History Main / NoTrueScotsman

In real life, it's most commonly found in arguments about politics or religion.

* Excessive use of this in the 2008 Presidential campaign led to ''TheDailyShow'' ([[strike: fake]] news for Americans) producing a handy test: '[[http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=188637&title=quiz-are-you-a-real-american Are You A Real American?]]'

* This is presumably the reasoning behind Pope Benedict describing the Nazi party as an atheist movement 'wishing to eradicate God from society', which is, well, let's be generous and say highly questionable. Hitler did terrible things, nobody of faith would do such terrible things, ergo Hitler cannot have been a man of faith, right?

* Excessive use of this in the 2008 Presidential campaign led to ''TheDailyShow'' (fake news for Americans) producing a handy test: '[[http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=188637&title=quiz-are-you-a-real-american Are You A Real American?]]'

* Excessive use of this in the 2008 Presidential campaign led to ''TheDailyShow'' (fake news for fake Americans) producing a handy test: '[[http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=188637&title=quiz-are-you-a-real-american Are You A Real American?]]'

* [[StopBeingStereotypical Stereotypes]] that only something [[AccentuateTheNegative negative]] can only be done in a specific region or group of people, including but not limited to: OnlyInAmerica, OnlyInFlorida, and OnlyInMiami.

* [[StopBeingStereotypical Stereotypes]] that only a specific region or group of people can only do something [[AccentuateTheNegative negative]], including but not limited to: OnlyInAmerica, OnlyInFlorida, and OnlyInMiami.

* OnlyInAmerica

* FandomHeresy.
* Often used to deny the existence of a FanDumb by other fans of the same work.

In real life, it's most commonly found in arguments about politics or religion. (OnlyInAmerica is one example of this.)

In real life, it's most commonly found in arguments about politics or religion. OnlyInAmerica is one example of this.

In real life, it's most commonly found in arguments about politics or religion.

* Often used in RealLife (even here on TVTropes) when someone says "OnlyInAmerica where this can happen." The thing in mention is often [[AccentuateTheNegative negative]] and is always said [[{{Hypocrite}} regardless if any other part of the world]] [[NotSoDifferent can or has been subjected to it]]. While Americans are often the butt of this fallacy, this can also apply to other regions and groups.

--> "You can tell I'm it's biggest fan, because I hate it the most."\\
::Ultimately, it's paradoxically true that only a rabidly, irrationally devoted fan of a work or genre will get that worked up about any perceived TheyChangedItNowItSucks.

* Often used in RealLife (even here on TVTropes) when someone says "OnlyInAmerica where this can happen." The thing in mention is often [[AccentuateTheNegative negative]] and is always said [[NotSoDifferent regardless if any other part of the world can or has been subjected to it]]. While Americans are often the butt of this fallacy, this can also apply to other regions and groups.

* Often used in RealLife when someone says "OnlyInAmerica where this can happen." The thing in mention is often [[AccentuateTheNegative negative]] and is always said [[NotSoDifferent regardless if any other part of the world can or has been subjected to it]]. While Americans are often the butt of this fallacy, this can also apply to other regions and groups.

* Often used in RealLife when someone says "OnlyInAmerica where this can happen." The thing in mention is often [[AccentuateTheNegative negative]] "can only be done in America", [[NotSoDifferent regardless if any other part of the world can or has been subjected to it]]. While Americans are often seen as the butt of this fallacy, this can also apply to another region.

* [[http://wondermark.com/333/ This]] ''{{Wondermark}}'' strip is relevant.

!!! The Fallacy

Related to MovingTheGoalposts, where the definition isn't changed, but the standards for accepting a counter-argument are made increasingly ore rigorous. See YouFailLogicForever for other logical fallacies.

See YouFailLogicForever for other logical fallacies.

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[[folder: In Media]]

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[[folder:RealLife]]

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* "Old": Ask a 4 - year old how old you have to be to be considered "old" and they might answer "25". Ask a 25 - year old, and they might tell you 50 or 65. Ask a 50 - year old, and they might say 70 or 80.
** So, what response do you get if you ask a 70- or 80-year-old?
***Dead.
* "Yankee", as explained by E. B. White:
-->To foreigners, a Yankee is an American. To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner. To Northerners, a Yankee is an Easterner. To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander. To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter. And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast.
** And the first American you asked would probably say "northeast" right from the start. No one lumps Montana with New Hampshire. The first ''[[HypocriticalHumor real]]'' [[HypocriticalHumor American]] anyway.

The act of setting up objective standards for a particular scenario, then rewriting those same standards in order to exclude a particular outcome.

The TropeNamer and prime example of this sort of behavior is a short anecdote in which a Scotsman reads about a horrible crime in the newspaper that takes place in the English town of Brighton and thinks to himself, "No Scotsman would ever do such a thing." Something much worse happens in nearby Aberdeen and is reported on the next day. Rather than admit that he's wrong, he instead says "No ''true'' Scotsman would ever do such a thing." In this case, he is going from "someone who lives in Scotland" to "someone that upholds some Scottish ideal."

A similar way of illustrating the point...

TrueArt is a subset of this trope. Also FandomHeresy. See YouFailLogicForever for some other logical fallacies.

Another example that will make you think: Many horrific acts we call "inhuman" are actually [[FridgeLogic only done by]] [[HumansAreBastards humans themselves]]...

Frequently used in electoral politics, but risky. Used in various fandoms to deny the existence of a FanDumb, sometimes. Also used by the religious--but it's [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in cases where the religion has moral codes of conduct that believers are expected to follow.

!!Examples of terms that tend to get used in this way:
[[AC:RealLife]]
* "Old": Ask a 4 - year old how old you have to be to be considered "old" and they might answer "25". Ask a 25 - year old, and they might tell you 50 or 65. Ask a 50 - year old, and they might say 70 or 80.
** So, what response do you get if you ask a 70- or 80-year-old?
***Dead.
* "Yankee", as explained by E. B. White:
-->To foreigners, a Yankee is an American. To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner. To Northerners, a Yankee is an Easterner. To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander. To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter. And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast.
** Today, Vermont residents would probably be more likely to think that a "Yankee" is a baseball player.
*** And the first American you asked would probably say "northeast" right from the start. No one lumps Montana with New Hampshire. The first ''[[HypocriticalHumor real]]'' [[HypocriticalHumor American]] anyway.
* [[http://wondermark.com/333/ This]] ''{{Wondermark}}'' strip is relevant.
* "Anyone who drives slower than you is an idiot, and anyone who drives faster than you is a '''MANIAC!'''" - GeorgeCarlin
** Along the same lines, "Any culture less civilised than your own are barbarians. Any culture more civilised is decadent."

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