History Main / StrawHypocrite

** In "Trans-Fascism", Ted, in an attempt to improve the social status of Arlen, and his own by association, has the sale and cooking of all trans-fat food banned in the city, claiming it will make the population thinner. Hank and Buck wind up illegally selling the food around town, and Hank is shocked to find Ted is an eager customer. When Hank calls him out on this, noting how the food ban was his idea in the first place, he smugly replies how he, unlike the common masses of Arlen, has the self-control needed to not overindulge and can therefore eat as much as he wants. It later comes to light that all the members of the city council side-step the ban they themselves put in place, and Hank is able to repeal it by blackmailing them.

** PlayedForLaughs: Arthur Weasley works in a department of the Ministry of Magic called "Misuse of Muggle Artifacts", where they regulate the use of magic on things that muggles use. The thing is, Arthur is so obsessed with muggle stuff that he ''breaks the rules of his own department repeatedly''; taking muggle stuff home, taking them apart, putting spells on them, putting them back together, etc. Fred and George even jokingly commented that if he ever had to raid his own house, he would have to arrest himself. To his (sort of) credit, whenever possible Arthur writes loopholes in the law ''purely'' so he can exploit them and maintain a legal means to pursue his hobbies. It's also important to note that Arthur believes in the overall ''spirit'' of the law, which is meant to (besides keeping TheMasquerade intact) prevent wizards from pranking or even harming unwitting Muggles with charmed objects. Arthur enjoys tinkering with Muggle items himself but also works hard to keep them and other charmed items away from innocent people.

* There's a pages-long speech in ''The Diamond Age'' about contrasting Straw Hypocrites with the regular Hypocrites described above (those who sincerely believe in a principle and are just too weak to live up to it). It's partly AuthorTract but entirely justified by the plot, since it's a subtle way for the ChessMaster to let [[GadgeteerGenius Hackworth]] know that a: his crime has been found out, and b: he can be forgiven... at a price.
* ''Literature/HyperionCantos'': In ''Endymion'' and ''The Rise of Endymion'', the Catholic church is run by a bunch of Straw Hypocrites, until a MessianicArchetype topples them and puts some genuine believers in charge.
* Valentine Morgenstern from ''Literature/TheMortalInstruments'', was this in his younger days when he formed the Circle. Although the stated goal that he used to woo his followers was to reform the Clave (by taking it over), his real objective was simply to set himself up as their ruler. But he ditched his followers the moment the odds turned against them. Once he reappeared years after the Uprising and his failed coup attempt, he was a good deal more open about his true objectives.
* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', Cersei cheerfully allows the restoration of the Faith Militant, the military branch of the Faith of the Seven, and sends them after Margaery for supposed adultery. Of course, she herself has been committing adultery for years with her brother Jaime and has been having affairs after her husband died (by her engineering). This comes back to bite her in the ass when the Faith Militant figures out her scheme and has her arrested as well.
* ''Literature/TheSilverChair'' has the Lady of the Green Kirtle, a villain who ''knows'' that God (ahem, [[CrystalDragonJesus Aslan]]) exists and is just arguing in favor of atheism in order to defeat the heroes with the aid of magic that makes them confused and susceptible to whatever she tells them.

* In Creator/AndrewVachss' ''Dead and Gone'', the lead villain pretends to be a Nazi/White Supremacist in order to enlist the aid of a White Supremacist group to help him carry out his revenge on the [[AntiHero anti-hero]] Burke, who had him sent to prison for being a pedophile. While giving his [[JustBetweenYouAndMe Big Villain Speech]] he reveals that he has been manipulating the skinheads and that he really thinks they are all retards for believing in Nazi ideology. He is unaware that Burke is [[EngineeredPublicConfession broadcasting this back to his henchmen]].
* PlayedForLaughs in ''Literature/HarryPotter''. Arthur Weasley works in a department of the Ministry of Magic called "Misuse of Muggle Artifacts", where they regulate the use of magic on things that muggles use. The thing is, Arthur is so obsessed with muggle stuff that he ''breaks the rules of his own department repeatedly''; taking muggle stuff home, taking them apart, putting spells on them, putting them back together, etc. Fred and George even jokingly commented that if he ever had to raid his own house, he would have to arrest himself. To his (sort of) credit, whenever possible Arthur writes loopholes in the law ''purely'' so he can exploit them and maintain a legal means to pursue his hobbies. It's also important to note that Arthur believes in the overall ''spirit'' of the law, which is meant to (besides keeping TheMasquerade intact) prevent wizards from pranking or even harming unwitting Muggles with charmed objects. Arthur enjoys tinkering with Muggle items himself but also works hard to keep them and other charmed items away from innocent people.
** Then there's Umbridge in [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix Book 5]] who teaches the students that the Unforgivable Curses are illegal and unforgivable while the [[AgonyBeam Cruciatus Curse]] appears to be her favorite spell.
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/LuckyStarrAndTheRingsOfSaturn'': Sirius makes a colony on [[{{UsefulNotes/Saturn}} Titan]], claiming it is completely within their rights, despite the fact Earth is within the same system (there is no clear precedent). Unfortunately for them, they had trouble explaining [[spoiler:by what right they removed an Earth colonist from another moon of Saturn, so an interstellar conference ordered them to get out]].

* ''Radio Free Albemuth'' by Creator/PhilipKDick. The distant, unseen antagonist, [[OurPresidentsAreDifferent president Ferris F. Fremont]], uses a UsefulNotes/JosephMcCarthy-esque Communist hunt to distract America from the fact that he is--in fact--a secret member of the Russian Communist party, and is selling U.S.-produced food and goods to the USSR dirt cheap.
* Happens in the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse novel ''Outcast'' (no, not ''Jedi Outcast''). [[spoiler:The leader of the Baran Do [[StealthPun underground movement]]]] turns out to [[spoiler:have a few hidden elevators that can be used to get back up to the surface at any time. But what if there really were a bunch of people who liked living underground? Would Luke and Ben be justified in changing that?]]
* In Edmond Hamilton's ''Literature/TheStarKings'', when the heroes are brought to the villain, he tells the one who brought them about how they will soon crush their oppressive enemies... Blah blah blah. After the guy leaves, he asks the hero "How did you like my little speech?", and at his amazement, explains that he's no idiot, and such speeches are only useful for mindless fanatics. But since that's the main driving force of his conquest... Well, he has no choice.
* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' has the Lady of the Green Kirtle, a villain who ''knows'' that God (pardon me, [[CrystalDragonJesus Aslan]]) exists and is just arguing in favor of atheism in order to defeat the heroes with the aid of magic that makes them confused and susceptible to whatever she tells them.

* In Creator/DanSimmons' ''[[Literature/HyperionCantos Endymion]]'' and ''The Rise of Endymion'', the Catholic church is run by a bunch of Straw Hypocrites, until a MessianicArchetype topples them and puts some genuine believers in charge.

* In military-themed thriller ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'', this describes the [[DirtyCommunist Cultural Marxists]]. While other leftists, such as the Deep Green environmentalists, are portrayed as mere naive true believers who cannot see how impractical their ideology is, and even have [[VillainHasAPoint some sympathetic points to make]] on occasion, the Marxists ''know'' their doctrines are lies that lead to ruin, but [[CardCarryingVillain promote them anyway out of sheer hatred for Western Civilization.]]
* In George Orwell's ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'', this is literally what Doublethink is. Everyone in the Party must think and genuinely believe that Ingsoc will win the war, even though they also know there is no war because both their lives and the entire Ingsoc system depend on it.
* [[TheAntichrist Julian Felsenburgh]], the [[AntagonistTitle eponymous]] ''Literature/LordOfTheWorld'', comes to power by preaching the wickedness of religious fanaticism and blaming all evil in the world on religiously motivated obscurantism, promising that human beings can use unsullied reason to create a socialistic paradise where there is no poverty, oppression, or war, but only if religion goes away. He then [[AGodAmI sets himself up as a god]], brutally persecutes those who refuse to worship him, [[spoiler:firebomb entire cities, killing millions]], and [[UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming blames all this on his targets still following their old religions]]. Despite his professions of democracy and science and reason, he is no more a champion of those things than the Egyptian pharaohs. Unfortunately, the author seems to confuse this with genuine opposition to his beliefs, since in the book most of the world falls into line despite Felsenburgh not even trying to conceal his betrayal of all they stand for. (On the other hand, he has mind control powers--that only [[RightlySelfRighteous Real True Christians]] can shake off.) Felsenburgh never outright states that he doesn't believe what he preaches, so the possibility of him being a true hypocrite [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans blinded by ideology]] [[FridgeHorror is even worse]].

** Charles' son Lelouch co-opts the goal of the Japanese resistance of self-liberation against Britannia as a means of revenge against [[EvilOverlord his father]], and to create a gentler world for his sister, Nunnally. While he ends up BecomingTheMask and caring about the self-determination of the Japanese to a significant extent, his personal motivations lead him to do things that aren't necessarily in the best interest of the Japanese, such as defeating and taking over other resistance groups, [[EnemyMine teaming up with Suzaku]] to thwart a Chinese-backed invasion by the former Japanese government-in-exile and abandoning his responsibility to lead the Black Knights in the season 1 finale in response to [[spoiler:Nunnally being taken hostage]].

* The second ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' movie has the main antagonist Haido. At first glance, he seems like a humble man whose main goal is to gather the [[GreenRocks Gelel stones]] in order to create a utopia devoid of war. But he's really just a power-hungry warlord who wants to rule the world and use the stones to wipe out anyone who gets in his way.

** [[DrJerk House]] versus [[TyrantTakesTheHelm Vogler]] was lined with this from the start. Vogler wanted to eliminate House's department because it's by far the most expensive one in the hospital, but [[LampshadeHanging only treats one patient a week]]. House catches on to this game very quickly and spends time exposing Volger for someone who may have noble desires but is still just a businessman looking for a new market to venture into.

* There's a pages-long speech in ''The Diamond Age'' about contrasting Straw Hypocrites with the regular Hypocrites described above (those who sincerely believe in a principle and are just too weak to live up to it.) It's partly AuthorTract but entirely justified by the plot, since it's a subtle way for the ChessMaster to let [[GadgeteerGenius Hackworth]] know that a: his crime has been found out, and b: he can be forgiven... at a price.

** Reverned Lovejoy comes off this way due to the show's DependingOnTheWriter. He often conveys a "fire and brimstone" view of religion to churchgoers and frequently warns them of keeping Christian faith and morals... only to express frustration and disillusionment in the Bible as soon as the next episode. ("Technically, we're not even allowed to go to the bathroom.") Emphasized well when he condemns Bart as a hellion for supposedly stealing from the collection plate. When Lisa argues with the Bible quote "judge not lest ye be judged," he gives an apathetic "I believe it's somewhere around the back."

* Happens in the recent Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse novel ''Outcast'' (no, not ''Jedi Outcast''). [[spoiler:The leader of the Baran Do [[StealthPun underground movement]]]] turns out to [[spoiler:have a few hidden elevators that can be used to get back up to the surface at any time. But what if there really were a bunch of people who liked living underground? Would Luke and Ben be justified in changing that?]]

** Reverned Lovejoy comes off this way due to the show's DependingOnTheWriter. He often conveys a "fire and brimstone" view of religion to churchgoers and frequently warns them of keeping Christian faith and morals...only to express frustration and disillusionment in the Bible as soon as the next episode. ("Technically, we're not even allowed to go to the bathroom.") Emphasized well when he condemns Bart as a hellion for supposedly stealing from the collection plate. When Lisa argues with the Bible quote "judge not lest ye be judged," he gives an apathetic "I believe it's somewhere around the back."

* Hayley Smith of ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' has occasional shades of this, a lot of her liberal views seem to be put on solely to outrage her Republican ControlFreak father, often when she is made to go fully through with her communities' views and actions, she immediately attempts to bail out. "Camp Refoogee" is a fine example.

* In ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'', the Vespinaccians' goal is to spread the glory of spinach. But not one of them even likes spinach, and their king only did all that just so he doesn't have to eat it. Though they weren't exactly wrong that they might find at least ''someone'' [[IDoNotLikeGreenEggsAndHam who would be willing to eat it for them]].
* A possible example in ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'': On one hand, the teachers impose Sam's "Vegan Week" idea on the students, but they themselves keep eating meat in secret. On the other hand, it is implied that the teachers only did this in the first place because Sam ''just wouldn't leave them alone about it''.
* Ted Wassanasong from ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' possesses great wealth and a large manor, including an Olympic-size pool. In "Orange You Sad I Did Say Banana?", Kahn gets a smaller version of the pool built in his backyard in an attempt to imitate Ted's success. Yet when Ted finds out, [[OutsideInsideSlur he labels Kahn a banana who has lost touch with his Laotian roots]], deaf to the fact that he is far more wealthy than Kahn ("Sure, I own all these.... ''things'', but they don't own me"). He convinces Kahn to give up his material possessions and participate in a local Laotian militia, claiming it is the only way he can be a real Laotian. In reality, Ted only wants the militia so he can make them parade down mainstreet on a "Laotian Pride Week" he's trying to get the city to start. He only wants the holiday so he, as a Laotian, would gain a sizable boost in social status. Kahn eventually wises up on this when the militia group plans to embark on a suicide mission to try to overthrow the Laotian communist regime, calling him out on it and re-embracing his American lifestyle at the end of the episode.

* According to WordOfGod, an AbortedArc in ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'' would have revealed that the Evangelical Christian Miss Censordoll had used voodoo to make Clay shoot Orel.

** Most Vodou adherents are also practicing Catholics, seeing the loa and the saints as one in the same, and Bondye and God the Father as the same being. There's a saying in Haiti that the nation is 90% Catholic and 100% Vodou.
*** And the fact that the whole town is ''very'' anti-Catholic in the first place (to a point where using the Necronomicon to raise the dead is viewed better than reading from a Catholic Bible).

** Cartman falls into this a lot--often he's not the one that ''starts'' a certain trend of ideology in town, but if he can find a way that it benefits him, he'll join or [[HijackedByGanon hijack]] it, and he's [[ManipulativeBastard very good]] at playing a true believer (at least, to those who don't know him). Examples include advocating for stem-cell research in "Kenny Dies," Christianity in "Probably" and "Christian Hard Rock," and political correctness in "The Death Camp of Tolerance" and much of season 19. In ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkPostCovid'' he starts a "Foundation Against Time Travel" to sabotage the others' attempt to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong ([[WellIntentionedExtremist to protect his family]]), and gets called out by Scott Malkinson for using time travel despite this. They settle on a name change, [[FunWithAcronyms although mostly because they realized it spelled out FATT]].

* Reverend Lovejoy of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' comes off this way due to the show's DependingOnTheWriter. He often conveys a "fire and brimstone" view of religion to churchgoers and frequently warns them of keeping Christian faith and morals...only to express frustration and disillusionment in the Bible as soon as the next episode. ("Technically, we're not even allowed to go to the bathroom.") Emphasized well when he condemns Bart as a hellion for supposedly stealing from the collection plate. When Lisa argues with the Bible quote "judge not lest ye be judged" he gives an apathetic "I believe it's somewhere around the back".
** Lisa’s InferioritySuperiorityComplex is eventually [[{{Flanderization}} flanderized]] into this. Not only is she repeatedly called out for disliking something merely because of the fact that it is popular, but she once admitted that she didn’t like playing the saxophone but does it because it makes her look more intellectual.
* The "Fishionary", a one-shot villain from ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog''. She was a "missionary fish" (hence, "Fishionary") who was meant to convince Eustace, Muriel, and Courage to leave their house and enter the sea "from whence all life came" so that they can become "civilized"--according to her and her superiors, "uncivilized" behavior is anything that a land creature does, like living in houses and watching television. At the end of the episode, the Fishionary is revealed to have been doing exactly those things in the Bagges' house, much to the shock of her superiors, and the implication is that she wanted to do that all along and booted them out of the house just so she could.
* Femme Fatale from ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' is this trope mixed with StrawFeminist; in order to convince the girls to let her off the hook, she convinces them that she'd be doing a disservice to women everywhere, stating that women need to look out for each other. Later, however, the girls are introduced to three women (well, two--one of them was just complaining that she [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking stole her hairstyle]]) who were harmed by Femme Fatale directly, including a female bank owner who was robbed by her and a female police officer who had her arm broken by her. Turns out, Femme Fatale's only in it [[ItsAllAboutMe for herself]], and if another woman stands in her way, she'll drop all feminist pretenses and turn on them.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' HalloweenSpecial “The Halloween Door” features Dr. Crowley, a MoralGuardian who seeks to eliminate anything weird or supernatural, and this includes Halloween. While he claims that it’s for the good of the children, it's apparent that he couldn’t care less about them. When a child approaches him saying “trick or treat”, Crowley basically tells him to screw off.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "Proposition Infinity," Farnsworth is opposed to {{Robosexual}} relationships and [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything robosexual marriage]], his opposition motivated by the experience of having a girlfriend dump him for a robot. The twist is that [[spoiler:[[BoomerangBigot the girlfriend in question was herself a robot]] so that Farnsworth was actually taking out his feelings about his own failed robosexual relationship on more successful couples.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': [[Characters/TheOwlHouseEmperorBelos Emperor Belos]] has all but a minority of the Boiling Isles' populace, including his inner circle, believing that he's a Messiah enforcing the Titan's will, and a benevolent overlord whose harsh regime is designed to protect witchkind from the dangers to themselves of practicing wild magic and who will lead the worthy to utopia on the Day of Unity. In actuality, these are all lies and a front meant to rally power and support so Belos[[spoiler:/Philip can achieve his ''true'' agenda on the Day of Unity: [[FinalSolution the extermination of every last witch and demon on the Boiling Isles]], in the name of [[MugglePower "protecting" humanity from them]].]]

* PlayedForLaughs in ''Literature/HarryPotter''. Arthur Weasley works in a department of the Ministry of Magic called "Misuse of Muggle Artifacts", where they regulate the use of magic on things that muggles use. The thing is, Arthur is so obsessed with muggle stuff that he ''breaks the rules of his own department repeatedly''; taking muggle stuff home, taking them apart, putting spells on them, putting them back together, etc. Fred and George even jokingly commented that if he ever had to raid his own house, he would have to arrest himself. To his (sort of) credit, whenever possible Arthur writes loopholes in the law ''purely'' so he can exploit them and maintain a legal means to pursue his hobbies.

** ''TabletopGame/GeniusTheTransgression'': The Phenomenologists believe that [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve whatever you believe is true]], and from this principle, they created a very ''[[InsaneTrollLogic flexible]]'' philosophy. If it's in their interests a Phenomenologist will be an extremely devout Catholic and believe every word of the Christian dogma they preach, then the next day they might be an agnostic Zen Buddhist who thinks Catholicism is mostly nice but wrong. At no time are they actually "lying". They seem to be actually incapable of comprehending why most people find this odd.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': [[Characters/TheOwlHouseEmperorBelos Emperor Belos]] has all but a minority of the Boiling Isles' populace, including his inner circle, believing that he's a Messiah enforcing the Titan's will, and a benevolent overlord whose harsh regime is designed to protect witchkind from the dangers to themselves of practicing wild magic and who will lead the worthy to utopia on the Day of Unity. In actuality, these are all lies and a front meant to rally power and support so Belos/Philip can achieve his ''true'' agenda on the Day of Unity: [[FinalSolution the extermination of every last witch and demon on the Boiling Isles]], in the name of [[MugglePower "protecting" humanity from them]].

* In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'', Tommy is tasked in one mission to covertly photograph a fundamentalist politician in the act with a porn star, because said politician is trying to have pornography outlawed (or restricted, at least).

* In ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' the Vespinaccians whose goal is to spread the glory of spinach. But not one of them even likes spinach, and their king only did all that just so he doesn't have to eat it. Though they weren't exactly wrong that they might find at least ''someone'' [[IDoNotLikeGreenEggsAndHam who would be willing to eat it for them]].

* Ted Wassanasong from ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' possesses great wealth and a large manor, including an Olympic-size pool. In "Orange You Sad I Did Say Banana?", Kahn get a smaller version of the pool built in his backyard in an attempt to imitate Ted's success. Yet when Ted finds out, [[OutsideInsideSlur he labels Kahn a banana who has lost touch with his Laotian roots]], deaf to the fact that he is far more wealthy than Kahn ("Sure, I own all these.... ''things'', but they don't own me"). He convinces Kahn to give up his material possessions and participate in a local Laotian militia, claiming it is the only way he can be a real Laotian. In reality, Ted only wants the militia so he can make them parade down mainstreet on a "Laotian Pride Week" he's trying to get the city to start. He only wants the holiday so he, as a Laotian, would gain a sizable boost in social status. Kahn eventually wises up on this when the militia group plans to embark on a suicide mission to try to overthrow the Laotian communist regime, calling him out on it and re-embracing his American lifestyle at the end of the episode.

* ''Jesus He Knows Me'' by Music/{{Genesis}} is about an unscrupulous televangelist:

* The leaders of the CorruptChurch in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' say that all machina (machines) are bad, while at the same time using machina in their own temples. Earlier, the maesters also give their blessing to an operation that uses machines of war to try and stop Sin (though there, they know it's not going to work, and are trying to send a message).
** This is also zig-zagged with using the teachings of Yevon to stop Sin. While the summoners and their pilgrimages do stop Sin, the church lies about the idea that Sin can be stopped ''permanently''. The maesters say that there is nothing futile about the summoners' struggles since it means people can take it easy, knowing Sin is gone, even if it's for a little while. But, the maesters say that when mankind atones for its "sins," then Sin will be gone. They know that Sin will always come back, and even know why, but don't say anything. When Yuna and her guardians find out, [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness the church actively tries to have them killed]] until Yuna becomes their only option.

* AVALANCHE co-leader and scientist Fuhito in ''VideoGame/BeforeCrisis'' supports AVALANCHE's fight against [[MegaCorp Shinra]]. Why are they fighting Shinra? To stop the company from draining mako out of the planet, which is the planet's life force. What do they do? They use materia (which is made out of mako) and they also use captured '''''soldier''''' turned Ravens (who have mako injected into their bodies). [[spoiler: Fuhito hardly cares about Shinra and he even idolizes MadScientist Hojo, who works for Shinra. Fuhito eventually takes over AVALANCHE and aims to destroy the world so that there's nothing left to harm the planet, thus "saving" it. Elfe and Shears see just how powerful and mad Fuhito was becoming, so they leave AVALANCHE and ditch their fight against Shinra.]]
* The Garlean Empire of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' hold one of their core tenets as being against the summoning of Primals (or 'Eikons', as they call them), since it causes the land to be drained of aether and they are beings capable of massive destruction. [[spoiler: In truth, however, some of the leaders of the empire are [[GreaterScopeVillain Ascians]] who are actually ''encouraging'' summonings, with the intent of causing Calamities that will eventually result in the resurrection of their dark god. The Garlean Empire is merely a tool of Solus zos Gavlus - the first emperor - who is secretly an Ascian himself. He is pushing the Garleans to conquer the rest of the world because they are incapable of using magic, so A. it will drive the magic-using races of the world to summon Primals under pressure, and B. if the Garleans do end up conquering the other, magic-capable races of the world, that means there will be none left to stop the Ascians and their designs.]]

* The Claire Brothers in ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium''. Niminally, they're leaders of the Débardeurs' Union, the dockyard's [[DirtyCommies communist faction]]. In practice, they're [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist blatantly corrupt]], greasy, greedy {{Fat Bastard}}s, not above [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain throwing slurs around]] in [[PrecisionFStrike moments of pique]] or hiring literal fascists to serve as muscle. [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope Except they're true believers in the Communist cause]], [[BatmanGabmit pretending to be corrupt]] so the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Wild Pines executives]] will assume they can be be bought off or otherwise manipulated. The Claire Brothers are [[WellIntentionedExtremist still vicious]], and don't mind manipulating fascists [[WeHaveReserves into being expendable fodder]], but they're genuine {{Visionary Villain}}s.]]

** Cartman falls into this a lot--often he's not the one that ''starts'' a certain trend of ideology in town, but if he can find a way that it benefits him, he'll join or [[HijackedByGanon hijack]] it, and he's [[ManipulativeBastard very good]] at playing a true believer (at least, to those who don't know him). Examples include advocating for stem-cell research in "Kenny Dies," Christianity in "Probably" and "Christian Hard Rock," and PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad in "The Death Camp of Tolerance" and much of season 19. In ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkPostCovid'' he starts a "Foundation Against Time Travel" to sabotage the others' attempt to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong ([[WellIntentionedExtremist to protect his family]]), and gets called out by Scott Malkinson for using time travel despite this. They settle on a name change, [[FunWithAcronyms although mostly because they realized it spelled out FATT]].

* [[TheAntichrist Julian Felsenburgh]], the [[AntagonistTitle eponymous]] ''Literature/LordOfTheWorld'', comes to power by preaching the wickedness of religious fanaticism and blaming all evil in the world on religiously motivated obscurantism, promising that human beings can use unsullied reason to create a socialistic paradise where there is no poverty, oppression, or war, but only if religion goes away. He then [[AGodAmI sets himself up as a god]], brutally persecutes those who refuse to worship him, [[spoiler:firebomb entire cities, killing millions]], and [[UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming blames all this on his targets still following their old religions]]. Despite his professions of democracy and science and reason, he is no more a champion of those things than the Egyptian pharaohs. Unfortunately, the author seems to confuse this with genuine opposition to his beliefs, since in the book most of the world falls into line despite Felsenburgh not even trying to conceal his betrayal of all they stand for. (On the other hand, he has mind control powers—that only [[RightlySelfRighteous Real True Christians]] can shake off.) Felsenburgh never outright states that he doesn’t believe what he preaches, so the possibility of him
being a true hypocrite [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans blinded by ideology]] [[FridgeHorror is even worse]].