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Anime and Manga
(Shenhua drags a heavy suitcase into Sawyer the Cleaner's apartment)
Shenhua: Hi! Is so late, you waiting long, so sorry about that! Are you ready? Oh you want to know how to cut him up? Boss Chang said he want to make example out of him, you understand? (opens suitcase to reveal Bound and Gagged man — he does not look happy) But he never tell me if he want him chop or mince. I guess you decide. Well I finish, he all yours now. (walks out door) You can take care of things from here! (Sawyer powers up the chainsaw...)
Shenhua: Hi! Is so late, you waiting long, so sorry about that! Are you ready? Oh you want to know how to cut him up? Boss Chang said he want to make example out of him, you understand? (opens suitcase to reveal Bound and Gagged man — he does not look happy) But he never tell me if he want him chop or mince. I guess you decide. Well I finish, he all yours now. (walks out door) You can take care of things from here! (Sawyer powers up the chainsaw...)
— Black Lagoon, "Greenback Jane"
Comic Books
"Well, you didn't really think you were going to get through this without being punished, now did you? Line them up... I don't want to kill any of you... let me make that clear right from the get-go. I want you working for me, and you can't very well do that when you're fucking dead, now can you? I'm not growing a garden. But you killed my men... a fucking whole goddamn lot of them. More than I feel comfortable with. For that... you gotta fucking pay. So I'm now going to beat the holy fuck fucking fuckedy fuck out of one of you with my bat. Who I call "Lucille." Lucille has barbed wire wrapped around the end of her. It's fucking awesome. So, it's really just a matter of picking which one of you gets the honor."
— Negan, The Walking Dead
Fan Works
"I agree with Pilot Soryu, we must reave apart the Angel and display its head so that all will be aware of the folly it committed against us."
"So, Mrs. Shirayuki, I've spoken to my superiors about your humble request. And the answer is no. No, instead they feel we need to make an example of you for everybody else to see, that we will not tolerate disobedience. You will be executed for your decision to act against us. But don't worry; your daughter will be safe with the general. Your people however, not so much."
— A random Fairy Tale mook to Tsurara Shirayuki, Rosario Vampire: Brightest Darkness Act II
Film — Live-Action
"Communique from the Office of the Acting Reich Protector. In the course of the search for the murderers of Obergruppenführer Heydrich, it was found that the population of the village of Lidice, approximately twenty kilometres northwest of Prague, had helped and cooperated with the perpetuators of this crime. Accordingly a detachment of the SS Division Prinz Eugen, commanded by Obersturmbannführer Max Rostoff, was dispatched to Lidice at dawn. All the men have been shot, the women deported to concentration camps, the children sent to appropriate houses for re-education. All the buildings of this village have been destroyed, and the name removed from the land register. The village of Lidice has ceased to exist, and its name will never again appear on any map."
Technician: Sir, the oxygen level is bottoming out in Sector G. What do you want me to do about it?
Vilos Cohaagen: Don't do anything.
Technician: But they won't last an hour, sir.
Cohaagen: Fuck 'em. It'll be a good lesson to the others.
Vilos Cohaagen: Don't do anything.
Technician: But they won't last an hour, sir.
Cohaagen: Fuck 'em. It'll be a good lesson to the others.
"In order to convert ten sinners into righteous men, one man should die. In order to convert one hundred, ten must perish, serving as an example. In vain you ask the thief not to steal, the killer not to kill. Asking doesn't accomplish anything. It's not the love of God that brings people to the church, but the fear of Hell's throes."
Literature
"In this country, it is good to kill an admiral
from time to time, in order to encourage the others."
from time to time, in order to encourage the others."— Candide
He was trusted and he was fair, but he was no simp and his revenge could be devastating. All who knew of the Trader knew the tale of the Eastern town that had tried to mess with him, a town of low morals run by an ambitious madman. The exact nature of their mistake had been lost over the intervening years, but the outcome was retained in the memories of most who had dealings with him. The town had been destroyed, razed to the ground, wiped from the face of the earth. He had spared no one. Such had been his fury that he had massacred the inhabitants to a man, woman, child. And animal. He had not even spared the animals, had not taken them for himself but instead had slaughtered the herds and left the carcasses, and then moved on.
It was a lesson. You did not mess with the Trader.
It was a lesson. You did not mess with the Trader.
"Imulai Mokarengen's people were bad at curfews. People still broke the general's curfew regularly, although many of them were also caught at it. At every intersection, along every street, you could see people hung up as corpse-lanterns, burning with plague-colored light, as warnings to the populace."
— Effigy Nights by Yoon Ha Lee
by Yoon Ha Lee"New Center, 28 April — It is with deep regret that Continental Coordinating Authority for World Unification, North American District, announces that the former city of St. Joseph, Missouri, has been subjected to sanitary measures. It is ordered that a memorial plaque setting forth the circumstances be erected on the former site of St. Joseph as soon as radioactivity permits. Despite repeated warnings the former inhabitants of this lamented city encouraged and succored marauding bands of outlaws skulking around the outskirts of their community. It is hoped that the sad fate of St. Joseph will encourage the native authorities of all North American communities to take all necessary steps to suppress treasonable intercourse with the few remaining lawless elements in our continental society."
— Free Men, by Robert A. Heinlein
"I got hold of a copy of the video that showed how Saddam Hussein had actually confirmed himself in power. This snuff-movie opens with a plenary session of the Ba'ath Party central committee: perhaps a hundred men. Suddenly the doors are locked and Saddam, in the chair, announces a special session. Into the room is dragged an obviously broken man, who begins to emit a robotic confession of treason... The reclining Saddam, meanwhile, lights a large cigar and contentedly scans his dossiers. The sickness of fear in the room is such that men begin to crack up and weep, rising to their feet to shout hysterical praise, even love, for the leader. Inexorably, though, the cull continues, and faces and bodies go slack as their owners are pinioned and led away. When it is over, about half the committee members are left, moaning with relief and heaving with ardent love for the boss. (In an accompanying sequel, which I have not seen, they were apparently required to go into the yard outside and shoot the other half, thus sealing the pact with Saddam.)"
— Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22
The Faceless Man has two ways of killing people he wants dead. If it's just business, then he favours the quiet and forensically invisible approach - an apparent suicide or a sudden heart attack. If he's pissed off or wants to make an example, then it gets very messy indeed. Having your dick bitten off or your bones set on fire from the inside are only a couple of ways that we know of for certain.
We'd been reluctant to employ a forensic psychologist because of the well-founded fear that they might section us for believing in fairies. But you didn't need a degree to figure out that the whole "making an example" aspect was actually bollocks. It was simply an excuse to do horribly inventive things to his fellow human beings.
You certainly had to wonder what poor Aiden Burghley had done to justify having his face nailed to a tree in a small park in suburban South London.
We'd been reluctant to employ a forensic psychologist because of the well-founded fear that they might section us for believing in fairies. But you didn't need a degree to figure out that the whole "making an example" aspect was actually bollocks. It was simply an excuse to do horribly inventive things to his fellow human beings.
You certainly had to wonder what poor Aiden Burghley had done to justify having his face nailed to a tree in a small park in suburban South London.
— Rivers of London, The Hanging Tree
"They want you and your Dannebrog as a memorial to the failed rebellion. The other ship with you, which I assume is a troop carrier, we are blowing up. That is another kind of memorial for the rebellion."
Live-Action TV
"I told you, I won't lie to you. Oh, they'll come for you, eventually. But they'll wait. Until you've been forgotten. Until your fate no longer means anything to anyone. They'll come in the night, it'll be very quick. But until that time, you will have your freedom. If anything they'll encourage you to travel, so that more people can see you as a symbol of the preeminent truth of our time: that you cannot beat the System."
— Interrogator, Babylon 5, "Intersections in Real Time"
Hanna: That's why we haven't been killed yet. He's making an example of us.
Bek: Oh, shut up Hanna, It's none of their business.
Gan: Isn't it? I mean if they're making an example of you...
Bek: It's not for outsiders. You don't know much about the Terra Nostra, do you? We are an object lesson for their own people. Largo's on his way up in the organization. One sign of weakness and he'll be on his way down again, probably minus his head.
Bek: Oh, shut up Hanna, It's none of their business.
Gan: Isn't it? I mean if they're making an example of you...
Bek: It's not for outsiders. You don't know much about the Terra Nostra, do you? We are an object lesson for their own people. Largo's on his way up in the organization. One sign of weakness and he'll be on his way down again, probably minus his head.
"Whatever you've done, whatever the charges against you, none of that really matters in the long run... This trial is to demonstrate the futility of behavior contrary to good order."
— Kovat, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "Tribunal"
Dick Roman: The golden rule is there's no such thing as monsters. Anything stirs their little pots to the contrary — very bad for our plans. So, how can I use your mistake to communicate this to all your coworkers?
Dr Gaines: Listen, sir, I will do anything...I will give anything to make this right.
Dick Roman: I know you will.
(Minion ties a bib around Gaines neck)
Dr Gaines: You're bibbing me?
Dick Roman: Do you know what you can give us, doctor? Your example.
Dr Gaines: Listen, sir, I will do anything...I will give anything to make this right.
Dick Roman: I know you will.
(Minion ties a bib around Gaines neck)
Dr Gaines: You're bibbing me?
Dick Roman: Do you know what you can give us, doctor? Your example.
Music
O everyone will see
An' everyone will know
Boy you reap what you sow
An' everyone will know
Boy you reap what you sow
— 16 Horsepower, "Heel on the Shovel"
Tabletop Games
"Led by a bone chain in Kariasche's wake came a lumpen beast of impressive size. Its anguish was plain as it moaned and drooled from a dozen woundlike mouths. Clapping hesitantly at first, but rising to a crescendo as the truth of the spectacle sank in, the Dark Eldar in the arena got to their feet until the entire arena was united in a standing ovation. There was nothing so gratifying for the citizens of Commorragh than witnessing another's pain, after all, and Yctria's new incarnation had enough of that to last a thousand years. Subtly, but unforgettably, the Prophets of Flesh had reminded the denizens of the Dark City that to cross the Haemonculi was to invite a far darker destiny than mere death."
— Warhammer 40,000: Haemonculus Covens
"If a cadet publicly disobeys orders, they will meet a spectacular and very public end, courtesy of a drill abbot's great hammer. What little remains of their spine is coiled within a glass box and mounted within the dormitory to serve as a warning to others. This is not at the extreme end of remedial punishments. In the Schola Progenium facility on Brellex, the products of one incident remain forever enshrined. Due to a faulty batch of mindscaping chemicals, a whole year group rose up against the dictates of their masters. The seething abbot prime ordered the Officio Prefectus to crush the rebellion: whilst still alive, the mutinous cadets were meshed with mortar and used to line the schola's ferrocrete walls. To this day, their bones jut out of long corridors, grasping for freedom, as a warning of the consequences of insubordination."
— Warhammer 40,000: Codex - Militarum Tempestus
Video Games
Roma Atani: Your contract is terminated. You will now serve as an example to future strategists. (smirks) Fear is an efficient tool of management.
(Having finished plugging you in, she walks away, leaving you staring at the severed head of the Precursory Strategist)
Precursory Strategist: ...why won't they just let us die?
(Having finished plugging you in, she walks away, leaving you staring at the severed head of the Precursory Strategist)
Precursory Strategist: ...why won't they just let us die?
— The House Ordos game-over scene, Emperor: Battle for Dune
"Now, there are only three company rules you have to follow. First, protect my product. You can fuck them, boys, but be gentle. Second, kill any native on sight. And finally, all profits go to me. I'm an understanding boss, but if you break ONE of these rules— (throws a match into a furnace, immolating the man locked within it) I roast you in the furnace until your skin crackles like chicken."
"Make me look bad, I'll mount your head on my wall as an object lesson to the next fuckup. God, it is so cute when you new guys think I'm kidding..."
— Kirsten Geary to Illuminati players, The Secret World
Web Video
"You can walk out! You can walk right on out, I'll take you right on out, I'll take you through the portal [of the prison], it'll be fine... I didn't say I'd let you go without some scarring. You can walk outta there and be a walking, living example of not to fuck with me."
Western Animation
"To all those who dare oppose me: your hero is dead! Your hope is dead! I am the one true master! Let this be a lesson to all! Time to die, Samurai Jack!!"
— Aku, Samurai Jack
"Now that I have your attention, know this. Whatever you build here you will test personally. I expect your malfunction rate to drop substantially."
— Grand Admiral Thrawn to Lothal Imperial factory workers, Star Wars Rebels
Real Life
"Kill three million of them [Bengalis], and the rest will eat out of our hands."
— Pakistani President General Yahya Khan (February 22, 1971)
"The best way to make police stop using illegal chokeholds is to perp-walk one of them that did...It will send a lesson that 10 training sessions will not give them."
— Rev. Al Sharpton criticizing the NYPD, regarding the death of Eric Garner.
Miscellaneous
Nicole: Gumball. We know what you did. We can talk about this, and work it out toge—
Gumball: [eats Nicole] I am not affiliated with the disappearance of Darwin! Any other questions?!
Gumball: [eats Nicole] I am not affiliated with the disappearance of Darwin! Any other questions?!
