History Main / PretendPrejudice

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

There are many possible motivations for Pretend Prejudice. Perhaps someone lives in an environment where prejudice is more socially acceptable than tolerance (for example, a man parroting sexist banter to fit in with his macho peers). Perhaps they work for an X-ist employer and wants to protect their position. Or they could join an X-ist organization as TheMole and use their position to protect members of group Y. They could be reacting out of crass cynicism, reasoning (or at least rationalizing) thatpeople ''already'' believe they are prejudiced due to prejudices of their own, so [[ThenLetMeBeEvil they might as well do something to deserve it]]. Or they 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]!").]] Or perhaps the person is simply a StrawHypocrite using their show of prejudice for personal gain.

* Tenko Chabashira from ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' is known for her [[DoesNotLikeMen misandry]], but it's noticeable that when push comes to shove her actions really don't back it up. [[spoiler: She readily co-operates with Kaito and Gonta in Chapter 1, is just as distraught over the male deaths as anyone else, and shows concern and even defensiveness of Shuichi at numerous points]]. She even tells him trusted information in her Free Time Events and has a fair amount of scenes where she gets along with him just fine. It makes sense, given that Tenko's misandry doesn't come from any kind of actual trauma like Mahiru's attitude with boys did. If anything, it stems from [[SuperGullible gullibility on her part]]; Shuichi notes that Tenko's Neo-Aikido master, a male, was joking around when he told her not to get too excited for the holidays, not to eat more than three sweets a day, and not to let a boy touch her lest her moves he weakened, but Tenko took all this seriously. She is still very genuinely uncomfortable with making contact with them, but at the end of the day Tenko's disdain for boys is more an idea she's forced herself to believe than something born of genuine dislike, and she spends much of her last Free Time Event with Shuichi making excuses for liking males such as him or her master that still fit within her InsaneTrollLogic. Her Love Suite Event also suggests that she may have some romantic attraction to boys (or at least those who practice Neo-Aikido), but she heavily represses it because of what her master told her.

* Reimu Hakurei, from the ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' series, is a shrine maiden whose job is to exterminate japanese folklore creatures known as youkai. Yet, despite her aggression towards them, she will usually befriend the culprits after solving an incident and even drink tea with them. Akyuu states that "extermination" basically means "rough up a bit" to her.

There are many possible motivations for Pretend Prejudice. Perhaps someone lives in an environment where prejudice is more socially acceptable than tolerance (for example, a man parroting sexist banter to fit in with his macho peers). Perhaps they work for an X-ist employer and wants to protect their position. Or they could join an X-ist organization as TheMole and use their position to protect members of group Y. They could be reacting out of crass cynicism, reasoning (or at least rationalizing) that people ''already'' believe they are prejudiced due to [[NotSoDifferent prejudices of their own]], so [[ThenLetMeBeEvil they might as well do something to deserve it]]. Or they 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]!").]] Or perhaps the person is simply a StrawHypocrite using their show of prejudice for personal gain.

There are many possible motivations for Pretend Prejudice. Perhaps someone lives in an environment where prejudice is more socially acceptable than tolerance (for example, a man parroting sexist banter to act macho and fit in with his male peers). Perhaps they work for an X-ist employer and wants to protect their position. Or they could join an X-ist organization as TheMole and use their position to protect members of group Y. They could be reacting out of crass cynicism, reasoning (or at least rationalizing) that people ''already'' believe they are prejudiced due to [[NotSoDifferent prejudices of their own]], so [[ThenLetMeBeEvil they might as well do something to deserve it]]. Or they 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]!").]] Or perhaps the person is simply a StrawHypocrite using their show of prejudice for personal gain.

There are many possible motivations for Pretend Prejudice. Perhaps someone lives in an environment where prejudice is more socially acceptable than tolerance (for example, a man parroting sexist rhetoric to act macho and fit in with his male peers). Perhaps they work for an X-ist employer and wants to protect their position. Or they could join an X-ist organization as TheMole and use their position to protect members of group Y. They could be reacting out of crass cynicism, reasoning (or at least rationalizing) that people ''already'' believe they are prejudiced due to [[NotSoDifferent prejudices of their own]], so [[ThenLetMeBeEvil they might as well do something to deserve it]]. Or they 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]!").]] Or perhaps the person is simply a StrawHypocrite using their show of prejudice for personal gain.

There are many possible motivations for Pretend Prejudice. Perhaps someone lives in a time when prejudice is more socially acceptable than tolerance. Perhaps they work for an X-ist employer and wants to protect their position. Or they could join an X-ist organization as TheMole and use their position to protect members of group Y. They could be reacting out of crass cynicism, reasoning (or at least rationalizing) that people ''already'' believe they are prejudiced due to [[NotSoDifferent prejudices of their own]], so [[ThenLetMeBeEvil they might as well do something to deserve it]]. Or they 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]!").]] Or perhaps the person is simply a StrawHypocrite using their show of prejudice for personal gain.

* ''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.

* 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.\\\

** Fry in particular shows himself to be another example of the trope; he feels sorry for his best friend Bender having to make a delivery on an "uninhabited" planet.
--->'''Bender:''' It is inhabited, by ''robots''.\\

* ''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.

-->'''Peter Griffin:''' Awful lotta Honkies in here.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' sees Bart going over to France, and in his place, his family hosts a young boy from Albania. When he arrives at school, Adil earnestly informs his new classmates that officially, he is required to hate them (Albania at the time was still a communist dictatorship), but he does not feel that hatred in his heart.

* Baron Helmut Zemo from Creator/MarvelComics was the son of a Nazi and very much a racist 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.
* Sparkplug, a SuperHero character from the ''ComicBook/{{Flare}}''/''TabletopGame/{{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.

** 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.)

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

There are many possible motivations for Pretend Prejudice. Perhaps someone lives in a time when prejudice is more socially acceptable than tolerance. Perhaps they work for an X-ist employer and wants to protect their position. Or they could join an X-ist organization as TheMole and use their position to protect members of group X. They could be reacting out of crass cynicism, reasoning (or at least rationalizing) that people ''already'' believe they are prejudiced due to [[NotSoDifferent prejudices of their own]], so [[ThenLetMeBeEvil they might as well do something to deserve it]]. Or they 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]!").]] Or perhaps the person is simply a StrawHypocrite using their show of prejudice for personal gain.

* In the ''Literature/{{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]].
** The same goes for Vlad's Dragaeran friends, particularly Aliera and Morrolan. Both are highly self-aggrandizing and likely believe in their superiority to humans (Aliera certainly does, Morrolan might not [[ObliviousAdoption being raised as one]]). Neither see any problem with conducting brutal wars of conquest against human-populated areas. Still, they see Vlad as a valued friend.
** After Vlad discovers that he is the reincarnation of the Dragaeran noble who founded the House of Jhereg after being exiled from his birth House (and was, incidentally, the brother of Aliera's previous incarnation) he starts questioning his prejudice, and wonders how much stems from the bitter resentment from that Dragaeran past life.

There's just one problem. 90% of his friends are Ys. He talks a good game, probably mumbles "Kill all Ys" 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.

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]], [[ThenLetMeBeEvil 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]!").]]

** Vimes is an equal-opportunity bigot. He thinks that everyone sucks. But he clearly thinks that vampires [[{{Pun}} 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".

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.

* 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.

** Sam Vimes 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 [[{{Pun}} 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".

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]!").]]

* A Renegade Shepard can come across this way in ''VideoGame/MassEffect'', expressing borderline-bigoted "humans-first" views while staffing her ship with non-humans and even BoldlyComing should she be so inclined. It's also impossible to play the game without ever including a non-human teammate on a mission, since [[spoiler: one of your two human teammates dies on Virmire]] and you must have [[ArbitraryHeadcountLimit two companions]] at all times.

* The title character on ''Series/{{House}}"' is a PoliticallyIncorrectHero to begin with, but he plays it up strategically. In one episode he distracts a Roma patient's family from interfering in his tests by loudly using the term "gyp" within earshot of the father.

* Mitt Romney, in [[http://www.theonion.com/video/mitt-romney-defends-himself-against-allegations-of,14201/ this video]] from TheOnion.