History Main / BlackAndWhiteInsanity

A Character suffering from BlackAndWhiteInsanity is likely to reason in FalseDichotomies and keep their worldview coherent by applying huge amounts of InsaneTrollLogic. BlackAndWhiteInsanity might also be what makes a WellIntentionedExtremist an extremist. Character development might lead to the insane one becoming a TroubledSympatheticBigot.

* In LesMiserables, inspector Javert is a ByTheBookCop who believes that "criminals are evil, period". He dedicates his life to pursuing the protagonist, eventually [[TroubledSympatheticBigot realizing]] his mistake... something that make him [[DrivenToSuicide very depressed]].
* Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye suffers from this trope, and the consequences are apparent.

[[AC:WebComics]]
* Miko in OrderOfTheStick is built on this trope, growing increasingly delusional over the course of the story arc. As her insanity increases, it changes her from a mere KnightTemplar into a total WindmillCrusader - handwaving even the fact that the Gods have stripped her of her paladin powers.

[[AC:VideoGames]]
* N and Team Plasma from PokemonBlackAndWhite has this. If you're not in support of their insane CartoonishSupervillainy, then you're a cruel and abusive puppy-kicking Pokemon trainer!
** [[spoiler:It turns out that Team Plasma's claim to having this is merely a cover-up for their true motives- to TakeOverTheWorld. [[UnwittingPawn N, on the other hand...]]]]

* Virgilia in the North And South miniseries is against slavery. Fine. Believing that everyone from the southern USA is AlwaysChaoticEvil? Not so fine. And it keeps going downhill from there, with her ruining her own life and arguably becoming more of a liability to her cause rather then an asset.

* DannyPhantom's first episode has Sam and Tucker on the opposing sides of a Meat vs. Veggies, and put Danny in the middle:

* An early version of the Heterodyne Boys (the basis of the characters of the same name in ''GirlGenius'', but specifically not the same guys, according to [[WordOfGod Studio Foglio]], has the titular characters traveling to an alternate universe with GreyAndGreyMorality, where they end up killing the first guy they meet in a bar. They then proceed to conclude that he ''must'' have been evil, because where they come from, only evil people ever die. In their own universe, that is assumed to be true, but in the universe they ended up in, that combined with their abilities essentially makes them a pair of {{Omnicidal Maniac}}s.

** [[spoiler:It's revealed early on that Team Plasma's claim to having this is merely a cover-up for their true motives- to TakeOverTheWorld. [[UnwittingPawn N, on the other hand...]]]]

* N and Team Plasma from PokemonBlackAndWhite has this. If you're not in support of their insane CartoonishSupervillany, then you're a cruel and abusive puppy-kicking Pokemon trainer!

* This is a traint of several real life Personality Disorders, such as Borderline Disorder and some forms of Narcissism.

In RealLife, seeing the world in absolute BlackAndWhiteMorality is considered normal for small children, but seen as a far less healthy trait in adults. A person who regard the people around him as [[IncorruptiblePurePureness entirely good or [[AlwaysChaoticEvil entirely evil]], as if they was part of some really simplistic narrative, is very likely to have a mental disorder.

In RealLife, seeing the world in absolute BlackAndWhiteMorality is considered normal for small children, but seen as a far less healthy trait in adults.

In RealLife, seeing the world in absolute BlackAndWhiteMorality is considered normal for small children, but seen as a far less healthy trait in adults. In fact, viewing people as all good or all bad is one of the nine official criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder - a disorder defined so that children cannot be diagnosed with it.

*** Not to mention [[TheFundamentalist religious fundamentalists]] ''and'' [[NotSoDifferent hardline atheists]].

* This tends to come up in ''DeathNote'' a lot. Light starts to shift into this as the series goes on, and the third Kira is this through and through (he essentially had this as a child, but couldn't quite grow out of it).
** Don't you mean the fourth Kira? The third one was [[spoiler:Higuchi]], not [[spoiler:Mikami]].

While this is almost always done in settings that are not of BlackAndWhiteMorality themselves, exceptions exist. In such cases, a LawfulGood AntiHero suffering from BlackAndWhiteInsanity can be very disturbing indeed in the eyes of her fellow LawfulGood real heroes.

A Character suffering from BlackAndWhiteInsanity is likely to reason in FalseDichotomies and keep her worldview coherent by applying huge amounts of InsaneTrollLogic. BlackAndWhiteInsanity might also be what makes a WellIntentionedExtremist an extremist. Character development might lead to the insane one becoming a TroubledSympatheticBigot.

* This ''is'' [[{{Watchmen}} Rorschach]]. MostTriumphantExample, ever, period.

See also ActivistFundamentalistAntics. Compare WindmillCrusader and WithUsOrAgainstUs. Contrast BlackAndWhiteMorality for settings where the world actually operates in a way that makes this kind of world-view completely rational.

Compare WindmillCrusader and WithUsOrAgainstUs. Contrast BlackAndWhiteMorality for settings where the world actually operates in a way that makes this kind of world-view completely rational.

* In LesMiserables, inspector Javert is a ByTheBook cop who believes that "criminals are evil, period". He dedicates his life to pursuing the protagonist, eventually [[TroubledSympatheticBigot realizing]] his mistake... something that make him [[DrivenToSuicide very depressed]].