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Shaming the Mob: Difference between revisions
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This sometimes works on a [[Powder Keg Crowd]] as well, but only if done before the violence breaks out. Once the riot starts, nobody's listening.
Occasionally subverted by having the mob stop in their tracks, hear out the speech... and then keep right on with what they were doing. When it works, almost guaranteed to be an instance of [[Verbal Judo]]. Compare [[Talking the Monster to Death]]. Sometimes rather than the hero giving the speech, it's a [[Character Witness]] or [[Zombie Advocate]]. If the speech is only meant to ''delay'' the mob rioting until [[The Cavalry]] arrive, the character is [[Holding the Floor]]. If a character points out the extreme danger of what they are doing, or if they demand that someone else do it, and the character shoves it back on them, and they stop, it's [[Who Will Bell the Cat?]].
{{examples}}▼
Contrast [[Shamed by a Mob]].
▲{{examples}}
== Anime ==
* ''[[The Big O]]'': Dan Dastun shames the military police with a speech about them following Alex Rosewater’s deranged leadership and then performs the [[Insignia Rip Off Ritual]]. Later, the rest of the military police [[Turn in Your Badge|follows his example]] and attacks Alex Rosewater. [http://www.paradigm-city.com/scripts/article.php?a=ep26\], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgy5w8jRxWA\], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR9hs-M3GTQ\], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Amw3DwVXHGU\]
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== Myths & Religion ==
* [[Jesus Christ]] stopped a stoning by challenging the mob: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." Nobody did.
== Real Life ==▼
* On October 5, 1789, Queen [[Marie Antoinette]] mounts a window balcony and curtsies to the angry mob that had converged on Versailles. At first stunned and silenced, they begin shouting, "Long live the queen!"▼
* One of many stories about Joshua Norton, first and only [http://www.molossia.org/norton.html Emperor of the United States], says that he broke up a mob of anti-Chinese rioters by standing in their way, head down, reciting the Lord's Prayer. They left without incident.▼
** In an unusual version of this trope, Emperor Norton was later arrested for vagrancy, but the judge not only refused to prosecute, he gave the arresting officer a dressing-down, saying that Emperor Norton "had shed no blood, robbed no one and despoiled no country -- which is more than can be said of his fellows in that line".▼
* In another real-life example, though a bit less unruly than an actual mob, George Washington managed to discourage the Newburgh conspiracy, consisting of officers of the Continental Army that sought to start a military coup against Congress, by making a heartfelt speech to them claiming that he had gone gray and almost blind in service to his country. Many of the conspirators were brought to tears by Washington's speech.▼
** There is also the story of Washington, years later, brow beating and dressing down a group of officers who wished to make him King of the United States.▼
** What makes that first one a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] is that it wasn't Washington's words that first pulled it off. Though that ''was'' when some began to cry, he first managed to shame them by ''putting on his spectacles.'' The man had presence.▼
{{quote|'''Washington:''' "Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray but almost blind in the service of my country."}}▼
* During the Australian Aboriginal "Freedom Ride" of 1965, in one small town there was a mob of angry white men who threw things at the Aboriginal freedom riders... until one local Aboriginal woman called out some of their names and revealed they had been sleeping with the local Aboriginal girls. She did this ''in front of their wives''. The men had no choice but to am-scray.▼
* When [[Napoleon Bonaparte|Napoleon]] returned to France, a group of soldiers were sent to kill him. When they got to him, he said something to the effect of "If you would shoot your Emperor, then do it." They, of course, didn't.▼
** It's way more [[Badass]] than that. It wasn't a small group of soldiers, it was an entire ''regiment'' he talked down, and not only did Napoleon talk them into not shooting him, he talked them into ''deserting and joining his army''. After that, the King of France sent out an army of his own to take down Napoleon, and Napoleon did it ''again''. After that, Napoleon sent a message to Louis saying something along the lines of "[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|My dear cousin, please stop trying to send soldiers to apprehend me, I have more than enough troops already]]."▼
* [[Gaius Julius Caesar]] famously quelled a mutiny of his troops by addressing the rioters as "Quirites" ("Civilians"). [[Older Than Feudalism|You know what that means ...]]▼
** According to one theory, this was supposed to be a form of shaming them, as Caesar had always referred to his soldiers as his comrades or his brothers/soldiers in arms. Referring to them as Quirites (Citizens) was a rather blunt way of implying that they had already discharged themselves from his service by their mutiny. He offered to pay them their dues for the past 15 years and discharge them immediately because he claimed he did not need them. Reportedly, all the soldiers begged to be forgiven and taken back into his army.▼
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* On ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'', Jimmy tries this on a mob that's trying to capture a space alien. It fails.
{{quote|'''Lucius''': Hey, [[Crapsack World|it is called Miseryville]].}}
▲== Real Life ==
▲* On October 5, 1789, Queen [[Marie Antoinette]] mounts a window balcony and curtsies to the angry mob that had converged on Versailles. At first stunned and silenced, they begin shouting, "Long live the queen!"
▲* One of many stories about [[w:Emperor Norton|Joshua Norton]], first and only [http://www.molossia.org/norton.html Emperor of the United States], says that he broke up a mob of anti-Chinese rioters by standing in their way, head down, reciting the Lord's Prayer. They left without incident.
▲** In an unusual version of this trope, Emperor Norton was later arrested for vagrancy, but the judge not only refused to prosecute, he gave the arresting officer a dressing-down, saying that Emperor Norton "had shed no blood, robbed no one and despoiled no country -- which is more than can be said of his fellows in that line".
▲* In another real-life example, though a bit less unruly than an actual mob, George Washington managed to discourage the Newburgh conspiracy, consisting of officers of the Continental Army that sought to start a military coup against Congress, by making a heartfelt speech to them claiming that he had gone gray and almost blind in service to his country. Many of the conspirators were brought to tears by Washington's speech.
▲** There is also the story of Washington, years later, brow beating and dressing down a group of officers who wished to make him King of the United States.
▲** What makes that first one a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] is that it wasn't Washington's words that first pulled it off. Though that ''was'' when some began to cry, he first managed to shame them by ''putting on his spectacles.'' The man had presence.
▲{{quote|'''Washington:''' "Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray but almost blind in the service of my country."}}
▲* During the Australian Aboriginal "Freedom Ride" of 1965, in one small town there was a mob of angry white men who threw things at the Aboriginal freedom riders... until one local Aboriginal woman called out some of their names and revealed they had been sleeping with the local Aboriginal girls. She did this ''in front of their wives''. The men had no choice but to am-scray.
▲* When [[Napoleon Bonaparte|Napoleon]] returned to France, a group of soldiers were sent to kill him. When they got to him, he said something to the effect of "If you would shoot your Emperor, then do it." They, of course, didn't.
▲** It's way more [[Badass]] than that. It wasn't a small group of soldiers, it was an entire ''regiment'' he talked down, and not only did Napoleon talk them into not shooting him, he talked them into ''deserting and joining his army''. After that, the King of France sent out an army of his own to take down Napoleon, and Napoleon did it ''again''. After that, Napoleon sent a message to Louis saying something along the lines of "[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|My dear cousin, please stop trying to send soldiers to apprehend me, I have more than enough troops already]]."
▲* [[Gaius Julius Caesar]] famously quelled a mutiny of his troops by addressing the rioters as "Quirites" ("Civilians"). [[Older Than Feudalism|You know what that means ...]]
▲** According to one theory, this was supposed to be a form of shaming them, as Caesar had always referred to his soldiers as his comrades or his brothers/soldiers in arms. Referring to them as Quirites (Citizens) was a rather blunt way of implying that they had already discharged themselves from his service by their mutiny. He offered to pay them their dues for the past 15 years and discharge them immediately because he claimed he did not need them. Reportedly, all the soldiers begged to be forgiven and taken back into his army.
{{reflist}}
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