem like they had an intellectual program besides hating the Jews (and the Roma, and the Poles, and the Russians, and...). Unfortunately for the world, [[DichterAndDenker Martin Heidegger]], a student of Nietzsche's thought, believed them....

* In ''NineteenEightyFour'', Winston (who works at a propaganda center) pulls out a name and photo of a random dead guy and rewrites him as a great war hero and party loyalist.

* In ''NineteenEightyFour'', the main character (who works at a propaganda central) pulls out a name and photo of a random dead guy and make him a great war-hero and party loyalist.

* In ''NineteenEightyFour'', the main character (who works at a propaganda central) pulls out a name and photo of a random dead guy and make him a great war-hero and party loyalist.

In some cases, the poor guy doesn't even deserve his good reputation: The same group who made up his loyalty to them also made up his good deeds. Good in 'their'' eyes, that is - his alleged deeds may or may not go against what he believed in. In either case, him being dead means he can't be there to contradict their version of how he lived, how he died, and what he believed in. In extra cynical cases, the group actually had him killed for this very reason!

* The premise of WorldsGreatestDad is a father recasting his worthless son as a tragic idol after he dies from AutoeroticAsphyxiation.

* At the end of ''JudgeDredd: Origins'', with his last breath, Fargo despairs at what has become of America and urges Dredd to restore freedom and democracy. In order to maintain order, Dredd tells the few others who know of Fargo's true fate that the old man was pleased that the [[PoliceState Judges now ran America]].

-->-- '''AlbertEinstein'''

* Nietzsche despised the ideas of Nazism, but after his death his name was used to make Nazism appear more intellectual. This was to large extent facilitated by his sister, who was a Nazi.

In less blatant cases, they are merely [[NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead showing him "respect"]] by politely editing out any unpopular or "inapropriate" thoughts, feelings & loyalties he might have had.

-->people on both the left and the right (but mostly the right) have tried to project their own beliefs onto a man who kept his close to the vest... After John McCain and other political and military leaders spoke about Pat being in "a better place" the younger Tillman [Pat's brother] took the stage with a pint of ale, thanked everyone for coming, then said, "By the way, Pat isn't with God, he's fuckin' dead. He wasn't religious." -- http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-tillman-story,44352/

* The stonecutters from ''TheSimpsons'' claim that (among others) the signers of TheDeclarationOfIndependence [[AndZoidberg and Washington]] were Stonecutters, according to their Secret World History.

* In ''WagTheDog'', the propaganda spin-doctors turns a retarded rapist into a faked warhero. When they can't control him, they get him killed. This is a huge improvement for them, since his corpse is easy to control. [[ShamCeremony Public burial of the "hero" ensues]].

* In ''NineteenEightyFour'', the main character (who works at a propagande central) pulls out a name and photo of a random dead guy and make him a great warhero and party loyalist.

* Nietzsche despised the ideas of nazism, but after his death his name was used to make nazism appear more intellectual. This was to large extent faciliated by his sister, who was a nazi.

* Darwin's writings (and later additions) were used during his lifetime and after his death to justify social darwinism and eugenics. He disapproved and fought against both.

* The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, aka the Mormons, perform baptism for deceased people not of their faith. They see it as providing a favor for people who didn't have the opportunity to be baptised in life. Critics say the practice is disrespectful and amounts to trying literal postmortem conversion.