Politically Incorrect Hero – TV Tropes

"Yes, Wong very racist. Don't like black or Jew. But black and Jew both like Chinese food. Go figure." Usually, in modern stories, a character who's a sexist, racist, or something else of that kind is the bad guy. This is mostly due to the present day realization that prejudice is bad. Sometimes, either due to an Writer on Board, Values Dissonance, Deliberate Values Dissonance, or something else, a character can get away with opinions that are... controversial. If the excuse is well-done, it can work. If not, it seems like a Karma Houdini. Unless, of course, he is punished for it, or forced to undergo a FaceHeel Turn. It has become increasingly common for heroes of this type to not only have their political incorrectness lampshaded by the author and by other characters, but to be aware of it themselves. This type of "hero" knows his attitudes are wrong but is too proud to give them up, usually due to Honor Before Reason. He might develop into a Noble Bigot or Troubled Sympathetic Bigot. The trope has become increasingly discredited given modern social attitudes regarding discrimination, and in contrast the use of politically-incorrect characters as the bad guys is now the rule. Lindsay Ellis refers to this trope as the "lovable misogynist" in an article dissecting the motives given in the above paragraph. Also see Good Flaws, Bad Flaws for a more thorough analysis of "discrimination as a flaw".

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Anime and Manga

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Gonzales: There is one question, Inspector Callahan: Why do they call you "Dirty Harry"?

Gonzales: How does he feel about Mexicans?

De Georgio: Ask him.

Literature

Live Action TV

Cuddy (evaluating House) Your attitude towards supervisory personnel is disrespectful, and a disturbingly large proportion of your comments are racist or sexist.

Gene Hunt: Now. Yesterday's shooting. The dealers are all so scared we're more likely to get Helen Keller to talk. The Paki in a coma's about as lively as Liberace's dick when he's looking at a naked woman, all in all this investigation's going at the speed of a spastic in a magnet factory.

Sam Tyler, shocked, drops the radio he is holding.

Gene Hunt: What?

Sam Tyler: Think you might have missed out the Jews.

"Dear Liz Lemon, Though other women have bigger boobs than you, no women has as big a heart and when I saw you getting ready to go out and get nailed by a bunch of guys last night, I knew for sure it was over between us and, for the first time since the '86 World Series, I cried. I cried like a big dumb homo. And if it were up to me, we'd be together forever, but there's this new thing called 'Women's Liberation' which gives you women the right to choose and you have chosen to abort me and that I must live with."

Barney: At one point, I'm pretty sure I sold a woman. I didn't speak the language, but I shook a guy's hand, he gave me the keys to a Mercedes, and I left her there.

"Space must have seemed a whole lot bigger back then. It's not surprising they had to bend the rules a little. They were a little slower to invoke the Prime Directive, and a little quicker to pull their phasers. Of course, the whole bunch of them would be booted out of Starfleet today. But I have to admit, I would have loved to ride shotgun at least once with a group of officers like that."

General Drayfox: (an incredibly PC supervillain) THEN WHERE IS HE?!

Mayor:...Well, at the moment, he's in prison for statutory rape.

General Drayfox: What? RAPE?

Mayor: Statutory rape! It was an accident, she was wearing makeup!

Drayfox: Uh - I really don't think that's any excuse!

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Lear: The fitchew, nor the soiled horse, goes to t with a more riotous appetite. Down from the waist they are centaurs, though women all above. But to the girdle do the gods inherit; beneath is all the fiends'.

Video Games

Web Comics

Web Original

Sam: "What the fuck is wrong with you!"

Woman: "I don't know any better."

Dean: "It's true, she is a woman."

Western Animation

"Alas, after a series of deadly blunders caused by distracting low-cut fatigues and lots of harmless pinching, the army decided women weren't fit for service. Not when I'm in charge."

Leela: "I'm going to remind him he's human the way only a woman can."

Farnsworth: "You're going to do his laundry?"

John: Well, Homer, I won your respect, and all I had to do was save your life. Now, if every gay man could just do the same, you'd be set.

Archer: Just because he's a big Hollywood lawyer does not make him Jewish! Cheryl: Ewww, he's Jewish?

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Politically Incorrect Hero - TV Tropes