Betrayal By Association

I absolutely hate it when people who are part of a certain group use their position to counter the general opinion of said group.  If person X is a member of group A, which as a whole generally believes B, and he says that B is wrong and C is right, then people not a part of group A use his position to diminish the overall legitimacy of the group.  For example, take a group of middle school students.  If one kid decides to be a terrible person and thinks they should receive more homework, he could say, "Well, I'm a student, and I think we should have more homework."  He uses his position as a student to go against the general position of the class, and give the class more homework.

Usually, however, this trend does not concern trivial matters such as multiplication worksheets.  "Hey look guys, I'm a member of a new indie band, and I think that piracy is awesome!"  Just because one person from a group thinks contrary to a certain view, doesn't mean the whole group does.  "I'm Asian and I think Asian jokes are hilarious!"  Congrats; not everyone does.

Betrayal by association turns from manipulative to downright evil when the person claims to be part of a group that they are not.  "Oh, I've been a supporter of gun rights for years, and I've gone hunting and own lots of guns, but I think that the position of gun rights activists is despicable."  Oh, please.  The sad thing is that people eat this stuff up, and believe outright liars.