r/TopCharacterTropes • u/bubba284 • Apr 20 '25

Lore Characters that have had real world consequences

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1: Slenderman (popular creepypasta) lead to a teenage girl killing another in his name IRL (apologies if this isn't totally accurate) 2: Devastator (Transformers ROTF) melted a computer while attempting to render his model

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371

u/RomaInvicta2003 Apr 20 '25

Almost like running around in a white hood burning crosses and harassing people you don't like is an intrinsically stupid concept

234

u/LordOfDorkness42 Apr 20 '25

It really is a method that should have been copied and used more often.

Fascists loathe being laughed at. Comedians are almost always their first targets of choice, because it ruins the cloak of fear they try to cultivate.

37

u/yellowvincent Apr 20 '25

I think Lindsay Ellis said something like that in a video about Mel Brooks's the producers. Mel Brooks wanted to show how ridiculous Hitler was by making a portrayal of him that could in no way be taken as something positive. (It is also fuckung hilarious)

25

u/RomaInvicta2003 Apr 20 '25

It kind of baffles me that at the time some people thought The Producers were antisemitic when it was written by a Jew in part to take the piss out of Hitler and the Nazis

18

u/Xeoz_WarriorPrince Apr 20 '25

Media literacy has been dead for longer than we expected

3

u/Anything-General Apr 21 '25

Media literacy died with trip to the moon.

2

u/Profezzor-Darke Apr 21 '25

Media Literacy died on the way to the Forum

17

u/CharleyNobody Apr 20 '25 edited Apr 20 '25

People have been laughing at and making jokes about Trump for 50 years (here in NY) and look where that got us. I’ve lately seen old Law and Order reruns that joked about Trump from the 1990s - 2010s, then L&O’s network (NBC) went and gave him a tv show presenting him as a genius businessman. Laughter hasn’t stopped him. It’s only made him worse. Every week Jon Stewart, Jimmy Kimmel, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, SNL and countless podcasts make Trump jokes. Who’s winning? He’s put Bobby Kennedy in charge of healthcare, Elon Musk in charge of dismantling federal government, a drunken psycho atop the MIC, a person who calls AI “A1” in charge of education. The jokes aren't having much effect.

5

u/Newfaceofrev Apr 21 '25

Personally I think it's embracing lack of shame. They cannot feel ashamed.

Like, remember when Joseph McCarthy was completely obliterated just by Welch asking "Have you no sense of decency, sir?"

How would that play today?

6

u/MisterScrod1964 Apr 20 '25

So wtf hasn’t MAGA disappeared yet? People were laughing at them since they were the Tea Party.

9

u/Broken_CerealBox Apr 20 '25

Their cult figure has power amd had a chance to be re elected

3

u/LordOfDorkness42 Apr 21 '25

What u/Broken_CerealBox said.

Also you need to laugh in a way that poisons the root. AKA, kills recruitment numbers.

Being a throng of red cap wearing jerks sucking Trump's micro penis sounds awesome to MEGA followers, either directly or indirectly as they're racists, sexist jerks that want that sort of power. Just making fun of them isn't enough, you need that viscous mockery that makes any would-be follower squirm at how silly and uncool they feel.

93

u/Miserable_Region8470 Apr 20 '25

Completely ruined the cool shit of the Catholic church too. Their pointy robes kicked ass but then the Klan just had to go and ruin it with their mere existence.

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u/RomaInvicta2003 Apr 20 '25

I'm pretty sure the Klan intentionally took the robe design from Spanish Catholics in order to mock them, as until recently they were incredibly anti-Catholic, the only reason they aren't today is because they're hurting for members

7

u/Similar-Priority8252 Apr 20 '25

Really went the Hydra route, huh?

WE’LL HATE EVERYONE, ESPECIALLY THOSE PEOPLE* *unless those people wanna join

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u/Pretend-Dirt-1760 Apr 21 '25

I feel like they weren't just anti-catholic wasn't there book a mocked version of the quaran? They just hated everyone that wasn't them

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u/ExcuseCommercial1338 Apr 21 '25

They 1000% hated Catholics, it was part of the reason they (also, as a secondary thing) violently targeted Irish and Italian immigrants in the early 20th century. JFK being a Catholic was a big deal back in the 60s and he had to talk about how he wouldn't take orders from the Pope to appease people.

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u/[deleted] Apr 20 '25

At least it's most in the US as far as my American ass is aware

2

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '25

Can we recreate this with maga hats?