They're barred because, otherwise, people could then add Real Life which aren't appropriate (Generally, exaggerations of anything that negatively impacts the poor; More contemporary examples also more often tend to become talking points for editors looking to talk politics and criticize people they don't like), which we still don't want.
This page had a Real Life section before. People added bad examples to it. We got rid of the Real Life section, and now those terrible examples can't ever come back. Return the Real Life section, and the bad examples will surely return with it, anyway.
If you already understand that a Real Life section on a page like this could have faults, anyway, then there's no point in giving those faults any opportunity to present themselves.
Edited by SeanMurrayI
Yeah, as I was reading the description of the trope, I couldn't help but think of certain political groups which shall remain nameless (I mean it! Don't mention them, please—the moderators have enough to do as it is!) and how they do incredibly cruel things to "the poor" as a class and justify it via religion, philosophy, or whatever. (Again, PLEASE DO NOT ADD SPECIFICS! Doing so is a flame war waiting to happen!)
Yeah, but when you kill off all the poor people wouldn't the next ten percent or so above them now be the poor?
Hide / Show Replies
Sure, if you merely define poverty as "the 10% of the population with the lowest gross income", but if that same "lowest 10%" could still sustain themselves and afford basic necessities and luxuries on their income after those below them are wiped out, does that necessarily make them needy and impoverished?
Edited by SeanMurrayI
Yes, based on history the lowest 10% or whatever will always be unable to keep the highest from using them to support themselves, until they revolt violently. And taking enough from them to keep them unable to afford basic necessities helps stave off the revolution, so. . .
Well no... Presumably "the poor", in this case, refers to the homeless and unemployed. In this case, the bad guy's usual justification is that, "They were a drag on society". Generally if a person is doing work that the bad guy considers useful, (Even as a slave in a sweatshop) they will, usually, be exempt from this kind of purge... Though they will still be viewed as disposable.
This has been studied in respect to major historical wars, in which the poorest tended to have the highest death rates. The answer is that it takes several years before things go back to the way they were, hence why people can think it is justified. But yes, it's ultimately mass killing for no reason at all.
I'd like to ask for clarity on this added example before deciding to keep in on the page.
- The Invisibles has a subset of the nobility involved in the Outer Church moving on from fox hunting to "bigger game," usually chasing down people taken off the streets.
Is this example specifically about killing poor people, or is this just about killing people in general? Killing poor people would be the trope, but this wording doesn't make it entirely clear that this is the case.
Hide / Show Replies
Poor, homeless, jobless, or otherwise lacking any of the perceived "essentials" of an everyday decent life.
What I'm more concerned about is the range of possible motives behind the intent that this trope can cover. There are all sorts of reasons for killing off social cast-offs, but some are nastier / nicer than others.
Edited by SotiCoto "Do what thou wilst shalt be the whole of the law." ~ Aleister Crowley
It says "No real life examples" but I actually have a handful historical ones that shouldn't offend anyone... One involves Vlad the Impailer so I'm not inclined to believe that many will jump to his side to defend his policies and start a flame war.
In any case, I would like to know why there is a ban on real life examples here... Maybe I'm just an idiot, but as gruesome as the atrocities of against the poor have been in the past, they don't seem likely to start fights, and refusing to talk about them seems... somehow wrong to me.
Hide / Show Replies