History Main / PretendPrejudice

* Website/FourChan in general, while it does use enough N-words to make everyone in ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'' blush. Most (If not all of them) don't genuinely have issues with black people. They have also gone after white supremacists like Hal Turner.
** The same goes for "faggot". Most of the time it's used, it's just a generic insult that has very little if anything to do with homosexuality. Meanwhile, "-fag" mostly gets used as a suffix to describe someone's particular tastes or obsessions (for example, [[UsefulNotes/PCVsConsole PCfags and consolefags]]).

* ''Anime/CodeGeass'': Gino Weinberg is a nice, cheerful guy who really likes the idea of Britannia being a brutal, racist dystopia. He's still very good friends (maybe [[NoSenseOfPersonalSpace too]] [[HoYay good]]) with Suzaku, who is Japanese, the persecuted minority group in the series.

* Baron Helmut Zemo from Creator/MarvelComics was the son of a Nazi and very much a racist and supremacist. That didn't stop him from having people of other ethnicities and races on his super-villain teams. Compare this to how he spoke about ComicBook/CaptainAmerica's black partner, Falcon, or his Jewish (and gay) friend, Arnie. To cement the irony, he even has a French guy on his team at least once. And his father, a full-blown Nazi, once had a Chinese[[note]]Though given that Hitler himself strongly considered an alliance with China before opting to side with Japan instead, this could be seen as entirely in keeping with Nazi ideology.[[/note]] villain, Radioactive Man, on his team of super-villains (later, Helmut would have the same, now-reformed man on one of his heroic teams as well). Eventually, during his very rocky proto-redemption (he was really just an AntiVillain and not a real good guy), he slept with a Jewish teammate who was "secretly" trying to stop his EvilPlan.

* Website/FourChan in general, while it does use enough N-words to make everyone in ''ComicStrip/TheBoondocks'' blush. Most (If not all of them) don't genuinely have issues with black people. They have also gone after white supremacists like Hal Turner.

[[folder:Comic Strips]]
* ''ComicStrip/TheBoondocks''. Uncle Ruckus. Although he can basically be described as a black Klansman, Ruckus sure does spend a hell of a lot of time with Robert Freeman.
[[/folder]]

* ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueElite'' communications and intelligence expert Naif al-Sheikh complains repeatedly that he hates Superheroes, Women, and anyone else that tests his rather limited patience. The fact that his best friend Vera Black is a white, female, punk rocker ex-supervillain mean such complaints end up falling rather flat however, especially since he eventually ended up getting himself arrested because he couldn't bring himself to harm her.

* ''ComicStrip/TheBoondocks''. Uncle Ruckus. Although he can basically be described as a black klansman, Ruckus sure does spend a hell of a lot of time with Robert Freeman.

** Also, [[spoiler: having his family terrorized by ''actual'' white supremacist misogynistic skinheads]] makes him realize that he's not as racist as he thought he was.
* In the ''{{Dragaera}}'' stories, Vlad Taltos hates Dragaerans and becomes an assassin so that he can get paid to brutalize them. However as time goes on, he realizes that almost all of his genuine friends are Dragaerans, and he feels alienated from most of his own kind. This only gets worse over time, as he starts to learn that [[HumansAreBastards humans can also be bastards]].

* In the ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' special book ''Visser'', Visser One displays this towards humans during her trial. Given the flashback format, it's pretty transparent (even to the tribunal, which is able to see her memories).

->''"A beth din is a council of elders that presides over matters of Jewish law. ''(to Snot, who is Jewish)'' Yours is a rich and fascinating culture ''which we despise''.''"

:: In another episode, when he wanted a favor out of Kyle, he denied ever having mocked Kyle for being Jewish. We were promptly treated to a thirty-second montage of all the times in the show Cartman had insulted him by calling him a fucking Jew. Also, earlier...

** The same goes for "faggot". Most of the time it's used, it's just a generic insult that has very little if anything to do with homosexuality. Meanwhile, "-fag" mostly gets used as a suffix to describe someone's particular tastes or obsessions (for example, [[PCVsConsole PCfags and consolefags]]).

Of course, once he meets up with people who do genuinely deeply share his skin deep belief, these Y friends will make things very complicated. Usually because his new X-ist friends [[IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten insist he kills them to prove how devoted he is to the cause]]. Of course, he'll be forced to decide which he prefers (and side with the Y friends). Occasionally, this won't shake their Y-cism, and may in fact trigger [[VitriolicBestBuds loud protests that he still hates them.]]

There are many possible motivations for '''Pretend Prejudice'''. Perhaps someone lives in a time when prejudice is more socially acceptable than tolerance. Perhaps he works for an X-ist employer and wants to protect his position. Or he could join an X-ist organization as TheMole and use his position to protect members of group X. He could be reacting out of crass cynicism, reasoning (or at least rationalizing) that people ''already'' believe he is prejudiced due to [[NotSoDifferent prejudices of their own]], so he might as well do something to deserve it. Or he might like members of the Y-group as ''[[YouAreACreditToYourRace individuals]]'', but find them annoying collectively [[StopBeingStereotypical ("If they don't want to be called [slur], they should stop acting like [slur]!").]]

!!Examples

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''CodeGeass'': Gino Weinberg is a nice, cheerful guy who really likes the idea of Britannia being a brutal, racist dystopia. He's still very good friends (maybe [[NoSenseOfPersonalSpace too]] [[HoYay good]]) with Suzaku, who is Japanese, the persecuted minority group in the series.

[[folder:Comics]]
* Baron Helmut Zemo from Creator/MarvelComics was the son of a Nazi and very much a racist and supremacist. That didn't stop him from having people of other ethnicities and races on his super-villain teams. Compare this to how he spoke about ComicBook/CaptainAmerica's black partner, Falcon, or his Jewish (and gay) friend, Arnie. To cement the irony, he even had a French guy on his team at least once. And his father, a full-blown Nazi, once had a Chinese[[note]]Though given that Hitler himself strongly considered an alliance with China before opting to side with Japan instead, this could be seen as entirely in keeping with Nazi ideology.[[/note]] villain, Radioactive Man, on his team of super-villains (later, Helmut would have the same, now-reformed man on one of his heroic teams as well). Eventually, during his very rocky proto-redemption (he was really just an AntiVillain and not a real good guy), he slept with a Jewish teammate who was "secretly" trying to stop his EvilPlan.
* Sparkplug, a SuperHero character from the {{Flare}}[=/=]{{Champions}} universe, was [[RaisedByOrcs raised by]] [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazi war criminals]], and if asked will proudly declare her racial superiority, but she'll save anyone of any race, work with heroes of any race, she does nothing to promote her beliefs and actively avoids contact with Neo-Nazis and white supremacists; in fact she feels ''sorry'' for those "not fortunate enough" to be born Aryan.
* ''TheBoondocks''. Uncle Ruckus. Although he can basically be described as a black klansman, Ruckus sure does spend a hell of a lot of time with Robert Freeman.

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]
* Eddie Valiant in ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' with toons, because one killed his old partner. It doesn't stop him from becoming good friends with Roger though ([[VitriolicBestBuds much to his chagrin]]).
** Even before he comes into contact with Roger, Eddie is shown to be on good terms with Betty Boop, and openly lusts after Jessica Rabbit ([[PerverseSexualLust along with the rest of the male population...and some females out there as well]]).
*** Before the death of said partner (who was also his brother), the two actually specialized in Toon cases because they thought Toons were such a gas. Eddie becoming friends with Roger is sort of him relearning why Valiant & Valiant used to do the sort of work they did.
* In ''Film/GangsOfNewYork'', the Nativist gang leader professes to despise immigrants, yet [[WorthyOpponent he deeply respects his old Irish nemesis]] and even takes the man's son under his wing.
** He doesn't realize who the son is for most of the movie, but he does know that he's Irish, and constantly ribs him about it. That doesn't stop him from developing a genuinue affection for the young man, to the point of seeing him as a surrogate son.

* Christopher from ''{{Everworld}}'', who claims to be a homophobic, anti-semitic, racist redneck. Ends up befriending a gay god, a Jew, and an African American during the course of the story, but even before then he didn't really mean most of his comments and even after he bonds with his friends he still makes jokes of the "I swear I'm still a racist" variety.

* Speaker-To-Animals from ''{{Ringworld}}'' could stand out as a ProudWarriorRaceGuy variation. Significantly, it's the name the Kzinti gave a ''diplomat''.
* Sam Vimes in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' supposedly has a high degree of FantasticRacism, but this almost seems like an InformedFlaw in order to invoke the NobleBigotWithABadge idea. In any case, the Watch he commands contains men, women, dwarfs, openly female dwarfs, trolls, a werewolf, a zombie, a golem, a vampire, gnomes, [[TheIgor an Igor]], gargoyles, at least one local equivalent of a Jehovah's Witness, a government auditor, and [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg Nobby Nobbs]]. The Watch is noted as being the single most culturally diverse workplace in Ankh-Morpork.
** Vimes is an equal-opportunity bigot. He thinks that everyone sucks.
*** But he clearly thinks that vampires [[IncrediblyLamePun suck worse than anyone else]], and goes out of his way to avoid hiring vampires until directly order to by the Patrician. Though it might be because vampires strongly remind him of aristocrats, who he sees as lazy and corrupt (because most of the ones he has to deal with are). Lady Margoletta seems to think it's Freudian.
*** Or, to quote: "There are coppers, and there is everyone else." His categorization of "everyone else" mostly consists of "morons" and "suspects".
**** This. To Vimes, if you're a cop you're good people until proven otherwise. If you're not a cop, you're too dumb to be a cop and likely guilty of a crime.
** Colon, also fitting the NobleBigotWithABadge idea might be a better example, especially in ''Discworld/{{Jingo}}''. He dislikes anything "foreign" and expresses a desire that all non-white citizens of Ankh-Morpork should leave, particularly the Klatchian ones with whom the city-state is currently at war. Still, he continues to eat at his favorite Klatchian restaurant where they know to make his curry sufficiently bland so it doesn't seem "foreign".
*** Even he starts to soften at the end though, after they actually visit Klatch and when Nobby points out his hypocrisy. And even when he expressed an attitude about the 'right' colour he ended up confusing himself, as Constable Visit (an Omnian) is described by Nobby as 'pretty brown' and he had no problem with him, eventually concluding white is a state of mind. All in all his prejudice seemed to be more in the vein of national fervor than anything else, latching onto the most obvious common distinction between them. It is said once, and shown frequently, in the books that Fred is as a rule amicably disposed towards most people.
*** By the end of the book Fred has softened enough in his attitudes to no longer be willing to patronize a restaurant that shows open racism. (And for Fred Colon to be unwilling to eat, you know that's a pretty major change of heart.)
* In ''AngelsAndDemons'' Kohler hates Christianity, his best friend is a priest (and scientist).

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* A lampshade is hung on this in ''GenerationKill'' over the course of an awesomely Derailed Conversation. One of the Marines starts unloading on the other guys about how they view Pocahontas after everything that happened to the Indians. Eventually, one of the other guys points out that even though he says he's an Indian, he looks like a Mexican, talks like he's Black, and he only ever hangs out with the White Marines. So just what the hell is he really?

-->'''Jeremy''': I don't understand. How do real racists do it?\\
'''Isaac''': It's too late for you, Jeremy. You have to be taught by your parents.

* From ''{{Webcomic/Homestuck}}'', [[BlueBlood Eridan]] talks a lot of talk about how much he hates [[FantasticRacism land-dwellers]] and [[LawofChromaticSuperiority trolls with inferior blood colours]] to the point of commissioning Vriska to make him a doomsday device to kill all non-sea-dwelling trolls. However, of his eleven correspondents all but one have inferior blood colours to him, and apart from a few racist phrases every now and then he doesn't seem particularly bothered. Eventually everyone just stopped listening, assuming he was simply out for attention, and if he wasn't before he probably is now.
* Belkar, the HeroicComedicSociopath from ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', ostensibly has a deep-seated speciesism towards humans (and kobolds, and... well, anything besides himself, really), but he has at times shown a grudging respect for Roy, and was more than willing to join the rescue effort when Elan was captured by bandits. He has also expressed occasional sympathy for Haley and admiration for Lord Shojo. Furthermore, he has no qualm at all with banging human women.
** Belkar is kind of an inversion of the trope - pretty much every example on that list of ways his prejudice is "pretend" can be explained by the fact that it appeals to his nasty or duplicitous side (Roy in particular has mentioned that [[YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame when Belkar agrees with him, he knows he's doing something wrong]], and Shojo earned his admiration by being a major MagnificentBastard quite apart from any discussion of CharacterAlignment), but ever since he had a hallucination that told him he could achieve much more long-term mayhem by faking CharacterDevelopment for the short term, he's been pretending to be a much more complex and nuanced character; Pretend Tolerance, kind of thing. Though an element of BecomingTheMask has cropped up as well, with Belkar starting to feel very occasional moments of actual empathy despite ''wanting'' to remain just as self-interested and immoral as before.

* 4Chan in general, while it does use enough N-words to make everyone in ''TheBoondocks'' blush. Most (If not all of them) don't genuinely have issues with black people.
** They have also gone after white supremacists like Hal Turner.

** Bender's still a [[{{Jerkass}} massive jerk]] to everybody, though. Had his moment when he visited a robot planet, and had to lead a search for Fry and Leela, the only humans there. He kept hiding them, or stalling. Though Fry and Leela showed some of their prejudices against robots in general in that episode.

-->'''Bender:''' It is inhabited, by ''robots''.\\

** And he ''does'' mumble "Kill all humans" in his sleep.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''. Cartman. Despite he and Kyle hating each other due to Cartman's religious bigotry, they spend a hell of a lot of time together.
** They do try to ditch Cartman and they are happy when he's not around.
** In the movie, this is subverted when Kyle tells Cartman he's Jewish, and Cartman doesn't believe him, saying "No, you're not, don't be so hard on yourself." To Cartman, "jew" is just an insult.

** In another episode, when he wanted a favor out of Kyle, he denied ever having mocked Kyle for being Jewish. We were promptly treated to a thirty-second montage of all the times in the show Cartman had insulted him by calling him a fucking Jew.
** Also, earlier:

--> '''Peter Griffin''': Awful lotta Honkies in here.

* Jeronimo in the ''Literature/TheBaroqueCycle'' is to begin with a Spanish nobleman and proud of it, and thus given the setting, would likely be one with a low opinion of those of other races and religions. He also has TourettesShitcockSyndrome which within the book is treated like a DemonicPossession which makes him reveal his true thoughts. Thus, you get Jeronimo becoming close to his fellow escaped galley slaves and when he declares his loyalty to his companions, he states (paraphrased) "[[CrossesTheLineTwice You niggers, kikes, and camel jockeys are the only friends I've ever had!"]]

*** But he clearly thinks that vampires [[IncrediblyLamePun suck worse than anyone else]], and goes out of his way to avoid hiring vampires until directly order to by the Patrician. Though it might be because vampires strongly remind him of aristocrats, who he sees as lazy and corrupt (because most of them he has to deal with are). Lady Margoletta seems to think it's Freudian.

*** But he clearly thinks that vampires [[IncrediblyLamePun suck worse than anyone else]], and goes out of his way to avoid hiring vampires until directly order to by the Patrician. Though it might be because vampires strongly remind of him of aristocrats, who he sees as lazy and corrupt (because most of them he has to deal with are). Lady Margoletta seems to think it's Freudian.

** Even before he comes into contact with Roger, Eddie is shown to be on good terms with Betty Boop, and openly lusts after Jessica Rabbit ([[PerverseSexualLust along with the rest of the male population and some females out there as well]]).

There are many possible motivations for PretendPrejudice. Perhaps someone lives in a time when prejudice is more socially acceptable than tolerance. Perhaps he works for an X-ist employer and wants to protect his position. Or he could join an X-ist organization as TheMole and use his position to protect members of group X. He could be reacting out of crass cynicism, reasoning (or at least rationalizing) that people ''already'' believe he is prejudiced due to [[NotSoDifferent prejudices of their own]], so he might as well do something to deserve it. Or he might like members of the Y-group as ''[[YouAreACreditToYourRace individuals]]'', but find them annoying collectively [[StopBeingStereotypical ("If they don't want to be called [slur], they should stop acting like [slur]!").]]

** Even before he comes into contact with Roger, Eddie is shown to be on good terms with Betty Boop, and openly lusts after Jessica Rabbit ([[PerverseSexualLust along with the rest of the male population...oh, and some females out there as well]]).
*** Before the death of said partner (who was also his brother), the two actually specialized in Toon cases because they thought Toons were such a gas. Eddie becoming friends with Roger is sort of him relearning why Valiant And Valiant used to do the sort of work they did.

* From ''{{Homestuck}}'', [[BlueBlood Eridan]] talks a lot of talk about how much he hates [[FantasticRacism land-dwellers]] and [[LawofChromaticSuperiority trolls with inferior blood colours]] to the point of commissioning Vriska to make him a doomsday device to kill all non-sea-dwelling trolls. However, of his eleven correspondents all but one have inferior blood colours to him, and apart from a few racist phrases every now and then he doesn't seem particularly bothered. Eventually everyone just stopped listening, assuming he was simply out for attention, and if he wasn't before he probably is now.

There are many possible motivations for PretendPrejudice. Perhaps someone lives in a time when prejudice is more socially acceptable than tolerance. Perhaps he works for an X-ist employer and wants to protect his position. Or he could join an X-ist organization as TheMole and use his position to protect members of group X. He could be reacting out of crass cynicism, reasoning (or at least rationalizing) that people ''already'' believe he is prejudiced due to [[NotSoDifferent prejudices of their own]], so he might as well do something to deserve it. Or he might like the members of the Y-group as ''[[YouAreACreditToYourRace individuals]]'', but find them annoying collectively [[StopBeingStereotypical ("If they don't want to be called [slur], they should stop acting like [slur]!").]]

There are many possible motivations for PretendPrejudice. Perhaps someone lives in a time when prejudice is more socially acceptable than tolerance. Perhaps he works for an X-ist employer and wants to protect his position. Or he could join an X-ist organization as TheMole and use his position to protect members of group X. He could be reacting out of crass cynicism, reasoning (or at least rationalizing) that people ''already'' believe he is prejudiced due to [[NotSoDifferent prejudices of their own]], so he might as well do something to deserve it. Or he might like the members of out-group as ''[[YouAreACreditToYourRace individuals]]'', but find them annoying collectively [[StopBeingStereotypical ("If they don't want to be called [slur], they should stop acting like [slur]!").]]

There are many possible motivations for PretendPrejudice. Perhaps someone lives in a time when prejudice is more socially acceptable than tolerance. Perhaps he works for an X-ist employer and wants to protect his position. Or he could join an X-ist organization as TheMole and use his position to protect members of group X. He could be reacting out of crass cynicism, reasoning (or at least rationalizing that people ''already'' believe he is prejudiced due to [[NotSoDifferent prejudices of their own]], so he might as well do something to deserve it. Or he might like the members of out-group as ''[[YouAreACreditToYourRace individuals]]'', but find them annoying collectively [[StopBeingStereotypical ("If they don't want to be called [slur], they should stop acting like [slur]!").]]

There are many possible motivations for PretendPrejudice. Perhaps someone lives in a time when prejudice is more socially acceptable than tolerance. Perhaps he works for an X-ist employer and wants to protect his position. Or he could join an X-ist organization as TheMole and use his position to protect members of group X.

* Crypto, in the video game ''DestroyAllHumans 1'', says very mean things about humans. By ''DestroyAllHumans 2'', after using pure Furon DNA to create a clone with working genitalia, canoodling with many hot girls, and being president of the United States, though he still says hateful things about humans, by that point he's just going through the motions, and trying to keep his feelings hidden.

You've got a character who is very proud of being X, and thinks that all Y's (and Z's, and A through W's for that matter) are an inferior race/species/gender/religion/AcceptableTarget and should be killed in a massive uprising by X's and those surviving enslaved.

There's just one problem. 90% of his friends are Y's. He talks a good game, probably mumbles "Kill all Y's" in his sleep, but deep down he likes them (or at least doesn't hate them genocidally). Tends to show up in general as a PetTheDog moment when there's a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, HeroicComedicSociopath or SociopathicHero or TokenEvilTeammate in the main character lineup.

* Bender from ''{{Futurama}}''. He's still a [[{{Jerkass}} massive jerk]] to everybody, though. Had his moment when he visited a robot planet, and had to lead a search for Fry and Leela, the only humans there. He kept hiding them, or stalling. Though Fry and Leela showed some of their prejudices against robots in general in that episode.

* FamilyGuy: Peter once tried to pretend he was racist so he could get out of jury duty. HilarityEnsues.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Some Nazis who actively persecuted Jews only did so because they wanted the benefits that came with having a high rank in the Nazi Party. Hermann Goering had a Jewish godfather whom he loved, and he worked closely with Mischlinge in the Luftwaffe.
* Creator/UmaThurman's grandfather was a member of the Nazi party but was thrown in jail for protecting Jews.
* Gert Fröbe, known for playing the title character of ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'', was a Nazi Party member, which resulted in the movie being [[BannedInChina Banned In Israel]]. The ban was lifted when it was revealed that he used his position to help Jews escape Germany.

[[/folder]]

* Former eBay CEO and California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman was strongly anti-illegal immigration. However, it was found that she had knowingly hired an illegal immigrant as a housekeeper.
** Former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs has done something similar.
*** And in both cases, they played it off as the company they contracted for the job hiring illegals.
* Strom Thurmond was a racist American politician who once said "I want to tell you that there's not enough troops in the army to force the southern people to break down segregation and admit the Nigger race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches." He also had a secret half-black daughter that he supported financially. This was not revealed until after his death.
* [[http://whitehonor.com/white-power/nsm-leader-jeff-schoep-exposed-as-a-race-mixer-and-adulterer/ This]] neo-Nazi was exposed as having a mixed-race daughter and an Arab ex-wife.
* There were quite a few Germans who paid lip service to the Nazi Party while secretly helping Jews and other targeted people.
** Some Nazis who actively persecuted Jews only did so because they wanted the benefits that came with having a high rank in the Nazi Party. Two of the most important Nazis, Hermann Goering and Reinhard Heydrich, the latter of which played a huge role in the Holocaust, were not anti-semitic themselves. Goering even had a Jewish godfather whom he loved, and he worked closely with Mischlinge in the Luftwaffe.
*** Although Hitler was absolutely anti-semitic, even he made exceptions for individual Jews.
** Creator/UmaThurman's grandfather was a member of the Nazi party but was thrown in jail for protecting Jews.
** Gert Fröbe, known for playing the title character of ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'', was a Nazi Party member, which resulted in the movie being [[BannedInChina Banned In Israel]]. The ban was lifted when it was revealed that he used his position to help Jews escape Germany.
* Back when the United States allowed segregation in private businesses, some business owners segregated their businesses or excluded non-whites entirely not because they were themselves racist but because they feared that desegregating their businesses would scare away white customers.

** Even before he comes into contact with Roger, Eddie is shown to be on good terms with Betty Boop, and openly lusts after Jessica Rabbit ([[PerverseSexualLust along with the rest of the male population]]).