History Main / WindmillPolitical

No RealLife examples. Except for the [[GodwinsLaw Nazi example]] already used, of course. [[PoesLaw While there are some people with views so extreme it's hard to believe they're not a joke]], this is not the place to settle what threats are real and what threats are windmills. Stick to how Windmills are portrayed. If we don't, the windmills are going to come and take away our children in the night.

** Also in ''Paranoia,'' 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.

** There was also another secret society (I can't seem to find the name, please correct if you know) that The Computer considered a high threat because it couldn't find out what it did, who was in it, or how it intended to ruin the happy, peaceful life of the Alpha Complex. Because the society didn't exist. Every troubleshooter sent to investigate came back with nothing, and were terminated for treason (because they were obviously working for the other side) until one team wised up ''and invented the secret society from scratch'' just so they could report back on their made-up discoveries.

* {{Chick Tract}}s are full of windmills in the form of demonic conspiracies from which you need Jesus to protect you.

* One episode of ''KingOfTheHill'' had a devout Christian who was trying to "abolish" Halloween in favor of more "wholesome" activities, all to the stupefaction of Hank, who fights her tooth and nail to protect the holiday.

* A heroic example. In a Fifth Season episode of ''BabylonFive'', 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, among other things, denying the existence of said invaders, and having Ivanova 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 UpToEleven. 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 afore-mentioned paranoia could cause them to assume ulterior motives.

** Even when he is a deluded fanboy and not a politician, this trope really applies to Don Quixote. At 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” [[MoralDissonance Therefore, for a Knight, is perfectly honorable to attack giants without provocation, kill them all, and rob them of his possessions.]] The fact that Don Quixote at 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 the [[LaserGuidedKarma deserved fate of an HeroicSociopath wanabe]].

No RealLife examples. Except for the [[GodwinsLaw Nazi example]] already used, of course. [[PoesLaw While there are some people with views so extreme it's hard to believe they're not a joke]], this is not the place to settle what threats are real and what threats are windmills. Stick to how Windmills are portrayed.

** In ''DeathlyHallows'', this trope is used in a more Nazi-like way against [[FantasticRacism Muggle-borns]] by the Voldemort-controlled Ministry.

* The "Cannon Fodder" short in KatsuhiroOtomo's {{Memories}}.

** In ''DeathlyHallows'', this trope is used in a more Nazi-like way against Muggle-borns by the Voldemort-controlled Ministry.

Contrast NoMereWindmill for something that is not a windmill but gets mistaken for one. Compare and contrast TheScapegoat. This character 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. For example, the nazi attitude towards the jews was two levels of scapegoat with one level of windmill in between. Ordinary jewish citizens got [[TheScapegoat blamed]] for the evil actions of the non-existent [[WindmillPolitical global jewish conspiracy]], and that conspiracy was in turn given the [[TheScapegoat blame]] for why Germany lost the previous war.

* Paul in TheLastTemptationOfChrist is briefly portrayed as the misguided kind of WindmillCrusader. However, he is quickly deconstructed as a StrawHypocrite who simply don’t care if the [[WindmillPolitical gospel he preach]] is true or not.

* ''Der Undergang ({{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 Hitler and his followers honestly believed in it — making them {{Windmill Crusader}}s.

Compare and contrast TheScapegoat. This character 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. For example, the nazi attitude towards the jews was two levels of scapegoat with one level of windmill in between. Ordinary jewish citizens got [[TheScapegoat blamed]] for the evil actions of the non-existent [[WindmillPolitical global jewish conspiracy]], and that conspiracy was in turn given the [[TheScapegoat blame]] for why Germany lost the previous war.

A Windmill is a quite different creature from it’s distant cousin the [[StrawmanPolitical Strawman]].

While a Strawman is a dumbed-down effigy of a real enemy or similar, a Windmill on the other hand 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.

# WindmillCrusader, who believe his windmills to be actual threats. In the [[DonQuixote ur-example]] this is the belief that literal windmills actually are literal gigantic hostile humanoids. However, it’s normally meant metaphorically.
# The ManipulativeBastard who [[StrawHypocrite pretends]] that the windmill is a real threat. He do this to scare people into giving him power, to trick them into rewarding him for “keeping them safe” from something they don’t need protection from, and/or to divert their attention from his own foul schemes.
# Any HeteronormativeCrusader or other [[TheOnlyRighteousIndexOfFanatics Fanatic]] who need excuses to make his beliefs socially relevant. This may be a overlap between the first two alternatives, since the fanatic is likely to honestly believe everything that doesn’t fit his narrow worldview to be actual threats as well as being hypocritical enough to [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans lie and tell himself that it’s the only way to make people see the truth]].

No RealLife examples. Except for the [[GodwinsLaw nazi example]] already used, of course. [[PoesLaw While there are some people with views so extreme it's hard to believe they're not a joke]], this is not the place to settle what threats are real and what threats are windmills. Stick to how Windmills are portrayed.

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* ''Der Undergang ({{Downfall}})'' is one of the many works that takes this view on the concept of a global jewish conspiracy: It was total windmill crackpot hoax & delusion, but Hitler and his forllowers honestly believed in it - making them {{Windmill Crusader}}s.

* ChickTracts are full ow windmills in the form of demonic consipracies you need Jesus to protect you from.
* While also playing it straight sometimes, {{Dilbert}} is famous for a deconstruction of this trope: Dogbert openly advising 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 decnstruction part is that Dogbert is completely open and public with his cynicism, thus defeating the purpose.)
* In Ernie (also known as The Piranha Club), Uncle Sid makes a lot of money selling insurances against Black Holes. (And no, the comic doesn't feature space travel or imortality, merely regular people living on Earth.)

* DonQuixote is the TropeNamer as well as the ur-example. The protagonist mistake literal windmills for literal gigantic hostile humanoids.
* In the YA novel ''TheKingOfDragons'', the protagonist'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 him Survival TrainingFromHell. At the end of the book, he is recovering, and tells his son "I mistook molehills for mountains, but I taught you how to climb mountains."
* According to ''The Bermuda Triangle Mystery: Solved'' from 1975, the dangers of the Bermuda Triangle is a simple hoax. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bermuda_triangle There is no special danger associated with traveling in that area]].

* In the MiniSeries {{Remake}} of ''ThePrisoner'', 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.
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