History Main / RabbleRouser

* Shrouds with the War dominion in ''TabletopGame/{{Anathema}}'' can magically start riots. They can span up to ''ten square miles''.

* Discussed at length in ''Literature/{{Night Watch|Discworld}}''. Sam Vimes thinks of the Agitator as the poor bugger everyone stands behind going "yeah! right!" and then ditch when the law gets rough. Reg Shoe also tries to be this, very hard, but the people around Treacle Mine Road are too busy picking apart the holes in his revolutionary rhetoric to be properly inflamed.

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** Mr/Mrs Garrison has a tendency for these, in one episode even creating an alternate timeline where the entire world converts to his abrasive train of thought on religion ("Logic and reason aren't enough. You have to be a dick to anyone who doesn't think like you."). Subverted in one episode where, in an attempt to stop legalized same sex marriage, Garrison spearheads a "fag drag". The mob look dumbfounded, explaining they don't actually hate homosexuals, they just don't want them to marry. Garrison also spearheaded an annoyance & fear campaign to make the "richers" move out of town: first he had people burn lower-case Ts on their lawn ("for Time to Leave"), then dress up as ghosts wearing pointy hats.

* ''WesternAnimation/OggyAndTheCockroaches'': "Duck Soup" has the cockroaches lure a flock of ducks to Oggy's yard, with Joey goading them into taking over the household to rescue one of their kind, whom Oggy and Jack intend to cook. The ducks soon launch an attack on the house that is fortunately quelled by the end of the episode... only for a mob of angry chickens to show up just as Jack is cooking an omelette, implying Joey caused ''another'' animal revolution.

* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' , Sportsmaster does this to a crowd of adults after Klarion used a spell in "Misplaced" to send all the children to another dimension. This was done in order to allow the Riddler to sneak in undetected into STAR [=LAB=]s property as the police were busy trying to quell the crowd from rioting.

** When not Garrison, Sheila Brovloski and Randy Marsh tend to spearhead most of the town's riots. Cartman is also known to start lower key ones with kids (perhaps most glaringly getting ginger kids to beat up a Broadway star of ''Annie'' who wore a wig).
-->'''Randy:''' Rabble! Rabble, rabble!

* ''TheSimpsons'': "The PTA Disbands" has Bart stirring up the striking teachers to keep the strike going and extend his time off from school.

[[caption-width-right:350:No one stirs up a big, angry mob like Gaston!]]

* In the ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' episode "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" a series of strange occurrences puts a quiet neighborhood on edge, one of the street's resident's, Charlie, begins throwing accusations around and is always the first to demand explanations from whoever the newest suspect is. At one point one of the others call him a self-appointed HangingJudge.

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* Exaggerated in [[http://1d4chan.org/wiki/File:Serving_Gods_Khorne_by_Mr_Culexus.jpg this]] [[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 Cultist-chan]] comic. 40K canon isn't lacking in examples, whether Imperial priests whipping crowds up into righteous frenzy against whatever menace is at hand or Chaos cultists encouraging them into rebellion.

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* In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII'' you can order your assassin recruits to start riots. Stephane also starts one in a fit of UnstoppableRage while he's searching for the Redcoats who robbed his home.

* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' , Sportsmaster does this to a crowd of adults after Klarion used a spell in "Misplaced" to send all the children to another dimension. This was done in order to allow the Riddler to sneak in undetected into [=STAR=] [=LAB=]s property as the police were busy trying to quell the crowd from rioting.

Their motivations vary, sometimes ItsPersonal, they've had something done to them and they're after {{Revenge}} or think it'll happen again, or might just as scared as everyone else, and trying to find [[TheScapegoat someone to blame]] for everything that's been happening. They might even be the one responsible for it all, and [[RefugeInAudacity trying to throw off suspicion by blaming everyone else]]. Or might be part of some grand scheme to stir up unrest making it easier to [[TheCoup depose those wretched ruling classes]]. Perhaps they were the PowderKegCrowd and he managed to give them focus.

They are often opposed by the OnlySaneMan. He'll trying to talk the mob down, [[ShamingTheMob and convince them what they're doing is wrong]] and go home. This occasionally leads to a man-to-man confrontation between the two of them. Other times, the Rabble Rouser will turn the crowd against him.

** A yet another trick of this sort, has been used by a slimy accomplice of noted desperado Joss Jamon when he shifted the blame for their crimes towards Luke who has just arrived on the aftermath of their pillaging.

* Art from Film/{{The Burbs}} it's just him and two other guys and it turns out there is something suspicious, but he feeds the paranoia that essentially is the plot.

** Later on Inspector Kemp (an authority figure who had earlier argued against violence) changes his mind.

* In the Creator/StephenKing & Peter Straub sequel to ''Literature/TheTalisman'', ''Black House'', an angry mob arrives at the police station to enact justice on the guy who's been wrongfully accused of killing several children. Jack manages to prevent a riot. One person in the crowd (a local muckraking journalist) deliberately attempts to re-ignite things, [[spoiler:only to be taken out by a cop's flashlight.]]

* In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicII'', you run into a guy trying to agitate a crowd against the Republic on Onderon as part of the questline--you can ignore him, agree with him, or argue with him as you like. Eventually he manages to start an actual riot, resulting in a number of deaths.

This is the one in a mob who stirs everyone up, calling for TorchesAndPitchforks or a WitchHunt. When there's something strange going on, unusual new neighbors, a MadScientist on the edge of town, they're probably the one who ginned up public resentment. If not, they keep them going, egging them on when they start to show doubt, and at times picking targets for their wrath, and [[VillainSong possibly singing as they do it]]. Their arguments [[InsaneTrollLogic don't necessarily make sense]], but agitated crowds often don't care.

* One of the more underhanded ways that bad guys have tried to get rid of ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'' is to sic a crowd on him and have them lynch him. A prominent attempt has been by two con-men, Denver and his little troll stooge Colorado Bill who in order to usurp the ownership of a mine seeked to accuse the miner O'Connor first of being an evil ghost and secondly of stealing the saloon's earnings.

Stirring up a mob is risky, though, as there is a chance their anger could result in a backlash against the one who stirred them up in the first place. This in turn may result in HoistByHisOwnPetard or ShamedByAMob.

[[quoteright:350:[[Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gaston3_6286.png]]]]

* ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast'': After Belle reveals the Beast's existence, Gaston, in a jealous rage, whips the town into a frenzy with talk, [[VillainSong or rather lyric]], of how he'll come and devour their children, and calls on them to storm the Beast's castle and kill him.

* Discussed at length in ''Discworld/NightWatch''. Sam Vimes thinks of the Agitator as the poor bugger everyone stands behind going "yeah! right!" and then ditch when the law gets rough. Reg Shoe also tries to be this, very hard, but the people around Treacle Mine Road are too busy picking apart the holes in his revolutionary rhetoric to be properly inflamed.

[[caption-width-right:350:Nobody can stir up a mob like Gaston.]]