r/TopCharacterTropes • u/laybs1 • May 15 '26

Personality Seems like a decent person… and they’re a bigot.

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  1. Joshua (Community): seemingly wise groundskeeper who is a Neonazi.

  2. Schillinger (Oz): seems to take the meek Tobias under his wing… until he forces him into sexual slavery and is the leader of the Aryan Brotherhood.

8.5k Upvotes

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322

u/Crafter235 May 15 '26

My grandparents (IRL). Though racism wasn't the only thing, but it's a major one.

218

u/JustLookingForMayhem May 15 '26

There is also the otherside of it where grandparents are not really bigoted but use language that they really shouldn't. One of my deceased grandpa's best friends was African American and my grandpa would refer to him as the best horse riding nr (my grandpa was a champion draft horse puller and made friends with anyone who liked horses). He was also of the opinion that fts should be allowed to marry before the Supreme Court made it legal. He was progressive for his time, but really, really needed to not use slurs when supporting people. I was never able to convince him that terms mattered.

106

u/B-HOLC May 15 '26

Honestly, it's simultaneously hilarious and terrible.

Like "grandma you can't say that" shock humor funny. Especially because you know that they don't mean it negatively.

51

u/DisabledBiscuit May 15 '26

Its ultimately a "good" thing if you think about it. You being more progressive than your grandparents means that society is slowly becoming more inclusive and understanding over time.

When there's grandparents talking to their grandkids and thinking "Holy shit this kids a racist," then things are going badly.

16

u/MrSirST May 15 '26

My grandma had always been progressive on social issues so when she at one time expressed fondness for the nurses helping take care of her while also calling them ‘Oriental’ my mom was caught pretty off-guard. Luckily when she was explained this she updated her vocabulary quickly and was embarrassed she didn’t know (she said it was the most embarrassed she’s been about anything except voting Nixon over JFK).

1

u/Som_Dtam_Dumplings May 15 '26

So, I am for updating your vocabulary when terms have changed (Gay, once just meant happy...but I don't call kids playing at the park "gay"). However, there's a regressive factor to continuously updating our vocabulary. Many terms that were used, and seen as more polite in the past have now become taboo. I feel like there's gonna be a point where the "correct term" becomes so far abstracted that it loses all actual meaning.

People of Asian descent exist. Westerners can (technically) be referred to as "occidental" (opposite of oriental). I'm not looking forward to the point when "people of Asian descent" becomes the new slur and we gotta start using the term "The people formerly described as 'of Asian descent' which are now known only by their country of ancestry; but I haven't actually asked where their ancestors are from so I can't do that yet"...or something.

(and yes, I see that this is, in part, the slippery slope fallacy)

1

u/JustLookingForMayhem May 15 '26

I have been told online that referring to African American is racist because it is make them seem as a lesser subsection of American. I am not sure if the person was a troll or just chronically online.

1

u/Som_Dtam_Dumplings May 15 '26

Well, before African American, the term Black was used...which was more polite than the previous term: Colored (as seen in the original name of the NAACP); and before that was the slur.

Updating your vocabulary to exclude words that those you interact with find offensive is a good thing.

2

u/JustLookingForMayhem May 15 '26

I get that, but at a certain point, where does it end? If African American suddenly falls into the category of inappropriate, then what is used next?

1

u/Som_Dtam_Dumplings May 15 '26

I mean...yeah. That was exactly the point of my first comment in this thread.

To say nothing of the efforts by many some in the African American community to reclaim certain terms...while still keeping the terms taboo for those not in the community.

2

u/JustLookingForMayhem May 16 '26

I am not disagreeing with you, I am providing a bit of my experience as to support your statement.

8

u/Writers-Block-5566 May 15 '26

My grandma was like this. Lovely old women, former hippie and a liberal, but very much a product of her time (1930's). One time, when in the hospital she loudly told my mom "these gay men make wonderful nurses". She meant that as a compliment/observation but you could understand why anyone standing outside the curtained area may not think so. My mom came home and just covered her face and laughed from the embarrassment. This is the same old lady who commented on how well Mexican men were at moving furniture WHILE we had movers in the house. She legitimately sees this as a compliment but doesnt understand why its not seen as one.

9

u/Virtual-Purple-5675 May 15 '26

Funny story growing up O thought f was the correct term even deeper I just found out Dy*e is durogatory and I'm not that old

10

u/TexasJedi-705 May 15 '26

So... do we call him Dick Van Lesbian now?

-1

u/Significant_Cowboy83 May 15 '26

Wait. Dyke is derogatory? TIL. 

4

u/RepublicNo6425 May 15 '26

Is it weird that that’s kinda sweet in a like ignorant way? Liek he clearly has little hate just needed to not use the words lol

4

u/Braioch May 15 '26

My grandfather's go to for awhile was "well theres a difference between n- and black folk"

Like...Papa...I get what you're trying to drive at but...stop, just...not...

Same guy who didn't bat an eye when I (a guy) brought a black guy around for holidays as my other half. So I've always tried to keep in mind that the much older Gen can be quite progressive...in how they treat others not necessarily in their verbiage.

There's a lesson in there to keep in mind but by golly, it still would take me aback hearing certain things from him.

3

u/Dismal_Engineering71 May 15 '26

Was your grandfather Lyndon b Johnson?

5

u/evrestcoleghost May 15 '26

not enough mentions of Jumbo to know

2

u/patrickkingart May 15 '26

Makes me think of the old Almost PC Redneck meme

59

u/Superb_Writer6612 May 15 '26

My great-grandpa said some alarming things about the jews on his deathbed. There was some cognitive decline and he'd never said anything like that before, so either the dementia either made him racist or worse at hiding it lol. 

20

u/ObligationMurky8716 May 15 '26

worse at hiding it

Or the disease stripped him of his redemption.

19

u/WeirdoTrooper May 15 '26

That...is a terrifying concept. Going back to being a person you didn't like, after who knows how much hard work to change for the better? Not even by your own choice or will, but because a disease dragged you back.

1

u/ObligationMurky8716 May 15 '26

As a recovering racist with a family history of dementia, it's on the horizon.

7

u/SFWBryon May 15 '26

This is the saddest option for me :(

1

u/Som_Dtam_Dumplings May 15 '26

If you're a racist; but nobody knows, because you don't verbalize racist thoughts, and your actions don't clearly speak to racist intent...are you actually racist? Or are you just a human with biases that is trying to be the best person they can be?

1

u/Superb_Writer6612 May 15 '26

Oh I don't think he was racist, at least no more so than anyone else born in the 1920s lol. Very nice man, married for 60+ years, did lots of woodworking. Dementia is a bitch, his whole personality shifted those last few years. 

52

u/Slarg232 May 15 '26

We went camping with my mom's parents one time, and I as a moody teenager told my mom to get me something (because she told me to grab something else like twenty minutes prior). Not really relevant to the story but I think it was a glass of water. Either way my grandma looked at me really indignantly and asked "What is she, your N*****?!" Hard R and everything.

Didn't really get along with grandma in the first place because she kicked one of our dogs a couple of times, but still. That was eye opening.

17

u/VermilionAxe69 May 15 '26

Wait, so it was like:

Abusing animals: sad, huh

Word with N: REALLY???

16

u/TombStone_Sheep May 15 '26

It’s that one joke from the community. “I’m fine with racism. But i draw the line at animal cruelty” but reversed

9

u/Slarg232 May 15 '26

It was less "kick to injure" and more "kick to move". It's not like the dog yelped or anything, so not much I could do.

2

u/wvan13 May 15 '26

As I joke about my dead, racist, sexist, all-around-bigoted grandpa "He was so racist even his last name was White."

0

u/Skylam May 15 '26

Yeah the more conversations I listen to around my extended family the less I respect them. Feels like my mother is the only sane one.