Strawman Emotional: Difference between revisions

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* Making the more emotional character [[The Ditz]], a [[Cloudcuckoolander]], or a [[Leeroy Jenkins]].
* Making an [[Sliding Scale Longof NameIdealism Versus Cynicism|incredibly cynical world]], in which more emotional characters are [[Wide -Eyed Idealist|Wide Eyed Idealists]] [[Jade -Colored Glasses|to be]] [[Break the Cutie|broken]], and [[Moral Dissonance|playing off]] [[Shoot the Dog|very amoral behavior]] as [[I Did What I Had to Do|only "correct" and "realistic."]]
* Conveniently forgetting that [[Lack of Empathy|empathy is emotional, too]].
* Having [[Agent Mulder|every single emotional character]] [[Dying Like Animals|be a]] [[Belief Makes You Stupid|blind believer]] in a [[Corrupt Church|corrupt]] [[Path of Inspiration|system]] [[Religion of Evil|of]] [[Villain Withwith Good Publicity|authority]].
* Having the emotional characters see absolutely no value in logic.
* [[Hysterical Woman|Emotionalism is sometimes associated with]] [[Distressed Damsel in Distress|weakness and femininity]], whereas the rational man is portrayed as the strong one. Extra bonus if she keeps insisting she's [[Closer to Earth]].
* Painting intuition as always silly or wrong, ignoring the fact that intuition is simply the ability to pick up on subtle cues without realizing it, and that following your intuition can often be very logical.
* Making them a [[Glurge Addict]] or a [[Misplaced Kindergarten Teacher]].
* Paint them as a [[Wide -Eyed Idealist]] or even a [[New Age Retro Hippie]] who is too dippy or weak-willed to [[Shoot the Dog]].
 
This trope is different from [[Emotions vs. Stoicism]], in that [[Emotions vs. Stoicism]] portrays logic and emotions as both having strengths and weaknesses, whereas this trope strawmans emotion much the same way [[Straw Vulcan]] strawmans logic. This trope is less often played straight than [[Straw Vulcan]], because, well, strawmanning emotion [[YouLogical Fail Logic ForeverFallacies|isn't very logical.]] In fact, anAn author who plays this trope straight is likely to be a [[Straw Vulcan]] themselves. They are also very likely to fall on the Enlightenment side of [[Romanticism Versus Enlightenment]].
 
{{examples|Examples}}
{{Noreallife|real people are not crafted for a specific purpose.}}
 
{{examples|Examples}}
== Comic Books ==
* The Human Torch in the ''[[Fantastic Four]]'' comics. While none of the characters outright reject the importance of emotions, Johnny is by far the most emotional and the most likely to get [[Worf Effect|smacked to the pavement]] when he charges blindly into battle. Reed Richards is by far the least emotional, and is right so often that every time he's wrong the world makes a little less sense.
 
== Film ==
* ''[[Star Wars|]]'': Anakin Skywalker]] in contrast to the rest of the Jedi, who believe emotions lead to [[The Dark Side]].
 
== Literature ==
* Just as [[Ayn Rand]] 's heroes are [[Straw Vulcan|Straw Vulcans]]s, so her villains tend to be [['''Strawman Emotional]]''' characters with a senseless hatred of the heroes. Many of them--them—James Taggart from ''[[Atlas Shrugged|James Taggart]]'' being probably the most articulate example--expound a philosophy that although a man like Hank Rearden is more productive, an emotional man like Taggart is superior because he bases his actions on "love"--while of course, Taggart and others like him show no sign that they are actually capable of having love for anyone.
 
== Live-Action TV ==
* [[Stephen Colbert]]'s [[Strawman Political|character]].
* ''[[Star Trek: TOS|McCoyThe Original Series]]'': McCoy could occasionally slip into this, much as Spock could occasionally be a [[Straw Vulcan]].
** The Romulans, as well. Since breaking away from the Vulcans over a disagreement over using logic to control emotion or not, they became incredibly amoral.
* On ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation]]'' Data and Lore are androids of incredibly similar construction, the difference being that Lore has emotions and Data does not (at least until the movies). This makes Data a hero and Lore a villain.
* On ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', Xander's opinions—especially those regarding women he's been involved with—are often blown off by most or all of the rest of the group because he's clearly basing it on personal sentiment rather than logic. Examples would include everyone else ignoring his objections about Buffy and Angel's relationship (clearly he's just jealous!), or disagreeing with him that Faith was misunderstood and in pain and still reachable (beh, he's just stupid and horny because he slept with her once!), or that Buffy's wanting to kill Anya for having gone demon again despite her consistent refusal to stake Angel for the same reason is hypocritical (of course Xander would say that, he's jealous of Angel ''and'' Anya is his ex-fiancé!). Of course, while Xander ''was'' motivated by personal emotion in all of these incidents, Buffy and the gang consistently overlook something else—notably, that he was eventually proven right in all instances.
* The Human Torch in the ''[[Fantastic Four]]'' comics. While none of the characters outright reject the importance of emotions, Johnny is by far the most emotional and the most likely to get [[Worf Effect|smacked to the pavement]] when he charges blindly into battle. Reed Richards is by far the least emotional, and is right so often that every time he's wrong the world makes a little less sense.
* In ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'' Dr. Allison Cameron, who occasionally veered into [[Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids|Strawman Idealist.]]
* Just as [[Ayn Rand]] 's heroes are [[Straw Vulcan|Straw Vulcans]], so her villains tend to be [[Strawman Emotional]] characters with a senseless hatred of the heroes. Many of them--[[Atlas Shrugged|James Taggart]] being probably the most articulate example--expound a philosophy that although a man like Hank Rearden is more productive, an emotional man like Taggart is superior because he bases his actions on "love"--while of course, Taggart and others like him show no sign that they are actually capable of having love for anyone.
 
* Jake Morgendorffer in [[Daria]]. Most of the ensemble characters carry this particular [[Idiot Ball]] regularly, but Jake is probably the most consistent.
== Western Animation ==
* Liberals, according to [[Conservapedia]]. Their article on liberalism outright says that there is no such thing as coherent liberal beliefs, and liberals are actually just conservatives who disagree for no logical reason because they want attention. Kind of ironic as many of the editors of [[Conservapedia]] who aren't [[Troll|Trolls]] are [[Strawman Emotional|Strawman Emotionals]] themselves.
* Jake Morgendorffer in ''[[Daria]]''. Most of the ensemble characters carry this particular [[Idiot Ball]] regularly, but Jake is probably the most consistent.
* [[The Simpsons (animation)|Helen]] "Won't someone please [[Think of the Children]] ?" [[The Simpsons (animation)|Lovejoy]]
** Another ''Simpsons'' example is the segregated girls' math class Lisa is stuck in, where the students learn how numbers make them feel, but not how to add or subtract them.
 
* [[Star Wars|Anakin Skywalker]] in contrast to the rest of the Jedi, who believe emotions lead to [[The Dark Side]].
== Politics ==
* In ''[[House (TV)|House]]'' Dr. Allison Cameron, who occasionally veered into [[Silly Rabbit Idealism Is for Kids|Strawman Idealist.]]
* Liberals, according to [[Conservapedia]]. Their article on liberalism outright says that there is no such thing as coherent liberal beliefs, and liberals are actually just conservatives who disagree for no logical reason because they want attention. Kind of ironic as many of the editors of [[Conservapedia]] who aren't [[Troll|Trolls]] are [[Strawman Emotional|Strawman Emotionals]] themselves.
 
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Trope{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:The War On Straw]]
[[Category:Emotion Tropes]]
[[Category:Strawman Emotional]]
[[Category:Trope]]