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6[[quoteright:294:[[Creator/DanaSimpson https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/windmill_7488.jpg]]]]
7A Windmill is a quite different creature from its distant cousin, the [[StrawCharacter Strawman]].
8
9Whereas a Strawman is a dumbed-down effigy of a real enemy or similar, a Windmill is not a real target at all. There is no real threat, and it might not even be capable of returning the animosity. The windmill doesn’t even have to exist to be efficient; much less does it have to consist of actual human beings. On the contrary: If they don't exist, then they can't deny the vicious accusations you raise against them.
10
11There are at least three kinds of characters who are likely to lead the charge in a battle against windmills, but for very different reasons:
12
13# WindmillCrusader, who believes their windmills to be actual threats. In the [[Literature/DonQuixote Ur-example]], this is the belief that literal windmills actually are gigantic hostile humanoids. However, it’s normally meant metaphorically.
14# The ManipulativeBastard who [[StrawHypocrite pretends]] that the windmill is a real threat. They do this to scare people into giving them power, to trick people into rewarding them for “keeping them safe” from something from which they don’t need protection, or to divert people’s attention from their own foul schemes.
15# Any [[TheOnlyRighteousIndexOfFanatics fanatic]] who needs excuses to make their beliefs socially relevant. This may be an overlap between the first two alternatives since the fanatic is likely [[KnightTemplar to honestly believe everything that doesn’t fit their narrow worldview to be actual threats]] as well as being hypocritical enough to [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans lie and tell themself that it’s the only way to make people see the truth]].
16
17Compare GravityIsOnlyATheory and DeadUnicornTrope. Contrast NoMereWindmill for something that is not a windmill but gets mistaken for one. Compare and contrast TheScapegoat, which is a character who gets wrongly blamed for a real problem, while a windmill gets blamed for a problem that isn't real in itself — but might be used to explain away a real problem. Also compare and contrast WitchHunt. May overlap with AppealToObscurity if a Windmill Political uses the absence of windmills as "proof" that their efforts against them have been successful.
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19[[noreallife]]
20----
21!!Examples:
22
23[[foldercontrol]]
24
25[[folder:Comic Books]]
26* Parodied in ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}} in Spain'', when one man the Gauls talk to charges, weapons ready, whenever [[Literature/DonQuixote windmills]] are mentioned.
27* In the ''ComicBook/{{Bone}}'' comic series, Phoney Bone does the ManipulativeBastard version of this: he convinces the people of Barrelhaven that they need to be protected from the (actually harmless) dragons, and capitalizes on his new role as the Dragon Slayer to win a bet.
28* The creation of a Windmill Political is integral to the plot of ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}''.
29[[/folder]]
30
31[[folder:Comic Strips]]
32* While also playing it straight sometimes, ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' is famous for a deconstruction of this trope: Dogbert openly advises people to pick a harmless person and make him seem like a threat. Then destroy him, and have people reward you for saving you from the "threat". (The deconstruction part is that Dogbert is completely open and public with his cynicism, thus defeating the purpose.)
33* In ''Ernie'' (also known as ''ComicStrip/PiranhaClub''), Uncle Sid makes a lot of money selling insurance against black holes. (And no, the comic doesn't feature space travel or immortality, merely regular people living on Earth.)
34* In ''ComicStrip/PearlsBeforeSwine'', the cynical Rat invokes this trope by campaigning against rainbows.
35[[/folder]]
36
37[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
38* The ''Anime/{{Memories}}'' segment "Cannon Fodder" shows a society whose sole apparent motivation for life and development is to attack an unseen enemy using cannons.
39[[/folder]]
40
41[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
42* ''Film/CanadianBacon'' is all about this with the U.S. Government declaring war on Canada to distract from the sinking economy. The "war" only exists on paper, but the protagonists decide to launch a small invasion anyway.
43* ''Film/{{Downfall}}'' is one of the many works that take this view on the concept of a global Jewish conspiracy: It was a total windmill crackpot hoax and delusion, but [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Hitler]] and his followers honestly believed in it—making them {{Windmill Crusader}}s.
44* Paul in ''Film/TheLastTemptationOfChrist'' is briefly portrayed as the misguided kind of WindmillCrusader. However, he is quickly deconstructed as a StrawHypocrite who simply doesn’t care if the gospel he preaches is true or not.
45[[/folder]]
46
47[[folder:Jokes]]
48* A boy walks past his neighbor's house and sees his neighbor spraying chemicals on his lawn. The boy asks his neighbor what the chemical is, and the neighbor replies, "Dinosaur-killing spray." The boy says, "But dinosaurs don't exist; they haven't existed for sixty-five million years." The neighbor retorts, "Well, then, the spray worked, didn't it?"
49* "Why do you use so much garlic in cooking?" "To keep vampires away." "I've never seen any vampires in the neighborhood." "Well, there you are!"
50* Another common variant on the above: "What do you do for a living?" "I'm a [insert monster here] Killer." "But [monster]s aren't real." "Have you ever seen one?" "No." "You're welcome."
51[[/folder]]
52
53[[folder:Literature]]
54!!Trope Namer:
55* Literature/DonQuixote is the TropeNamer as well as the UrExample. The main character mistakes literal windmills for giants. Even when he is a deluded fanboy and not a politician, this trope really applies to Don Quixote. In Part I Chapter I, Don Quixote praises the giant Morgante, because he is the only good giant he has encountered in his chivalry books. All other giants are evil because "the giant breed which is always arrogant and ill-conditioned" [[TautologicalTemplar Therefore, for a Knight, is perfectly honorable to attack giants without provocation, kill them all, and rob them of their possessions.]] The fact that Don Quixote in Part I, Chapter VIII, gets caught in one of the windmill sails could be interpreted by the reader as a funny event, a tragic failure, or [[LaserGuidedKarma the deserved fate]] of a slightly sociopathic HeroicWannabe.
56-->At this point they came in sight of thirty forty windmills that there are on plain, and as soon as Don Quixote saw them he said to his squire, "Fortune is arranging matters for us better than we could have shaped our desires ourselves, for look there, friend Sancho Panza, where thirty or more monstrous giants present themselves, all of whom I mean to engage in battle and slay, and with whose spoils we shall begin to make our fortunes; for this is righteous warfare, and it is God's good service to sweep so evil a breed from off the face of the earth."
57
58!!By Title:
59* ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'':
60** Emmanuel Goldstein and the Brotherhood are known as LaResistance against the Party, but O'Brien suggests that they were invented to keep more control over the population and to identify dissidents.
61** On the other hand, the same is true of Big Brother.
62--->'''Winston:''' Does he exist as you and I exist?\
63'''O'Brien:''' [[UnPerson You do not exist.]]
64** More than that, Oceania is perpetually at war with one of two other superpowers, and the populace is taught to hate and scorn whatever enemy they're currently opposing. Since the war never ends, it's implied the three nations have a gentleman's agreement of sorts to keep from fully beating each other, purely to keep the populace in line, or possibly that they are the same (Goldstein's book claims all of their ideologies boil down to identical principles) and only pretend that separate factions exist fighting each other. It's even suggested that maybe there ''isn't'' a global war at all and Oceania is simply bombing ''itself'' to keep its own populace in line while the rest of the world remains uninvolved.
65* In ''Literature/AnimalFarm'', Farmer Jones, his spies, and [[spoiler:eventually Snowball]] are all accused of being the source of all the farm's problems, long after Jones has apparently left the farm for good. The literal windmill, however, is not.
66* In the ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'' novel ''Island of Doom'', the villainous Piraka, use a Type 2 example in order to convince the Matoran that they're really the good guys, by using their powers to create a fake monster which they then "defeat."
67* In ''Literature/AFeastForCrows'', Cersei Lannister becomes convinced that her new daughter-in-law Margaery and her family are plotting against her. Ironically, her attempts to destroy Margaery backfire spectacularly, resulting in [[spoiler:her being imprisoned by the very same forces that she tried to sic on Margaery.]]
68* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
69** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'', Harry and Dumbledore are assumed by the Ministry of Magic to be using this trope regarding Voldemort's return. As a result, this trope is ironically used against them in response.
70** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'', CloudCuckoolander Luna Lovegood's windmills include Aurors, whom she believes intend "to bring down the [[TheGovernment Ministry of Magic]] from within using a combination of [[BlackMagic Dark Magic]] and gum disease".
71** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', this trope is used in a more [[PuttingOnTheReich Nazi-like]] way against [[FantasticRacism Muggle-borns]] by the Voldemort-controlled Ministry, by saying that Muggle-borns somehow ''stole'' their magical abilities and wands from other wizards. [[ArtisticLicenseBiology Mutations? Squib ancestors?]] ''Muggle lies.''
72* In the YA novel ''Literature/TheKingOfDragons'', the hero's father is a severe PTSD case of WindmillCrusader. His PTSD from military service causes him to believe that the government is out to get him and that terrible things will happen if he and his son are found by the authorities, so he gives the boy Survival TrainingFromHell. At the end of the book, the father is recovering, and tells his son, "I mistook molehills for mountains, but I taught you how to climb mountains."
73* ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'': King Elhokar's father/predecessor Gavilar is assassinated at the beginning of the story, and as a result, the already anxious Elhokar becomes a total [[TheParanoiac paranoiac]], utterly convinced that some vaguely-defined assassins are out to kill him and destroy Alethkar. His paranoia and madness eventually becomes so pronounced that [[spoiler:he carries out an AssassinationAttempt on ''himself'' during a hunt by cutting his own leather saddle girth simply to make everybody start taking his fears seriously.]]
74[[/folder]]
75
76[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
77* ''Series/BabylonFive'':
78** A heroic example. In a fourth season episode, Sheridan creates an imaginary threat in the form of mysterious aliens who are invisible to all but the White Star fleet. He does this by ordering a White Star ship to attack some asteroids, has Ivanova [[CassandraTruth truthfully]] state on her news program that [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial nothing at all happened in a particular region of space that day]]. All this serves to amp the alien ambassadors' normal paranoia up, causing them to leap to the conclusion that the White Stars are fighting an enemy that their less advanced [[EverythingSensor sensors]] can't detect. Note that this isn't done to gain personal power, but rather to get the alien races to allow the White Star fleet to patrol their respective territories (and thus protect them from ''real'' threats), something they would never do normally because the aforementioned paranoia could cause them to assume ulterior motives.
79** A more typical malevolent example also existed in the show, in that the Clark regime used various alien conspiracy theories as justification for their increasingly tyrannical policies.
80* In the MiniSeries {{Remake}} of ''Series/{{The Prisoner|2009}}'', Number 2 convinces the Village that black holes appearing everywhere are because people do not have enough pigs to provide stability, and encourages villagers to buy more pigs.
81* A ''Series/SpittingImage'' sketch has the United States declaring war on broccoli because UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush said he hates broccoli (and because the U.S. government was desperate to have ''some'', ''any'' kind of enemy they could unite the American people against). Interestingly, Bush himself is portrayed as the OnlySaneMan, objecting to the stupidity of it all. Then the whole thing is subverted when a broccoli suicide bomber smuggles itself into the white house.
82* ''Series/TheWire'': Jimmy [=McNulty=] goes to the police leadership and the press about a dangerous SerialKiller killing homeless men, causing the media to go on overdrive and city hall opening up the police budget that had previously been frozen due to a budget crisis. However, there is a no serial killer, it's just [=McNulty=] ObfuscatingPostmortemWounds on homeless men who have died of overdoses or exposure. Three characters in particular exploit the situation; [=McNuilty=] to get more funding and to continue an investigation on Marlo in secret, Mayor Carcetti to demostrate leadership, and reporter Scott Templeton who lies about being contacted by the killer.
83[[/folder]]
84
85[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
86* In ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'':
87** The Commies started out this way; they'd disappeared long before Alpha Complex was built, but The Computer mistook civil defense files from 1957 as being up to date. Then some citizens became so fed up with The Computer that they decided to become [[ForbiddenFruit the thing It hated most]], even knowing nothing else about it.
88** The International Workers of the World were founded by Troubleshooters who had been sent to infiltrate them after several previous groups of Troubleshooters had been summarily executed for failing to find proof of the non-existent group. [[FlockOfWolves The Wobblies continue to be run entirely by Troubleshooters sent to infiltrate the organization.]]
89[[/folder]]
90
91[[folder:Video Games]]
92* 90% of the bad stuff [[BigBadWannabe Loghain]] [[FallenHero Mac Tir]] does over the course of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' he mentally justifies to himself as [[ShootTheDog Shooting the Dog]] to protect Ferelden from an [[CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys Orlesian]] invasion. While some people in Orlais ''would'' like to reconquer Ferelden and [[spoiler:King Cailen ''is'' considering marrying their Empress to peacefully unite the countries]], the vast majority of Orlesians don't seem to actually care anymore, unlike [[AlwaysChaoticEvil the giant horde of Darkspawn]] that is right on Loghain's doorstep and intends to destroy the entire nation.
93* In ''VideoGame/StarControl'', the [[LovableCoward Spathi]] live in fear of the Ultimate Evil. A race of beings so sneaky, they always stay just outside detection range of the Spathi's best scanners. This is clearly proof of their sinister intent. [[spoiler:Considering the [[EldritchAbomination Orz]] are their closest neighbors, they might actually be correct.]]
94[[/folder]]
95
96[[folder:Web Comics]]
97* Congressman Arthur Bennett of ''Webcomic/ButImACatPerson'' tries to paint himself as tough on the threat posed by Beings. It's complicated by the fact that only about a hundred Beings exist in the world, and they're all incapable of harming humans. No wonder [[spoiler:the only scary incidents he can point to are the ones he himself secretly caused]].
98* In [[http://www.glasswings.com.au/comics/idrewthis/d/20040825.html this]] strip of Creator/DanaSimpson's ''I Drew This'', as shown in the page pic, some random moron firmly believes that broccoli is part of an evil plot to put a lawn gnome in the White House. Somebody disagrees, but a third party decides that since both positions have been presented with a straight face [[GoldenMeanFallacy they must be treated as equally valid]].
99* In ''Webcomic/KevinAndKell'', a group of predators try to disguise the fact that they're controlling a Rabbit Council candidate by convincing rabbits that the real threat is rabbits whose ears point in the opposite direction.
100* ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'' discusses [[http://smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=2017 here]] how windmills can get out of hand.
101[[/folder]]
102
103[[folder:Western Animation]]
104* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': The robot elders of Chapek 9 admit they were using humans as a scapegoat to distract the other robots from Chapek 9's more serious problems, like their crippling lugnut shortage, or the corrupt government of incompetent robot elders.
105* From ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
106-->'''Lisa:''' By your logic, I could claim this rock keeps tigers away.\
107'''Homer:''' How does it work?\
108'''Lisa:''' It doesn't work. It's just a stupid rock. But I don't see any tigers around. Do you?\
109''({{Beat}})''\
110'''Homer:''' Lisa, I want to buy your rock.
111* UsefulNotes/AlGore's portrayal in ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', in which he insists on the terrible threat Manbearpig (half man, half bear, half pig) poses to mankind -- a biting satire, of course, of the real Gore and his activism against GlobalWarming. To this day, you can't mention him to anyone under thirty without hearing "MANBEARPIG" in response.
112** In the game ''VideoGame/SouthParkTheStickOfTruth'', you ultimately have to fight him after [[spoiler:he finally goes off the deep end and thinks you are Manbearpig after spamming your Facebook with no answer. After you defeat him and his entire three-man Secret Service team, he ultimately returns having taken on the guise of Manbearpig in a bid to finally take you down]].
113** In "Time to Get Cereal" turns out that [[NoMereWindmill Manbearpig IS real]] and is responsible for a series of grisly murders in the town. The adults are, predictably, [[AdultsAreUseless too idiotic to acknowledge this]], opting to blame everything ''but'' the creature for the deaths. The boys realize that Al Gore was right and tried to get his help only to get rebuked time and time again due to the mockery from all those years ago. When Gore finally accepts the apologies, [[spoiler: he contacts Satan via ritual who reveals that Manbearpig is a demon that someone from the town summoned. When the boys tried to warn the population about this, they instead get arrested and blamed for everything.]] The next episode shows that Manbearpig is a demon that torments humanity via a deal made by the previous generation and that it will only go away for good if people decide to give up soy sauce and ''Videogame/RedDeadRedemption2''. [[spoiler:They don't and Manbearpig is allowed to come back in five years.]]
114* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': It's shown via flashbacks of his memories that [[Characters/TheOwlHouseEmperorBelos Emperor Belos]] rose to power over the centuries by holding sermons throughout the Boiling Isles railing against the dangers of rogue "wild witches" and "wild magic", a threat which didn't actually exist, and saying only he could protect the masses. Since the threat he was supposedly saving the populace from didn't actually exist, he conducted numerous {{False Flag Operation}}s and blamed the attacks on wild witches, and then [[WrittenByTheWinners created a revisionist history]] to make it seem as though wild witches made the Boiling Isles a wretched hive in the distant past, and remain a threat until everyone is branded with a sigil, to continue controlling the Demon Realm with an iron fist before he can perform his total extermination.
115[[/folder]]

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