History Main / WindmillPolitical

* Literature/DonQuixote is the TropeNamer as well as the ur-example. The main character mistakes literal windmills for literal gigantic hostile humanoids. 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 an HeroicSociopath wannabe.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* The "Cannon Fodder" short in Creator/KatsuhiroOtomo's ''Anime/{{Memories}}'' shows a society whose sole apparent motivation for life and development is to attack an unseen enemy using cannons.
[[/folder]]

* ''Der Untergang'' (''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.

# 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.

* Literature/DonQuixote is the TropeNamer as well as the ur-example. The main character mistakes literal windmills for literal gigantic hostile humanoids. 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" [[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 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]].

* ''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.]]

** 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 afore-mentioned paranoia could cause them to assume ulterior motives.

* 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 believe 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]].

** 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]].

** 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 UpToEleven, 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 afore-mentioned paranoia could cause them to assume ulterior motives.

Compare 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, in which a Windmill Political can use the absence of windmills as "proof" that their efforts against them have been successful.

Compare 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, which a Windmill Political can use as "proof" that their efforts against windmills have been successful.

Compare 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.

* Literature/DonQuixote is the TropeNamer as well as the ur-example. The main character mistakes literal windmills for literal gigantic hostile humanoids. 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 their 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]].

* 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 ClimateChange. To this day, you can't mention him to anyone under thirty without hearing "MANBEARPIG" in response.

* 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.

* 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.

* According to ''The Bermuda Triangle Mystery: Solved'' from 1975, the danger of TheBermudaTriangle is a simple hoax. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bermuda_triangle There is no special danger associated with traveling in that area.]]

* 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. Too bad Orlais just isn't that interested anymore, as opposed to the giant [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Darkspawn horde]] on his doorstep.
** WordOfGod states that Loghain's paranoia about Orlais isn't ''quite'' just a windmill. However, the Darkspawn were a more immediate problem.

* 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 [[WindmillPolitical gospel he preaches]] is true or not.

# 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.
# 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]].

* 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.

** 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 seperate factions exist fighting each other.

** 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 UpToEleven, 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 afore-mentioned paranoia could cause them to assume ulterior motives.

* 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.

** 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.]]

** 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 warm 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]].

** 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 warm 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/RedDeadRedemptionII''. [[spoiler:They don't and Manbearpig is allowed to come back in five years]].

** 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 warm the population about this, they instead get arrested and blamed for everything.]]

# 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 peoples’ attention from their own foul schemes.

Compare 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 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.

# WindmillCrusader, who believes his 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.
# The ManipulativeBastard who [[StrawHypocrite pretends]] that the windmill is a real threat. He does this to scare people into giving him power, to trick them into rewarding him for “keeping them safe” from something from which they don’t need protection, or to divert their attention from his own foul schemes.
# Any [[TheOnlyRighteousIndexOfFanatics fanatic]] who needs excuses to make his 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 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]].

# Any [[TheOnlyRighteousIndexOfFanatics fanatic]] who needs excuses to make his beliefs socially relevant. This may be an 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]].

Compare GravityIsOnlyATheory and DeadUnicornTrope. Contrast NoMereWindmill for something that is not a windmill but gets mistaken for one. Compare and contrast TheScapegoat and WitchHunt. 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.

Compare GravityIsOnlyATheory and DeadUnicornTrope. 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.

** 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.

----
->[[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} Windmills do not work that way!]] [[TheStinger Good night!]]

** 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.

* ''Film/CanadianBacon'' is all about this.

->[[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} Windmills do not work that way! Good night!]]

----

[[quoteright:294:[[Creator/DCSimpson http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/windmill_7488.jpg]]]]

* In [[http://www.glasswings.com.au/comics/idrewthis/d/20040825.html this]] strip of Creator/DCSimpson's ''I Drew This'', as shown in the page pic, some random moron firmly believe 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]].