History Main / AppealToInherentNature

* NaturalBornKillers provides an alternate rendition of the below entry

* A similar tale averts the trope; it tells of a jackal and a camel. The jackal wants to get at some tasty crabs on the other side of the river, but he's not a strong enough swimmer to beat the current. A camel comes along to get at the sugarcane that's ''also'' across the river, and agrees to ferry the jackal across. So the jackal eats his fill, but being much smaller than the camel he finishes before the camel has a chance to get more than a couple of mouthfuls; and, being full and happy, he prances about, yipping at the top of his jackal lungs, alerting the farmers to his presence and that of the camel. As the camel is swimming back across, he demands, "What the hell was that?!" "Sorry," says the jackal, "when I'm full I just feel like dancing around and yapping. It's just how I am." So the camel starts rolling over and over in the river. "What are you doing?!" cries the jackal. "Oh, sorry," says the camel, "But whenever I finish eating something I just feel like rolling over and over and over. It's just how I am."

* NaturalBornKillers provides an [[TheFarmerAndTheViper alternate rendition]] of the below entry

* NaturalBornKillers provides and alternate rendition of the below entry

* This one is OlderThanDirt. In the form of ''The Tale of the Scorpion and the Turtle'', it dates back to an ancient Sanskrit collection of folklore that was first translated into English in 1570.

* In issue #3 of IDW's ''{{Godzilla}}: Kingdom of Monsters'' series, the NoCelebritiesWereHarmed version of LadyGaga said that humanity shouldn't hold it against giant monsters for rampaging and destroying cities; it's just what they do, and it would be wrong to kill them for it.

* This is also a trope in certain religious/spiritual teachings, where it is assumed that value is subjective and not inherent to the thing in question.
** This is also the argument often used against homosexuality. Many who oppose it on religious grounds are willing to admit that it is likely part of one's inherent nature, but disagree that this alone proves that a gay lifestyle is ethical.

:: A subset of AppealToNature; if something is naturally predisposed to a certain act or state, it must be accepted. Snakes bite, bears maul, poisons kill, babies scream, sociopaths torture, and [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazis]] [[TheHolocaust commit]] [[FinalSolution genocide]]; but those are their natures, so we should not hold it against them.

* One of the most universally despised yet virtually ubiquitous excuses for bad behavior in role-playing games is "I'm just doing what my character would do" (and its little brother "I'm just acting my [[CharacterAlignment alignment]]"). As if once one has written "ChaoticNeutral" on his character sheet (through no fault of his own, presumably), it would be a sin against role-playing not to do something random, disruptive, and, if possible, stupid every now and then. Because that's what Chaotic Neutral people do! And it's not just players - more than one party has been betrayed and attacked by an [[NonPlayerCharacter NPC]] they were currently in the process of helping simply because the [[GameMaster GM]] noticed its race's alignment was [[AlwaysChaoticEvil evil]], and why would an evil person pass up an opportunity to do something nasty?

* When Aeryn in ''{{Farscape}}'' says that John Crichton is obsessed with sex, he says, [[AllMenArePerverts "I'm a guy!"]]

** This trope does get a parody in Legend of the Five Rings, however, as the scorpion has a different response. [[spoiler:But Turtle. I can swim!]]

* In ''Discworld/{{Jingo}}'', "72-hour Ahmed" points out that if this is a valid excuse for people to do bad things, then it's an equally valid excuse for those with a sense of justice to punish them:

* [[NaturalBornKillers Alternately...]]

** Averted sometimes in RealLife, of all places. Scorpions can't dig burrows very well, so a certain species will share a nest with a lizard. The scorpion gets a free room (and important shade from the desert heat), and the lizard gets a venomous bodyguard. The scorpion never stings the lizard, as there would be no reason to.

** Subverted in RealLife, of all places. Scorpions can't dig burrows very well, so a certain species will share a nest with a lizard. The scorpion gets a free room (and important shade from the desert heat), and the lizard gets a venomous bodyguard. The scorpion never stings the lizard, as there would be no reason to.

* This is also a trope in certain religious/spiritual teachings, where it is assumed that value is subjective and not inherent to the thing in question.

* This is also a trope in certain religious/spiritual teachings, where it is assumed that value is subjective and not inherent to the thing in question.
** This is also the argument often used against homosexuality. Many who oppose it on religious grounds are willing to admit that it is likely part of one's inherent nature, but disagree that this alone proves that a gay lifestyle is ethical.

:: A subset of Appeal To Nature; if something is naturally predisposed to a certain act or state, it must be accepted. Snakes bite, bears maul, poisons kill, babies scream, sociopaths torture and Nazis commit genocide; but those are their natures so we should not hold it against them.

-->Once upon a time, a woman was picking up firewood. She came upon a poisonous snake frozen in the snow. She took the snake home and nursed it back to health. One day the snake bit her on the cheek. As she lay dying, she asked the snake, "Why have you done this to me?" And the snake answered, "Look, bitch, [[GenreBlindness you knew]] I was a [[AlwaysChaoticEvil snake]]."

* This trope does get a parody in Legend of the Five Rings, however. As the scorpion has a different response. [[spoiler: But Turtle. I can swim!]]

* In a crossover between media and real life, this fallacy often shows up on reality shows, with at least one contestant each season declaring proudly "That's just who I am." when called out for acting like a bigot, an asshat or a bitch.

* In the ITV series ''{{Primeval}}'' a character who has been raising an orphaned sabretooth since it was a cub insists that the now fully grown cat would never attack her. Which, naturally, it does.

* One of the most universally despised yet virtually ubiquitous excuses for bad behavior in role-paying games is "I'm just doing what my character would do" (and its little brother "I'm just acting my [[CharacterAlignment alignment]]"). As if once one has written "ChaoticNeutral" on his character sheet (through no fault of his own, presumably) it would be a sin against role-playing not to do something random, disruptive, and, if possible, stupid every now and then. Because that's what Chaotic Neutral people do! And it's not just players - more than one party has been betrayed and attacked by an [[NonPlayerCharacter NPC]] they were currently in the process of helping simply because the [[GameMaster GM]] noticed its race's alignment was [[AlwaysChaoticEvil evil]], and why would an evil person pass up an opportunity to do something nasty?

** The most infamous example would have to be the Paladin class in ''DungeonsAndDragons'', holy warriors who were was required to be LawfulGood. So many players - many of whom were perfectly capable of playing non-paladin Lawful Good characters as reasonable individuals - felt that the ''only'' acceptable characterization for a paladin was the aggressively evangelistic KnightTemplar whose only possible reaction to any situation was to demand [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill everyone share his beliefs]] and kill anyone who didn't immediately fall in line that the phrase "LawfulStupid" was coined to describe the class as a whole.

[[AC:TabletopGame]]

* One of the most universally despised yet virtually ubiquitous excuses for bad behavior in role-paying games is "I'm just doing what my character would do" (and its little brother "I'm just acting my [[CharacterAlignment alignment]]"). As if once one has writting "ChaoticNeutral" on his character sheet (through no fault of his own, presumably) it would be a sin against role-playing not to do something random, disruptive, and, if possible, stupid every now and then. Because that's what Chaotic Neutral people do! And it's not just players - more than one party has been betrayed and attacked by an [[NonPlayerCharacter NPC]] they were currently in the process of helping simply because the [[GameMaster GM]] noticed its race's alignment was [[AlwaysChaoticEvil evil]], and why would an evil person pass up an opportunity to do something nasty?

*[[NaturalBornKillers Alternately...]]

-->Once upon a time, a woman was picking up firewood. She came upon a poisonous snake frozen in the snow. She took the snake home and nursed it back to health. One day the snake bit her on the cheek. As she lay dying, she asked the snake, "Why have you done this to me?" And the snake answered, "Look, bitch, [[GenreBlindness you knew]] I was a [[AlwaysChaoticEvil snake]]."

* RealLife: Often used by people who want to excuse their own bad behavior rather than admit that maybe they crossed a line somewhere. "It's just the way I am." Not a 100% fallacious argument in that it's got some basis in fact when taken on the level of a single person, but fallacious enough that it usually comes off as lame and immature when people use it.
* Often used to imply that the person objecting to the behavior is prejudiced or overly sensitive.

* This is also a trope in certain religious/spiritual teachings, where it is assumed that value is subjective and not inherent to the thing in question.

* Summarised quite nicely in ''{{StarTrekDeepSpaceNine}}'' by the 217th Rule of Acquisition: "You can't free a fish from water."