History Main / PostMortemConversion

* Conservapedia is among the many who Post Mortem Convert George Orwell; they have also recently recast MartinLutherKingJr, another socialist. They also appropriate ''all'' of America's Founding Fathers (presumably including even UsefulNotes/AlexanderHamilton, who could be plausibly claimed as a liberal). The noted Progressive reformer UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt as well.

* Interestingly, Conservapedia does ''not'' give this treatment to AynRand, and in fact seems to loathe her, even as many conservatives have co-opted her philosophy since her death in 1982. Ironic for a woman who, for a while at least, was popular with the 1960s counterculture.

* UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler is an almost universal inversion in that ''nobody'' wants him on their side. Whenever his beliefs are discussed outside of [[ThoseWackyNazis neo-nazi circles]] they never coincide with the beliefs of the speaker, [[GodwinsLaw and usually do coincide with those of the speaker's opponent]]. He is alternately labelled a left- or right-winger [[note]]Hitler's brand of Facism is generally accepted to be an extreme right-wing philosophy for its dependence on nationalism and militarism, though it draws from both ends of the spectrum and there are arguments to be made that it is ''neither'' right nor left wing.[[/note]]; a Christian, an atheist, an agnostic, or a pagan [[note]]TheOtherWiki has [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_views_of_Adolf_Hitler an entire article]] on this one.[[/note]]; for or against gun rights [[note]]Generally for - Hitler was a fan of the Swiss model of gun ownership and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_legislation_in_Germany#Gun_regulation_of_the_Third_Reich loosened gun laws considerably]] for everyone except the Jews.[[/note]]; so on and so forth. HitlerAteSugar is this phenomenon in trope form.

* Humorist AmbroseBierce famously accused the Freemasons of achieving great antiquity by "cleverly recruiting the dead."

Compare and contrast PostMortemCloset, where the character is merely made more "normal" and average.

* Conservapedia is among the many who Post Mortem Convert George Orwell; they have also recently recast MartinLutherKingJr, another socialist. They also appropriate ''all'' of America's Founding Fathers (presumably including even UsefulNotes/AlexanderHamilton, who could be plausibly claimed as a liberal). Several of America's most liberal presidents have also undergone this from the site, including UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt, UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower, and-more bizarrely-UsefulNotes/RichardNixon.

* Creator/GeorgeOrwell. Hoo boy. Since his death in 1950, many people from Right to Left have claimed that 'if Orwell was alive now, he would have been on our side', often [[QuoteMine selectively quoting]] him in the process. Orwell particularly attracts Post Mortem Conversions for two reasons. Firstly, he's a vulnerable target, because his own views were quite complex and often seemingly contradictory (for example, he was a revolutionary Socialist but took a deeply conservative stance on many cultural issues--recall that bit in ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' about pints vs. half-litres of beer[[note]]Never mind that a pint and half a litre are almost the same thing: Orwell's preferred Imperial pints are 68 mL more (a double-shot) and American pints are 27 mL less (one shot) than half a litre.[[/note]]) - a point which he [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by calling himself a "Tory anarchist". He also wasn't above sharply criticising some of the more extremist elements in his own political camp; ''Literature/AnimalFarm'' in particular contains a very unsubtle NoCelebritiesWereHarmed caricature of JosephStalin in Napoleon. And secondly, he is a ''heavily'' idolised figure who is almost universally held up as a shining example of BrutalHonesty, making it very attractive to try and Post Mortem Convert him to one's cause.

!!!Examples

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* The stonecutters from ''TheSimpsons'' claim that (among others) the signers of The Declaration of Independence [[AndZoidberg and Washington]] were Stonecutters, according to their Secret World History (this is a reference to the RealLife membership of many, including Washington, in the Freemasons, which the stonecutters are a thinly veiled parody of).

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* Wiki/{{Conservapedia}} is among the many who Post Mortem Convert George Orwell; they have also recently recast MartinLutherKingJr, another socialist. They also appropriate ''all'' of America's Founding Fathers (presumably including even UsefulNotes/AlexanderHamilton, who could be plausibly claimed as a liberal). Several of America's most liberal presidents have also undergone this from the site, including UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt, UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower, and-more bizarrely-UsefulNotes/RichardNixon.

* Creator/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--perhaps [[TheGadfly intentionally so]]--as it is hilarious). It is therefore quite natural that ThoseWackyNazis appropriated his notes - heavily edited by his proto-Nazi sister - to make it 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....

* ''Webcomic/HarkAVagrant'' had a [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=204 comic]] poking fun at the myth that CharlesDarwin recanted his theories on his deathbed.

* Wiki/{{Conservapedia}} is among the many who Post Mortem Convert George Orwell; they have also recently recast MartinLutherKingJr as a conservative (when even ''liberals'' of his own era thought he went too far). They also appropriate ''all'' of America's Founding Fathers (presumably including even UsefulNotes/AlexanderHamilton and UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson, each of whom could be plausibly claimed as liberals and who detested each other in any case).

* ''Drowtales'': [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=9897 Quaintana discusses this]]. Then orders the statue of a queen idolized as a goddess to be broken to shreds, despite not having much amenity towards her, because of her disgust at how the Sharens "converted" one of their high queens to godhood and then used her as an excuse to rule as tyrants. Bonus points due to the blind faith one of the other factions has for this goddess, and how their opposing faction knows that the so-called divine high queen ''became an archdemon''.

* Wiki/{{Conservapedia}} is among the many who Post Mortem Convert George Orwell; they have also recently recast MartinLutherKingJr as a conservative (when even ''liberals'' of his own era thought he went too far). They also appropriate ''all'' of America's Founding Fathers (presumably including even AlexanderHamilton and ThomasJefferson, each of whom could be plausibly claimed as liberals and who detested each other in any case).

** Was Alexander Graham Bell (and his various inventions) Canadian, American, or Scottish? [[note]]Born in Scotland, moved to Canada at age 23 - his most famous experiments and the development of the telephone took place on both sides of the Canadian/American border (primarily in Boston and Brantford).

* UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler is an almost universal inversion in that ''nobody'' wants him on their side. Whenever his beliefs are discussed outside of [[ThoseWackyNazis neo-nazi circles]] they never coincide with the beliefs of the speaker, [[GodwinsLaw and usually do coincide with those of the speaker's opponent]]. He is alternately labelled a left- or right-winger [[note]]Hitler's brand of Facism is generally accepted to be an extreme right-wing philosophy for its dependence on nationalism and militarism, though it draws from both ends of the spectrum and there are arguments to be made that it is ''neither'' right nor left wing.[[/note]]; a Christian, an atheist, an agnostic, or a pagan [[note]]TheOtherWiki has [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_views_of_Adolf_Hitler#Persecution_of_the_Churches an entire article]] on this one.[[/note]]; for or against gun rights [[note]]Generally for - Hitler was a fan of the Swiss model of gun ownership and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_legislation_in_Germany#Gun_regulation_of_the_Third_Reich loosened gun laws considerably]] for everyone except the Jews.[[/note]]; so on and so forth. HitlerAteSugar is this phenomenon in trope form.

* Whenever UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler's beliefs are discussed outside of [[ThoseWackyNazis neo-nazi circles]], they never coincide with the beliefs of the speaker, [[GodwinsLaw and usually do coincide with those of the speaker's opponent]].

* 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 [[GeorgeWBush 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.

* Interestingly, Conservapedia does ''not'' give this treatment to AynRand, and in fact seem to loathe her, even as many conservatives have co-opted her philosophy since her death in 1982. Ironic for a woman who, for a while at least, was popular with the 1960s counterculture.

* Wiki/{{Conservapedia}} is among the many who Post Mortem Convert George Orwell; they have also recently recast MartinLutherKingJr as a conservative (when even ''liberals'' of his own era thought he went too far).

* ''Webcomic/Drowtales'': [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=9897 Quaintana discusses this]]. Then orders the statue of a queen idolized as a goddess to be broken to shreds, despite not having much amenity towards her.

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* In the backstory of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', Yuna's father Braska was a rebel who questioned authority and reached out in peace to the Al-Bhed, a people that the theocratic CorruptChurch he belonged to liked to use as a scapegoat, and was cast out of the clergy as a result. When Braska set out on his journey, he mused on what a delightful irony it would be if he, Auron (then a warrior-priest in disgrace for political reasons) and Jecht (seemingly a drunken heretic claiming to be from a city destroyed 1000 years ago) were the ones to defeat [[EldritchAbomination Sin]]. Fast forward to the present, and the Church of Yevon is proclaiming Braska a champion of the Church to be emulated by the faithful while never mentioning the way he challenged the Church. There's even a short scene where Auron stands before a statue of Braska in a temple and comments on the irony.
* Slightly played with in ''VideoGame/LastScenario'', where Alexander, one of the renowned heroes of the previous age, has a tomb erected in his honor in the Empire's capital city (the Empire being the faction Alexander was fighting AGAINST) [[spoiler: for an unjust war which he had turned his back on. There is however a kicker. The tomb is a fake that doesn't even have his body. That is because he was up to that point still alive, although due to being held hostage in a scientist military facility and having his memories mostly sapped by the setting's magical rocks biorites, he still fit the trope as he is generally unable to contest the falsehoods that his name was being used for. ]]

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* Done quite literally in ''WebAnimation/TheSagaOfBiorn'', which ends with [[spoiler:the title character being posthumously converted from Asatru to Christianity by being buried in hallowed ground by some nuns he rescued (as a side effect of his whole 'die in combat to reach WarriorHeaven' faith). Being sent to a [[HellOfAHeaven Heaven that resembles his own faith's Helheim doesn't please his spirit much.]]]]

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* ''Webcomic/HarkAVagrant'' had a [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=204 comic]] poking fun at the myth that CharlesDarwin recanted his theories on his deathbed.

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* The stonecutters from ''TheSimpsons'' claim that (among others) the signers of The Declaration of Independence [[AndZoidberg and Washington]] were Stonecutters, according to their Secret World History (this is a reference to the RealLife membership of many, including Washington, in the Freemasons, which the stonecutters are a thinly veiled parody of).

-->-- '''AlbertEinstein''' addressing the French Philosophical Society

* At the end of ''JudgeDredd: Origins'', with his last breath, [[spoiler: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]].]]

* In ''WagTheDog'', the propaganda spin-doctors turns a retarded rapist into a faked war-hero. 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]].
* The premise of WorldsGreatestDad is a father recasting his worthless son [[spoiler:as a tragic idol after he dies from AutoeroticAsphyxiation.]]
* In the Serbian film ''TheUnderground'', a gun-runner during World War 2 becomes a powerful man in the Communist Yugoslavian government by paying poetic tribute to the martyrdom of his former partner Blacky. In reality, they were only in the resistance for the money, their legendary fight with Nazis was over a girl, and Blacky is still alive.

* Wiki/{{Conservapedia}} is among the many who Post Mortem Convert George Orwell; they have also recently recast MartinLutherKingJr as a conservative.

* Creator/GeorgeOrwell. Hoo boy. Since his death in 1950, many people from Right to Left have claimed that 'if Orwell was alive now, he would have been on our side', often [[QuoteMine selectively quoting]] him in the process. Orwell particularly attracts Post Mortem Conversions for two reasons. Firstly, he's a vulnerable target, because his own views were quite complex and often seemingly contradictory (for example, he was a revolutionary Socialist but took a deeply conservative stance on many cultural issues--recall that bit in ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' about pints vs. half-litres of beer[[note]]Never mind that a pint and half a litre are almost the same thing: Orwell's preferred Imperial pints are 68 mL more (a double-shot) and American pints are 27 mL less (one shot) than half a litre.[[/note]]) - a point which he [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by calling himself a "Tory anarchist". He also wasn't above sharply criticising some of the more extremist elements in his own political camp; ''Literature/AnimalFarm'' in particular contains a very unsubtle NoCelebritiesWereHarmed caricature of JoesephStalin in Napoleon. And secondly, he is a ''heavily'' idolised figure who is almost universally held up as a shining example of BrutalHonesty, making it very attractive to try and Post Mortem Convert him to one's cause.