Basic Trope: Calling out an unsympathetic character makes the character unsympathetic.
- Straight: Bob gives Alice a long lecture about how much he's sick and tired of her cruelty. As Alice cries after hearing this, the citizens label Bob as a bigger jerk than Alice.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob gives Alice a serious beating after all of those years of her physically assaulting him. The citizens treat this as atrocious.
- Bob tells Alice to go to hell after she made his life a nightmare for years, only for the bystanders to label Bob as a Complete Monster because he hurt his oppressor's feelings.
- Crime of Self-Defense
- Downplayed: Bob tells off Alice for the way she was rude to him. Alice sadly leaves, and the citizens chew out Bob and advise him to apologize to her.
- Justified:
- The citizens thought that Bob going way too far.
- They feel that Bob getting back at Alice made him worse than she is.
- The citizens did not see Alice's Jerkass nature beforehand.
- Alice had Jerkass Realization before and tries to atone for her actions. Bob didn't notice it and proceeded to bully her anyway.
- Alice turned it into a Wounded Gazelle Gambit.
- If You Taunt Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!
- The citizens side against Bob because Alice is a Villain with Good Publicity.
- The citizens hated Bob (whether for good reasons or not) and enjoyed Alice mistreating him. When Bob stands up to Alice, they treat this as a crime.
- Bob inflicted disproportionate retribution on Alice. Bonus points if she was being innocently insensitive. Extra bonus points if she was trying to compliment him.
- Inverted:
- Praising a character for their kindness makes others kind to you.
- Bob is so cruel to Alice that this made him a hero to everyone's eyes.
- Punished for Sympathy
- Subverted: As Bob is surrounded by the angry citizens, it looks like they are to give him a stern talking to, but they eventually praise him for how he dealt with Alice.
- Double Subverted: But as they realize that they are happy for Alice's suffering, they felt guilty and directly chew out Bob.
- Parodied:
- Bob was treated like the worst human being of all time because he asked Alice not to be so mean.
- Before Bob went into his tirade, Alice had beaten Bob within an inch of his life, and is still visibly broken and bleeding. But because Alice is the one crying (and only crying), clearly she's the victim here.
- Zig Zagged: Some argue that Bob was in the wrong for getting back at Alice while others disagree.
- Averted: Bob is never called out for giving Alice verbal justice.
- Enforced: The writer wants to show how unsympathetic the citizens are to his main character.
- Lampshaded: "So I call out Alice, who's been treating me like crap, and now I'm the bad guy?"
- Invoked: Alice pretends to feel hurt just to get everyone's sympathy and turn them against Bob.
- Exploited: Charles is planning a revolution against society as a whole, and who better than those society treated unjustly - such as Bob - to join your cause?
- Defied: The crowd decided to hear both sides of the story before deciding what to do.
- Discussed:
- "Then by your standards, aren't you all rotten people for hurting a jerk's - aka me - feelings?"
- "Is stopping a crime no one cared about a punishable offense? Because you sure make it sound as such."
- Conversed: "So this episode is telling us never get back at a jerk or you will be like one." "Yep. that whole "you'll be just like him" crap never flew with me."
- Deconstructed:
- Bob is seen as a jerk for calling out Alice, but if they're treating him like a jerk, then let him be a jerk.
- He starts making out Alice's supporters to be absolute morons, thus he decides to let them suffer from her cruelty.
- There are rational people within the crowd that point out that those painting Bob in a negative light aren't seeing the entire situation properly.
- After judging Bob to be a jerk, the people side with Alice, and in doing so turn a blind eye to her continuing cruelty.
- Reconstructed: As much as the crowd hate to admit, Bob still has a point. Even though they think he is a jerk, they grudgingly defend him from Alice.
- Implied: Bob is rumored to be a jerkass, but he still has loyal friends. When asked why by one of his friends, he mumbles something about how fighting back isn't allowed.
- Played For Laughs: Alice engages in Hypocritical Humor about how bullying is wrong.
- Played For Drama: Bob's reputation is ruined, and he falls into depression.
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