Noble Bigot: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

This character will almost always [[Heel Face Turn|be totally redeemed in the end]] - and even if he isn't, it will still be acknowledged that he has his good qualities. Sometimes he is as sympathetic as such a character can be, only holding on to his prejudices due to a [[Freudian Excuse]] (his parents taught him to be this way, or he was once wronged by a member of the group he now despises). A distinct but closely related trope is the [[Innocent Bigot]], who honestly thinks he is ''not'' prejudiced due to [[Values Dissonance]], and is thus ignorant rather than a [[Jerkass]].

 

See also [[Noble Bigot with a Badge]] and [[Boomerang Bigot]]. Compare [[Good Is Not Nice]]. May overlap with [[Wicked Cultured]] or [[Fair for Its Day]]. May come off as [[Affably Evil]] (or even [[Evilly Affable]]) to the targets of his prejudice.

{{examples}}

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

** And then there's Miles. Kimblee has a remarkable scene with Miles where he's flaunting his evil Ishvalan-slaughtering cred (he seems to have founded his whole identity there and gets a huge kick out of how much Scar hates him) and enjoying what he presumes is Miles forcibly restraining himself because of the chain of command, when really Miles has mostly made his peace with the genocide issue, values the living more, and just wishes the annoying guy would shut up, but won't say so because his job is to keep him busy.

** Racism of Amestrians towards Ishvalans is much more prominent in [[Fullmetal Alchemist (anime)|the 2003 anime version]].

{{quote|'''Haruka''': Two women behaving like that with each other... you're filthy! Both you AND Natsuki Kuga!}}

 

== Literature ==

* ''[[Trail of Glory|The Rivers of War]]'' portrays Andrew Jackson like this. He is highly bigoted, even by the standards of the time, and does not hesitate to call friendly Cherokees "savages", ask how Sam Houston can be so sure that his coloured teamsters won't steal his gear and sum up state militias as drunken and cowardly to a man. However, he hesitates to shoot Red Eagle (a rebel Cherokee responsible for a major massacre) because he surrendered voluntarily, promotes a coloured sergeant to commissioned rank, against regulations, and threatens to kill a man who protests against arming free coloured men, but who won't join the militia himself. Essentially, the Andrew Jackson in the book is bigoted against groups but is capable of respecting an individual who is especially heroic and or a fierce fighter. While he is a bigot, he hates fools and cowards even more.

* [[Adrian Mole]]'s grandma doesn't like Indians or Pakistanis, but is otherwise [[Cool Old Guy|sympathetic and somewhat badass]].

* Played for laughs in ''[[Good Omens]]'' with Witchhunter Shadwell. He has a (mildly) derogatory slur for everyone, belittles foreign cultures and religions, and suspects everyone of being a witch or a warlock, yet everyone is charmed by him and he fearlessly prepares to fight Satan when the Apocalypse comes.

** He also (maybe) acknowledges that Lady Margolotta (a vampire) isn't a ''complete'' monster (though he doesn't like her), and highly values Angua (a werewolf), Detritus (a troll), Cheery (a dwarf), and all the other Watchmen he works with, because they're no longer just dwarves/trolls/werewolves/vampires...they're [[True Companions|watchmen]].

** In return, the non-human members of the Watch generally ignore Vimes' racist rhetoric, because they know that if their backs are against the wall, he'll be the first one diving in to help them.

* In [[The Grimnoir Chronicles]], Joe Vierra is a Portuguese farmer who spits at the [[The Great Depression|Okies]] that pass by his farm. But he still buys and adopts the daughter of one family when he notices that she has a potentially self-destructive power that needs training.

* Barrayar in [[Vorkosigan Saga]]. Honorable and valiant warriors who always keep their word but have an extreme prejudice against cripples.

 

== Live Action TV ==

**** Even if he had apologized, he wouldn't have meant it. His racist tendencies are still there, too. It would've colored their relationship, and put people in danger. (he almost died because he refused Starfire's help.) His help shouldn't be welcome.

*** He actually does try to "apologize" once he realizes that the Titans don't share his prejudices and are rather offended on Starfire's behalf; they're incredibly backhanded, and the closest he gets to acknowledging Starfire's value as a person is by claiming she [[You Are a Credit to Your Race|"must be one of the good [Tamaranians]"]]. Yeah, he's really learned a lesson here.

* Pakku from ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' held sexist values for most of his life. When he was a teenager, his bigotry caused his fiancée Kanna <ref>Katara's future grandmother</ref> to leave him. After realizing this as an old man, he realizing that his ideas were wrong and starts to see women as equals. (For example, he trains Katara in combat waterbending, even though traditionally, female waterbenders are only allowed to use their powers for healing.) He even meets up with Kanna again, and after she realizes that he's changed, Kanna marries him, making him the grandfather of Sokka and Katara.

** Sokka is a bit sexist for the first few episodes, believing that women should [[Stay in the Kitchen]] and out of the fighting. After getting to know a group of female warriors firsthand and realizing their fighting capabilities, he realizes that his views were incorrect and learns to respect women and girls.

* [[Abraham Lincoln]], while staunchly anti-slavery, did believe that white people tend to be smarter than black people.

** In his own words from the 1858 "Great Debates" with Stephen A. Douglas, "I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, or to intermarry with white people, and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the two races which I believe will forever forbid the two from living together on terms of social and political equality." Though, a number of his papers that were published posthumously suggest that those were not his beliefs, but he had to work within the political reality of the time; he was regarded as one of the most cunning politicians of his era after all. His friendship with Frederick Douglass undoubtedly helped to change his views.

** Lincoln also had a chequered history with the Indians, participating in the Trail Of Tears and imposing harsh measures on the Lakota to win support from Midwestern homesteaders in the North.

* [[Winston Churchill]] was for a time a supporter of eugenics, but considered one of the great heroes of all time by many in America and Europe.

** [[Values Dissonance|Support for eugenics was widespread across the political spectrum during the first half of the 20th century]]. To a lot of people, it was a noble, scientific way of improving the lot of the whole human race rather than just casting moral blame on "subnormals" and "defectives."

[[Category:Characters As Device]]

[[Category:Index With a Heart of Gold]]