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| - The villains are members of an underground extremist militia which believes that The Government is going to declare martial law, seize everybody's guns, cede national sovereignty to the United Nations to form a One World Order, implant everyone with microchips to make it easier to track them, and start sending "patriots" like them to prison camps any day now -- but not on their watch! Particularly unsympathetic examples will have them displaying neo-Nazi sympathies and blaming minorities for all of their country's problems. The methods the fanatics use are typically brazen violence and terrorism, with the government and visible minorities being the primary targets. When they are caught, like their communist brethren, they typically claim to be prisoners of war and appeal to the Geneva Conv
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| abstract
| - The villains are members of an underground extremist militia which believes that The Government is going to declare martial law, seize everybody's guns, cede national sovereignty to the United Nations to form a One World Order, implant everyone with microchips to make it easier to track them, and start sending "patriots" like them to prison camps any day now -- but not on their watch! Particularly unsympathetic examples will have them displaying neo-Nazi sympathies and blaming minorities for all of their country's problems. The methods the fanatics use are typically brazen violence and terrorism, with the government and visible minorities being the primary targets. When they are caught, like their communist brethren, they typically claim to be prisoners of war and appeal to the Geneva Convention, which the prosecutors have to work to shoot down. At the end, if they are convicted or punished, there is a typically an unsettling We Are Everywhere. While the militia movement has antecedents going back decades (many militias themselves claim the "Minutemen" of The American Revolution as spiritual predecessors), most of these characters appeared during The Nineties in American media, particularly after the Ruby Ridge incident, the Waco Siege and the Oklahoma City bombing, which involved government confrontations with supposed Real Life versions of these characters. The truth about them is a bit more complicated; see the Analysis page for more. Militias died down after the surge in patriotism that accompanied 9/11 (although some of the more radical groups contended that the whole thing was an inside job), as well as Clinton's replacement with a right-wing president, but the last couple of years have seen militia membership surge to levels not seen since The Nineties. Most of this has been attributed to a bad economy, the election of a black, Democratic President and anger over health care reform and immigration. Once again, debate rages as to whether or not they are just patriotic Americans concerned about the direction their country is going in, violent extremists who desire to overthrow the government, or simply a disparate collection of far-right fringe groups. Usually a variant of the Corrupt Hick, but played as a serious villain instead of comic relief. Is frequently used as a Strawman Political. Compare and contrast Red Scare, The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized, Yellow Peril and Malcolm Xerox. A common source of Western Terrorists. Often a Crazy Survivalist. Examples of Right-Wing Militia Fanatic include:
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