History Main / StrawHypocrite

* ''Film/TransformersAgeOfExtinction'' has Harold Attinger, leader and CEO of Cemetery Wind, a black-ops task force whose sole mission is to [[KillEmAll hunt down and destroy all Cybertronians, regardless of affiliation,]] saying that as long as they exist on Earth, humanity will always be in danger. One of the main enforcers of this task force is Lockdown, a Cybertronian bounty hunter. He also makes a deal with Lockdown, helping him get Optimus Prime in exchange for a bomb that will help him create more transformuim, which involves killing more people.

* Lord Shojo in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' seemingly plays this, but he subverts it ultimately. He's the leader of the Sapphire Guard, the group of [[ThePaladin paladins]], but is himself ignoring most of their rules behind the scenes. However, as he points out, his class is '''not''' a Paladin, but an ''Aristocrat.'' He inherited his position as not just as the leader of the Sapphire Guard, but also lord of Azure City, meaning he has to balance managing the secret order of paladins and ruling the common people. As such, he chose to be Good over Lawful. He feigns senility in order to avoid ''assassination attempts'' by the court of nobles while also manipulating his Paladins since he believes the Oath of the founder, Soon Kim, is leading them to LawfulStupid territory. And as he puts it, whatever decisions and choices he makes will have a much larger impact than the paladins and as he puts it, any mistake he makes could have millions of people die, explaining his pragmatism. Hence he pulled an elaborate scheme to hire the Order. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, when Shojo's deception is revealed, he is killed by Miko Miyazaki, a prime example of a LawfulStupid paladin (though her ego problems are also a mass issue.) Despite this, he is still considered Good, albeit ChaoticGood. However, Miko does end up breaking the CosmicKeystone the Sapphire Guard dedicated themselves to protecting. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero His own deceptive means caught up with him in the end.]]]]

** In the third, Shrignold and the Love Cultists tell the Yellow Guy about how much they love him and he should love them back, but their song is all about trying to make him feel lonely and hated. They later do a total 180 tell him that loving your friends is wrong because you should save your love for your Special One.
** Colin in the fourth video goes on and on about how clever and helpful he is, but not only does he [[KnowNothingKnowItAll never say or do anything clever]], he never even attempts to help the puppets figure out what they were wondering in the first place, instead asking them about a number of completely irrelevant things claiming that [[BlatantLies he'll need to know the answers in order to make them clever like him]]. He drops any pretense that he intends to help when the Red Guy [[BerserkButton touches his keyboard]] in an attempt to make him stop talking.
** In the fifth, The Healthy Band perform a song to stop Duck and Yellow Guy from eating unhealthy foods (despite the fact that neither of them were eating or even hungry). The whole thing is a confusing mess: all they do is claim outrageous facts about nutrition and use convoluted charts and metaphors to back themselves up. They constantly contradict themselves on what counts as healthy foods, eventually claiming that white sauce and cream are the only healthy foods, and then right after saying that white sauce makes your teeth turn grey.
** The sixth episode has the most straightforward example, due to the villain [[spoiler: [[BaitAndSwitch not having much screen time]]]]. The Lamp wakes Yellow Guy and up and tells him that the reason he can't sleep is that he doesn't know what dreams are. He then keeps Yellow Guy awake by [[DreamWeaver forcing him to have nightmares]].

->''"Don't raise your voice here. This is a sacred place. Now, you may not believe it and I may not believe it, but my God it's a useful hypocrisy."''

* In ''Anime/DigimonFrontier: Island of the Lost Digimon'', the human and beast digimon are at war with each other, and both sides have a leader of their respective side, who are in fact the same digimon who can slide digivolve into human and beast form. His ultimate plan is to have both sides kill each other so he can collect as many digi-eggs to revive an ancient digimon to conquer the digital world.

* In in 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.

* Marvel's Sons of the Serpent (a [[ChurchMilitant Christian Identity-ish]] [[RightWingMilitiaFanatic right-wing militia]]) started out this way, with their leaders in their first two appearances being, respectively, a Red Chinese agent trying to stir up trouble and a crook who wanted to make easy money and could care less about their cause (such as it was). Interestingly, in their more recent appearances they are ''honest'' right-wingers, averting the trope.

* ''Film/WitchHunt'', a TV movie set in the 1950s (a sequel to ''Film/CastADeadlySpell''), with the caveat that magic was real and wide spread, had as the orchestrating villain a politician who planned to use a SuperRegistrationAct and later more fascist means to control the "magic problem" for the [[{{muggles}} non-magical]]. Once he double crosses a magician accomplice, [[TheDogBitesBack the magician casts a spell]] that makes him [[EngineeredPublicConfession vomit his dark side out]], which happily and angrily details his disgust for the non-magical voters being so easily swayed by fear, and how he'd slowly shift his fearmongering to other groups to keep and gain political power. In front of a live campaign speech audience. Both he and his evil vomit twin are arrested.
* ''Film/TransformersAgeOfExtinction'' has Harold Attinger, leader and CEO of Cemetery Wind, a black ops task force whose sole mission is to [[KillEmAll hunt down and destroy all Cybertronians, regardless of affiliation,]] saying that as long as they exist on Earth, humanity will always be in danger. One of the main enforcers of this task force is Lockdown, a Cybertronian bounty hunter. He also makes a deal with Lockdown, helping him get Optimus Prime in exchange for a bomb that will help him create more transformuim, which involves killing more people.

* There's a bit of this to Walter Peck from ''Film/Ghostbusters1984''. He expresses concerns about the environmental effects of the Ghostbusters operations and the dangers they might pose to the general public, to a point where you might see that the JerkassHasAPoint. When he storms in with a court order to shut them down, however, he brings along a Con-Ed engineer who takes one look at the complex systems the Ghostbusters are maintaining and warns him that shutting them down too hastily could be incredibly dangerous. Peck's response is to bark "I'm not interested in your opinion! Shut it down!", thus making it immediately clear that for all his self-righteousness he's actually just on a vindictive power trip.

* 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.

* 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.

## He's talking to Chief Tyrol to give him counseling and talk him down from his fear that he, like his girlfriend, is a Cylon sleeper agent. Cavil assures him he hasn't seen him in any of their super secret meetings... because [[spoiler: Cavil reprogrammed Tyrol to forget his life as one of the five creators of Cavil and the bio-Cylon race.]]
## Among the Cylons, Cavil advocated the destruction of humanity for its sins in enslaving the robotic Centurions, while he [[spoiler: did just the same, ''and'' memory wiped his creators and put them in the colonies, while lying like a dog to his siblings. The war being a genocidal temper tantrum in an attempt to become the "favorite son."]]

** [[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.

** After he gets shot and his gang sent to jail, he claims to have found God and starts his own church among the low level criminals and drug addicts of the county. Both the cops and his criminal family believe that he is using this to build another criminal gang. The cops try to figure what his 'master plan' is and his family wants in on the 'action'. Even at the end of the series, it's [[AmbiguousSituation unclear whether even Boyd himself knows]] whether he actually believed in his cause, or if he was simply using an excuse to rob people and blow things up, or if he [[BecomingTheMask intended to con people and became a genuine believer]], or even started off trying to genuinely reform and ended up [[{{Hypocrite}} caught up by habit into stealing and blowing things up.]] The only certainty is that is inability to sort out his own feelings [[spoiler:after his followers are massacred]] leads to his decision to [[ThenLetMeBeEvil go full criminal]].
* ''Series/LawAndOrder'': Combines this trope with TheHorseshoeEffect when a murderer has a HeelFaithTurn during her trial and decides to accept the death penalty. On one side there’s a civil rights organization who pride themselves on defending personal freedom and an individual’s right to choose, but because they are opposed to the death penalty, they don’t respect this individual’s right to choose not to fight the prosecution. On the other side there’s a Christian organization that supports the death penalty, they just don’t support the execution of a young woman who identifies as Christian.
* Roger Ailes of Fox News fame is portrayed as such in ''The Loudest Voice.'' He states very explicitly and publicly upon being fired from CNBC in the mid-90s that his goal in his future endeavors -- and by extension in creating Fox News -- is to practice fair and balanced journalism and restore faith in news media, but this is immediately shown to be just a pretense, and that he has no intention of forging Fox News into anything but a newsertainment loudspeaker for right-wing views. For example, in the months leading up to Fox's launch, when an inexperienced Sean Hannity quickly wilts in a mock debate with a more intelligent liberal, rather than dismiss Hannity (and perhaps, at the very least, hire a less flashy but more intellectually serious conservative in his place), Ailes simply keeps Hannity on and [[FoxNewsLiberal hires weaker liberals instead.]]

* Ethan Zobelle from ''Series/SonsOfAnarchy'' is initially presented as a white supremacist who is trying to run the Sons Of Anarchy out of town. His white supremacist right hand man thinks this is because they are selling guns to latino and black groups. However Zobelle has no issue with dealing with said gangs - he is seen buying guns from the Mayans, a latino gang. In fact, Zobelle is an FBI informant who is trying to kill the gun trade in the town altogether.

* Either Averted or Subverted, but definitely twisted almost beyond recognition in ''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.
* The ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' sourcebook ''Elder Evils'': one scenario involves the Hulks of Zoretha, five evil elemental beings from another world who have been in a dormant state resembling statues for eons. If they ever awoke, they'd attempt to "purge" the world of all other sentient beings to repopulate it with their brood. Several {{Apocalypse Cult}}s among savage humanoids have formed around the Hulks, and recently, these cults have united under the leadership of a charismatic frost giant named Janwulf the Soulbiter, who claims to have the same goal as the other cultists, waking the Hulks and bringing about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. Is this because Janwulf is an OmnicidalManiac? No. He actually has no desire or reason to destroy the world, and has no divine powers at all, or any idea how to waken them. What he really wants is more power, and by keeping what he sees as a false religion alive under his leadership, he has gained more followers and influence than any other giant in recent history.
* The original incarnation of the [[TheEmpire Technocratic Union]] in ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'' was this. The Union is officially an AntiMagicalFaction who use technology to contain the mages and their shenaniagans, but in practice they actually use their own form of magic (disguised as technology) to do it. In the first edition of the game, the Union's anti-magic stance was a mere facade to hypocritically justify tyranny, with its higher-ups presented as villainous wizards knowingly lying to their own subordinates about their abilities. Later versions revised this to make them a genuine KnightTemplar faction instead: the current Union still works a sort of magic, and knows it, but insists (and now sincerely) that their "Enlightened Science" is nonetheless a much better, safer and very qualitatively different thing than the outlaw wizardry of the mages.

* In Creator/WilliamShakespeare's ''Theatre/MeasureForMeasure'', Isabella is an example: she is generally viewed disfavorably by the audience, as she values her chastity more than her brother's life and tells him that he deserves to die for his sin. Then once the Duke of Vienna proposes marriage to her, she does not protest in the least (although this can be interpreted different ways by different directors). There are theories that ''Measure'' is an attack specifically on the Catholic Church which, as you probably know, emphasizes chastity in its clergy.

** 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.

* Lord Shojo in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' seemingly plays this, but he subverts it ultimately. He's the leader of the Sapphire Guard, the group of [[ThePaladin paladins]], but is himself ignoring most of their rules behind the scenes. However, as he points out, his class is '''not''' a Paladin, but an ''Aristocrat.'' He inherited his position as not just as the leader of the Sapphire Guard, but also lord of Azure City, meaning he has to balance managing the secret order of paladins and ruling the common people. As such, he chose to be Good over Lawful. He feigns senility in order to avoid ''assassination attempts'' by the court of nobles while also manipulating his Paladins since he believes the Oath of the founder, Soon Kim, is leading them to LawfulStupid territory. And as he puts it, whatever decisions and choices he make will have a much larger impact than the paladins and as he puts it, any mistake he makes could have millions of people die, explaining his pragmatism. Hence he pulled an elaborate scheme to hire the Order. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, when Shojo's deception is revealed, he is killed by Miko Miyazaki, a prime example of a LawfulStupid paladin (though her ego problems are also a mass issue.) Despite this, he is still considered Good, albeit ChaoticGood. However, Miko does end up breaking the CosmicKeystone the Sapphire Guard dedicated themselves to protecting. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero His own deceptive means caught up with him in the end.]]]]

** In the first installment, Sketchbook claims to be all about creativity, but actually just forces their own ideas on the puppets and gets mad when they make things other than what she told them to. In the end, they flat-out tells the puppets that they should never try to be creative again.
** In the second installment, Tony the Talking Clock initially tells the puppets that there will always be time for what they want to do. However, when he takes them on a journey through time, it's full of images of people and things running out of time, and in the end he gleefully admits that [[DeadlyEuphemism they will inevitably run out of time.]]

** The sixth episode has the most straightforward example, due to the villain [[spoiler: [[BaitAndSwitch not having much screen time]]]]. The Lamp wakes Yellow Guy and up and tells him that he the reason he can't sleep is that he doesn't know what dreams are. He then keeps Yellow Guy awake by [[DreamWeaver forcing him to have nightmares]].

** Roger in particular loves exploiting this trope from her. When she joins art class as a nude model for example, he joins and paints her, repeating her self righteous rant to her father concerning her job when she objects.

* 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.

* 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.]]

Compare CategoryTraitor. Compare also NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist, which substitutes the "ideals" in this trope with "intentions" (i.e putting a hidden agenda behind a claim of good intentions). May be used as part of a DebateAndSwitch. A character like this probably engages in PsychologicalProjection. An important leadership position in the PathOfInspiration or ScamReligion. Very common with KnightTemplar types, to argue that the high standard they set is impossible (though ordinary {{Hypocrite}}s are arguably even more common).

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "Proposition Infinity," Farnsworth is opposed to {{Robosexual}} relationships and [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything robosexual marriage]], his opposition motivated by the past heartbreak of having a girlfriend dump him for a robot. The twist is that [[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.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "Proposition Infinity," Farnsworth is opposed to {{Robosexual}} relationships and [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything robosexual marriage]], his opposition motivated by the past heartbreak of having a girlfriend dump him for a robot. The twist is that [[BoomerangBigot the girlfriend in question was herself a robot]], so that Farnsworth was actually taking out his feelings about his failed robosexual relationship on more successful couples.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "Proposition Infinity," Farnsworth is opposed to {{Robosexual}} relationships and [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything robosexual marriage]], his opposition motivated by the past heartbreak of having his girlfriend dump him for a robot. The twist is that [[BoomerangBigot the girlfriend in question was herself a robot]], and that Farnsworth was taking out his feelings about his failed robosexual relationship on more successful couples.

* Lord Shojo in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' seemingly plays this, but he subverts it ultimately. He's the leader of the Sapphire Guard, the group of [[ThePaladin paladins]], but is himself ignoring most of their rules behind the scenes. However, as he points out, his class is '''not''' a Paladin, but an ''Aristocrat.'' He inherited his position as not just as the leader of the Sapphire Guard, but also lord of Azure City, meaning he has to balance managing the secret order of paladins and ruling the common people. As such, he chose to be Good over Lawful. He feigns senility in order to avoid ''assassination attempts'' by the court of nobles while also manipulating his Paladins since he believes the Oath of the founder, Soon Kim, is leading them to LawfulStupid territory. And as he puts it, whatever decisions and choices he make will have a much larger impact than the paladins and as he puts it, any mistake he makes could have millions of people die, explaining his pragmatism. Hence he pulled an elaborate scheme to hire the Order. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, when Shojo's deception is revealed, he is killed by Miko Miyazaki, a prime example of a LawfulStupid paladin (though her ego problems are also a mass issue.) Despite this, he is still considered Good, albeit ChaoticGood. However, Miko does end uo breakig the CosmicKeystone the Sapphire Guard dedicated themselves to protecting. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero His own deceptive means caught up with him in the end.]]]]

* Lord Shojo in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' seemingly plays this, but he subverts it ultimately. He's the leader of the Sapphire Guard, the group of [[ThePaladin paladins]], but is himself ignoring most of their rules behind the scenes. However, as he points out, his class is '''not''' a Paladin, but an ''Aristocrat.'' He inherited his position as not just as the leader of the Sapphire Guard, but also lord of Azure City, meaning he has to balance managing the secret order of paladins and ruling the common people. As such, he chose to be Good over Lawful. He feigns senility in order to avoid ''assassination attempts'' by the court of nobles while also manipulating his Paladins since he believes the Oath of the founder, Kim Soon, is leading them to LawfulStupid territory. And as he puts it, whatever decisions and choices he make will have a much larger impact than the paladins and as he puts it, any mistake he makes could have millions of people die, explaining his pragmatism. Hence he pulled an elaborate scheme to hire the Order. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, when Shojo's deception is revealed, he is killed by Miko Miyazaki, a prime example of a LawfulStupid paladin (though her ego problems are also a mass issue.) Despite this, he is still considered Good, albeit ChaoticGood. However, Miko does end uo breakig the CosmicKeystone the Sapphire Guard dedicated themselves to protecting. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero His own deceptive means caught up with him in the end.]]]]

* Franchise/{{Gundam}}:

* Team Plasma of ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' have this. They claim that humans are abusing Pokemon by putting them through battles. They not only have Pokemon of their own that they battle with, they also repeatedly kick a Munna in order to make it produce Dream Mist, all the while yelling about how they'll free Pokemon from the abuses of humans. In fact, the team's leader, Ghestis, [[spoiler:only wants to "liberate" Pokemon from their trainers so that he will ultimately be the only one with any Pokemon.]] The only significant member of Team Plasma who actually seems to genuinely believe in the Team's alleged purpose is N, who [[spoiler:apparently actually '''does''' free his Pokemon between battles, and typically only uses Pokemon found in the wild near each battle location]].
** There's no confirmation that everyone in Team Plasma fits this category, however - some of those who [[spoiler: don't free their Pokemon like N]] may simply be taking a more pragmatic approach, but there's no denying a fair few definitely count.
** It's later confirmed in Black 2 and White 2 that this is the case. [[spoiler: Team Plasma has developed a massive schism between the ones who follow "King N" and genuinely believed in his cause (they wear the old uniform, but now try to act as TheAtoner, taking care of Pokémon and trying to help stolen ones find their way home) and the hypocrites from before that now follow Ghestis, who wear black uniforms and don't even try to hide that they are abusive, thieving scumbags just in it for the power.]]

* Roger Ailes of Fox News fame is portrayed as such in ''The Loudest Voice.'' He states very explicitly and publicly upon being fired from CNBC in the mid-90s that his goal in his future endeavors -- and by extension in creating Fox News -- is to practice fair and balanced journalism and restore faith in news media, but this is immediately shown to be just a pretense, and that he has no intention of forging Fox News into anything but an newsertainment loudspeaker for right-wing views. For example, in the months leading up to Fox's launch, when an inexperienced Sean Hannity quickly wilts in a mock debate with a more intelligent liberal, rather than dismiss Hannity (and perhaps, at the very least, hire a less flashy but more intellectually serious conservative in his place), Ailes simply keeps Hannity on and [[FoxNewsLiberal hires weaker liberals instead.]]

** Charles' son Lelouch co-opts the goal of the Japanese resistance of self-liberation against Britannia as a means of revenge against [[ParentalAbandonment his]] [[EvilOverlord 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:Nunally being taken hostage]].

* Played beautifully in ''Literature/LuckyStarr and the Rings of Saturn''. Sirius makes a colony on 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]].

* The original incarnation of the [[TheEmpire TechnocraticUnion]] in ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension'' was this. The Union is officially an AntiMagicalFaction who use technology to contain the mages and their shenaniagans, but in practice they actually use their own form of magic (disguised as technology) to do it. In the first edition of the game, the Union's anti-magic stance was a mere facade to hypocritically justify tyranny, with its higher-ups presented as villainous wizards knowingly lying to their own subordinates about their abilities. Later versions revised this to make them a genuine KnightTemplar faction instead: the current Union still works a sort of magic, and knows it, but insists (and now sincerely) that their "Enlightened Science" is nonetheless a much better, safer and very qualitatively different thing than the outlaw wizardry of the mages.

* ''ComicBook/{{Blacksad}}'': Invoked by [[spoiler:Jezebel]], who told Huk that Hans Karup, despite being an outspoken white supremacist in public, was secretly screwing their black maid. Given how deeply racist Huk himself is, this might have played into his motivation for [[TheStarscream having Karup framed and killed]].

* SmugStraightEdge Todd from ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'' claims that being a vegan proves he's better than anyone. [[spoiler:Despite eating non-vegan foods himself.]]

Leaders, especially ones for ideologically motivated organizations, are expected to have the ultimate dedication to this cause. Be they a WellIntentionedExtremist, KnightTemplar, or even DarkMessiah, this leader dedicates themselves to a cause and is willing to die for it, and at times suggests that [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans the end justifies the means.]]

Then there's the Straw Hypocrite. This villain (and it usually is a villain) will [[EvilGloating exhibit their dastardly plot]] and expose their "good" cause as a smokescreen to some hidden agenda that the villain has. If this happens, then it may be part of revealing the EvilPlan or the hero discovering it on his own, but often it is to show just how flawed their painted-on ideology is. Any GullibleLemmings or {{Black Shirt}}s who worship or follow them will quickly disperse or switch sides.

The Straw Hypocrite is not always a tool for an AuthorTract, though: well written, a Straw Hypocrite can make a great MagnificentBastard. Sometimes, his existence will be used by an author who does '''''not''''' want to take sides in an argument; in this case, the ideology, philosophy, religion, or cause the Straw Hypocrite seems to embrace is not in itself "evil" or worthless, and the author may even allow a more idealistic/honest character to take over the political/religious/philosophical organization after the demise of the straw hypocrite to show that [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped they just needed a leader who actually believes what he says.]] Finally, if the Straw Hypocrite is in an organization that is unquestionably evil (such as the Nazi Party) it can be shown that EvenEvilHasStandards or set up a ConspiracyRedemption.

* ''ComicBook/RequiemVampireKnight'': Thurim was a medieval warlord who fought for the Catholic Christian Church in both the crusades in the Holy Land and the teutonic crusades in the Baltics. However, he was secretly a Satan-worshipper who was after Lucifer's hammer all along.

** To be completely fair however that was less a result of his manipulations and more of a result of Miko being AxeCrazy.

-->I believe in the family with my ever loving wife beside me
-->but she don't know about my girlfriend or the man I met last night
-->...
-->Won't find me practising what I'm preaching, won't find me making no sacrifice
-->But I can get you a pocketful of miracles, if you promise to be good, try to be nice
-->God will take good care of you, just do as I say, don't do as I do

* The Garlean Empire of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' hold one of their core tenants 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.]]

** Charles' son Lelouch co-opts the goal of the Japanese resistance of self-liberation against Britannia as a means of revenge against [[ParentalAbandonment his]] [[EvilOverlord 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:Naunally being taken hostage]].

[[WMG: Please refrain from adding RealLife or TruthInTelevision examples in this page, as real people are not crafted for a specific purpose.]]