History Main / HumansAreFlawed

* This brought up in Chapter 28 of ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'', where Kat the roboticist is depressed due to finding out that the creator of the Court's robots also [[spoiler:cooked up a plan to kill [[IfICantHaveYou a woman who didn't love him and his creations]] to protect the [[ScienceVsMagic technologically-advanced court from the magical denizens of the Giliti Woods]].]] Her irritation is interrupted after she finds a baby pigeon and takes it to her friend Paz, an animal lover who works with [[UnfortunateImplications lab rats]]. Kat has a breakdown after learning all the [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters things]] the Court does, but Paz reminds her that the Court is also capable of recognizing its flaws and changing them:

* Christianity teaches that humans are inherently evil (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_sin) because Eve let the snake trick her into eating the apple. Jesus stated in the Gospel of Matthew that "...out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies." (NKJV)
* This is the basis for the Jewish tradition of the Lamed Vavniks, or "Thirty Six": it's believed that there have never been fewer than thirty six righteous men and women, and they're the ones who justify the whole of humanity before the eyes of God. That's it: Yahweh tolerates His flawed children because there are always at least 36 of them who are "good enough"; the implication being that, if the righteous were ever to fall below this number, He would give up on humanity and destroy everyone. (Yay!)

* Christianity also takes this view to a degree. Hell, Jesus even stated in the Gospel of Matthew that "...out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies." (NKJV)

* Humans are portrayed as this throughout much of the ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' franchise. While are there are undeniably heroic humans such as [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic Dr. Light]], [[VideoGame/MegaManX Cain]] and [[VideoGame/MegaManZero Ciel]], every conflict in nearly the entire timeline ultimately stems from Dr. Wily's petty feud with Light, and other villains such as Sigma and Dr. Weil hold unabashed HumansAreBastards viewpoints [[spoiler: even though Weil is a human himself and gleefully indulges in his CardCarryingVillain status.]] Humans are also portrayed as becoming increasingly complacent and reliant on machines, to the point that Zero expresses disgust with the citizens of Neo Arcadia for mindlessly tolerating an oppressive dictatorship simply because it fulfills their basic needs. Ultimately, though, X continues to maintain hope for humanity, and Zero tries helps him realize his vision of true peace between humans and reploids out of respect.

* Deconstructed in ''Film/TheWorldsEnd''. [[spoiler:It turns out that humanity is the ''least'' civilized species in the galaxy, and the Network is trying to bring humanity to a level where it could be brought into the galactic community. However, to do so they have to remove anyone who doesn't want to be part of the Network; and because humanity doesn't like being told what to do, the Network need to replace ''a lot'' of people in an attempt to make them more acceptable to the galactic community . Arguably, the point of Gary, Andrew and Steven's rebuttal is that "Humans are special ''because'' they are flawed"]].

* The Ancients (despite being humanity's progenitors) and the Nox, super advanced alien races in the ''Series/StargateVerse'', seemed to hold the fact that humanity was flawed against the SG-C, seizing on the slightest issue to deliver some moralizing message or condemnation (sometimes appropriate to the situation, but often not). Made worse by the [[NeglectfulPrecursors Ancients]] being a bunch of expletives anyway. By way of contrast the Asgard were both friendly and helpful despite knowing humanity was flawed, likely because unlike the other two they admitted they too had flaws. O'Neill once gave a heartfelt speech to the effect of 'we will mess up a lot as a species, but we are out here with you now and we are trying our best'. As he made it to the Asgard they were very approving.

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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/e16c0965_efa0_4215_8467_12a0fbe145b2.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:We feel you, cat. We feel you.]]

* A similar theme comes up in ''Fanfic/TheConversionBureauTheOtherSideOfTheSpectrum'' - humanity's [[HumansAreWarriors sheer savagery in the ways of war]] is extensively explored, and it's clear that there are some legitimately bad people out there...however, much like Yellowstone above, it's also made very clear that humans HadToBeSharp to survive a much harsher world, and the great tragedy underlying the story is that it's very clear humanity and ponykind could accomplish so many amazing things together (and ''have''), but some adamantly refuse to believe it's possible. At the same time though, it's also made clear that [[spoiler:the majority of the ponies (including TCB!Celestia herself) were brainwashed into hating humanity because the story's BiggerBad is engineering a plot to [[DisproportionateRetribution punish the whole human race as revenge]] for being beaten by ''one'' single human in the distant past]].

* Humans are portrayed as this throughout much of the ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' franchise. While are there are undeniably heroic humans such as [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic Dr. Light]], [[VideoGame/MegaManX Cain]] and [[VideoGame/MegaManZero Ciel]], every conflict in nearly the entire timeline ultimately stems from Dr. Wily's petty feud with Light, and other villains such as Sigma and Dr. Weil hold unabashed HumansAreBastards viewpoints [[spoiler: even though Weil is a human himself and gleefully indulges in his CardCarryingVillain status.]] Humans are also portrayed as becoming increasingly complacent and reliant on machines, to the point that Zero expresses disgust with the citizens of Neo Arcadia for mindlessly perpetuating an oppressive dictatorship simply because it fulfills their basic needs. Ultimately, though, X continues to maintain hope for humanity, and Zero tries helps him realize his vision of true peace between humans and reploids out of respect.

->'''Lucifer:''' They are broken, flawed abortions!\\
'''Gabriel:''' Damn right, they're flawed! But a lot of them try... to do better... to forgive.

* In the ''[[Franchise/ShinMegamiTenseiPersona Persona]]'' series, every major divine being is an AnthropomorphicPersonification of something within the human heart (be it our good constructive parts ([[VideoGame/{{Persona}} Philemon]]) or our fear of yet subconsious longing for death ([[spoiler: [[VideoGame/Persona3 Nyx]]]]). The {{Aesop}} of the franchise can pretty much be said to be that we humans are flawed but that we can overcome them.

** In terms of mankind specifically, this is the opinion of the [[OurElvesAreBetter races of Mer (Elves)]] along with thinking that HumansAreBastards. To the elves, mankind lives pitifully short lives filled with violence and savagery. Their version of the CreationMyth even states that mankind was specifically created out of the "weakest souls" to ''be'' bastards by a JerkassGod.

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrolls''

[[BeingHumanSucks Humans suck]]. Their narcissism knows no bounds, their moral sense is hazy at best, their physical prowess is a joke, they're all paradoxically [[HumansAreMorons too stupid]] to handle [[TooCleverByHalf their vast intelligence]], and to top it all off, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking they]] [[HumansAreUgly don't look]] [[HumansAreSmelly or smell]] [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking too good, either]].

* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrolls'' series the Daedra are of this opinion with regards to the mortal races. They perceive mortals as weak, foolish, and doomed from birth. What they cannot understand is why, despite knowing their lives are finite, mortals do not despair.