History Main / HumansAreFlawed

* ''Anime/{{Monster}}'' is largely about this. [[TheMessiah Tenma]] and Johan come to different conclusions from this premise.

->''"It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being [[RousseauWasRight fundamentally good]] or [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters fundamentally bad]], but by people being fundamentally [[ShapedLikeItself people]].\\

"Just when you thought that they were more malignant than ever Hell could be, they could occasionally show more grace than Heaven ever dreamed of. Often the same individual was involved."''

* This is heavily debated. Some religions, for instance Christianity, argue we are ''inherently'' flawed (to various degrees). This position is called Original Sin. But many philosophies and some religions ''dis''agree with this premise. Even within Christianity itself, this is debated.

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* A pervasive concept in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. The protagonists have realistic personalities with realistic flaws; dealing with, overcoming and/or accepting these are often the focus of the episodes. The characters would be significantly less interesting without these character traits.
[[/folder]]

[[ThisLoserIsYou Humans suck]]. Their narcissism knows no bounds, their moral sense is hazy at best, their physical prowess is a joke, and to top it all off, they're all paradoxically [[TooCleverByHalf too stupid to handle their vast intelligence]].

[[ThisLoserIsYou Humans suck]]. We suck in our mental, spiritual, and physical aspects, and to top it all off we're [[WhatAnIdiot a bunch of morons]].

So what if [[RousseauWasRight Rousseau]] isn't right and people are fundamentally mean, nasty and brutish? What merit is there in being good if you [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill can't choose to do otherwise?]] Despite the inherent moral flaws of humanity, enough people are putting the effort into being [[NiceGuy nice]] and [[TheHeart kind]] that it [[EarnYourHappyEnding does make a difference]]. Even if BeingGoodSucks, humanity as a whole realizes deep down that BeingEvilSucks more.

* This is one of the main themes (arguably ''the'' main theme) of ''Film/{{Serenity}}''. Even if the Pax had worked perfectly, it still would've been wrong to stifle the human emotional range for the sake of peace.

** This is also a fairly prominent theme of the movie's parent show, ''{{Firefly}}''.
* ''{{Equilibrium}}'' takes a similar approach. The entire reason for the plot was because human emotions were a flaw and the cause of 'man's inhumanity to man.' The ending, while portrayed positively, never exactly comes clear on whether restoring human emotion is a good thing.
* Played very oddly and combined with HumansAreSpecial in Film/GreenLantern; what makes humans so special is that ''we're willing to admit that we're flawed''.

* Used in ''Literature/StrangerInAStrangeLand''. Compared to Martians, Humans are a lot dumber, more violent, and less powerful. However, with a little wisdom from Mars courtesy of Michael, Humans can become immortal, psychic, spiritually peaceful and sexually polyamorous. It's a bit of an AuthorTract, but not an unpleasant one.

* In Creator/AlanDeanFoster[='=]s ''The Damned trilogy'' humanity is discovered by an alliance of super-civilized alien species who are being forced to fight a war against their will. Compared to them we are portrayed as barely civilized, warlike, violence-crazed and brutish, and indeed our love for inflicting death and destruction makes us the perfect soldiers. However we're also capable of great things, and many humans try to control their instincts and strive for more than just being the alliance's grunts.

* Despite shouting "HumanityIsSuperior!" humans in ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' are most certainly '''not'''. One episode has aliens use Crichton's memory to simulate the possible outcome of revealing themselves to humanity in order to seek asylum. [[StrappedToAnOperatingTable It doesn't end well.]] However, Crichton does become one of the most useful shipmates on Moya because of his [[FishOutOfWater ignorance]] and scientific training. It helps he was stir crazy at appropriate times.

* The Ancients (despite being humanity's progenitors) and the Nox, super advanced alien races in the ''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.

* This is how Jor-El views humans in ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', and his spirit bemoans that Clark Kent was raised by humans and thus, thinks like one. One of the only reasons why he did not give up on humanity completely, was because Jonathan Kent's father offered him food and shelter when he visited Earth in the 1960s (even super powered Kryptonians need to eat and sleep). The message on Kal-El's ship:
-->On this third planet from this star Sol, you will be a god among men. They are a flawed race. Rule them with strength, my son. That is where your greatness lies.

* Lucifer in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' believes this, calling us "broken, abortions."

* ''TheSopranos'', in which selfishness, myopia and dysfunction are portrayed as the constants of the human condition.

* This is the general feeling of NewHorizon. Humans did some [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters terrible things]] and had to leave Earth, but now that they're on a new planet they have a grand future!
* TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}} and TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}: The Chaos gods are usually agreed to be the worst of Mankind's enemies. Unfortunately, since they are basically made of emotion (rage, love, desire and hope), humanity keeps fuelling them even when defeating their agents in the material plane.
* In every iteration of DungeonsAndDragons before Third Edition, the distinguishing feature of Humans was that they had no distinguishing features. Every other race had a laundry list of special abilities. The tradeoff for this was that humans were the only race that could be any class (in fact, they were the only race that could be paladins at all) and could reach the maximum level in every class. The explanation generally given for this was that being generally unexceptional and shorter-lived than other races caused humans to be more ambitious and faster learners.
** In Third through Fourth Edition, humans have been given special racial abilities, but they tend to make humans more versatile instead of more powerful (for example, in 4E, humans get +2 to any one stat of their choice, while every other race gets +2 to two stats, but one of them is fixed and the other is either also fixed or a choice of two stats).

* In many ways a staple of ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' games. Despite all the bastardery that humans put you through in most games' plotlines, the [[MultipleEndings pro-human endings]] that involve rejecting the supernatural powers that play with mankind are generally considered to be the most optimistic ones of the lot.
** Mainly because [[GodIsEvil the supernatural powers are worse then us]].
** The same with [[Franchise/ShinMegamiTenseiPersona Persona]]. 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: [[{{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.

* Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick takes an interesting stance on this - when Roy dies, he's told that since he's mortal, it's not really reasonable to expect him to stay perfectly straight-and-narrow all the time, and making the effort is what's really important. This is repeated when he's allowed into the afterlife even though he didn't fulfill his father's Blood Oath; because he ''kept trying'', he gets a pass, where his father consciously abandoned the quest, and is thus stuck in limbo until a member of his family defeats Xykon. Thus it's less "Humans suck because they are flawed" and more "Humans are flawed, but that's okay, because it doesn't have to define them."

* A pervasive concept in ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. The protagonists have realistic personalities with realistic flaws; dealing with, overcoming and/or accepting these are often the focus of the episodes. The characters would be significantly less interesting without these character traits.

* From an engineering perspective, the appendix.
** Also the fact that humans can choke to death. The food/water and air tubes getting crossed happens.

** [[spoiler:Gabriel]] agrees, but gives us commendation for still trying. [[spoiler:unlike most of his brothers.]]

** Actually Thor (the Asgard military leader) is really a gigantic dick for a very long time. He's not openly hostile, though. And he eventually comes around and genuinely seems to like humans.

** In the latter episodes, with TheReveal and TheUnmasquedWorld, this was subverted big time. When the Peacekeepers [[TransplantedHumans were brought in]] from an InsignificantLittleBluePlanet, to act as SpacePolice for [[BenevolentPrecursors the Eidelons]], they genetically engineered away humanity's greatest strength, heat endurance, in order to control them. So for the [[HumansbyAnyOtherName Peacekeepers/Sebaceans]], this trope was forced onto them. Also, contrary to the constructs and simulations shown to [[TheHero Crichton]], humanity eventually puts it's differences aside to prepare for alien threats (the fact that Crichton [[DaretobeBadass puts the schematics of alien tech onto the moon to encourage them to work for it]], only helps).

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', Paragon Shepard can state this as part of the reason they're so hellbent on saving all life in the galaxy from the Reapers. Despite each race having their own flaws, Shepard firmly believes that they ''are'' trying to be better;

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', Paragon Shepard can state this as part of the reason they're so hellbent on saving all life in the galaxy from the Reapers. Despite their multiples flaws, Shepard firmly believes that they ''can'' be better;

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', Paragon Shepard can state this as part of the reason they're so hellbent on saving all life in the galaxy from the Reapers. Despite their multiples flaws, Shepard firmly believes that they ''[[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre can]]'' be better;
--> '''Shepard''': People are messy, awkward, sometimes selfish and cruel. [[RosseauWasRight But they're trying]]. And I'm going to make sure they have a chance.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}''.

* A central theme in ''NeonGenesisEvangelion'', and what inspires the villains to pursue their [[spoiler: AssimilationPlot]].

* As ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' is this trope for Mecha show, ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' is filled with flawed humans. One example being [[TheScrappy Kousuke]], an [[JerkAss annoying]] and [[ObliviousToLove clueless]] teen who angsts over his broken hand and takes his childhood friend's care and her "miracle" which fixes his hand for granted.

* In the MalazanBookOfTheFallen series, the Crippled God uses this as a premise for his [[PathOfInspiration cults of salvation]]. Unfortunately, rather than delivering the message that mortals can overcome their flaws to do good, the religion is a worship of suffering and degradation.

[[ThisLoserIsYou Humans suck]]. [[MostWritersAreHuman We're]] flawed in our [[AMindIsATerribleThingToRead mental]], spiritual, and [[FatBastard physical]] aspects, and to top it off we're [[HumansAreMorons a bunch of morons]] and [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters bastards to everyone else]]... and especially to ourselves.

So what if [[RousseauWasRight Rousseau]] isn't right and people are fundamentally mean, nasty and brutish? What merit is there in being good if you [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill can't choose to do otherwise?]] Despite the inherent moral flaws of humanity, enough people are putting the effort into being [[NiceGuy nice]] and [[TheHeart kind]] that it [[EarnYourHappyEnding does make a difference]]. Even if BeingGoodSucks, humanity as a whole realizes deep down that BeingEvilSucks harder.[[note]](And yes, {{Incredibly Lame Pun}}s are part of humanity's ''many'' unrepentant flaws.)[[/note]]

This is a typical fantasy/sci fi {{aesop}} that gets referenced in other genres. Essentially, the aesop is we are CursedWithAwesome. If the story has a FantasticAesop against [[FlowersForAlgernonSyndrome removing]] one of the above human flaws to [[{{Transhuman}} better]] [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans mankind]], this trope is usually invoked as the [[ScaleOfScientificSins reason]] why [[ScienceIsBad it's wrong]].

* In ''VideoGame/ShinSuperRobotWars'', [[MobileFighterGGundam Master Asia]], who happens to be an agent of the Dug Government in this game, met [[MobileFighterGGundam Domon Kasshu's father Professor Kasshu]] and [[CharsCounterattack Char Aznable]] and figures the latter was where his problems started, coming short on the heels of the signing of the Luna Treaty that guarantees independence and sovereignty for the Earth, Moon, and space colonies. This treaty was enough to bring peace to the war-weary humans, but could not by itself remove the scars of the war. Char, who loved humanity more than anyone, also hated it more, having sacrificed numerous followers and taken many lives himself. Since he possessed vast influence and resources, Master Asia treated him as a representative of humanity. He was led to believe that humans were unstable, destructive beings, and decided to manipulate Kasshu to help nip any potential for trouble in the bud.

[[ThisLoserIsYou Humans suck]]. [[MostWritersAreHuman We're]] flawed in our [[AMindIsATerribleThingToRead mental]], spiritual, and physical aspects, and to top it off we're [[HumansAreMorons a bunch of morons]] and [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters bastards to everyone else]]... and especially to ourselves.

* In AlanDeanFoster's ''The Damned trilogy'' humanity is discovered by an alliance of super-civilized alien species who are being forced to fight a war against their will. Compared to them we are portrayed as barely civilized, warlike, violence-crazed and brutish, and indeed our love for inflicting death and destruction makes us the perfect soldiers. However we're also capable of great things, and many humans try to control their instincts and strive for more than just being the alliance's grunts.