History Main / HumansAreGood

[[folder: Comic Books]]

[[folder: Web Original]]

[[folder:RealLife]]
%%* Wiki/TVTropes has, in [[Heartwarming/RealLife this link,]] stories where humans did good things for one another.
%%* [[http://www.greatnewsnetwork.org/ This site,]] [[http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/ this,]] and [[http://www.happynews.com/ this]] show off this trope. Turns out not all of us are always completely horrible to each other.
* Somewhat TruthInTelevision as humanity is really the only known species that will feel bad if they kill another member of their species or even another.
* There is a noted phenomenon in times of war that the vast majority of people without conditioning will ''not'' shoot to kill, instead shooting NEAR the enemy to try and scare them away. There are a lot of stories from the 1800's, World War I and World War II where enemy patrols encountered each other, dropped their guns and threw stones and insults until one side or another left; when the baffled officer begs the question "WhyDontYouJustShootHim", the soldiers are honestly baffled and horrified by the idea.
%%* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_truce The Christmas Truce.]] That is all.
* When given a bit of thought. The very fact that there EXIST concepts such as love, compassion, sympathy, empathy, kindness, charity, forgiveness, altruism, selflessness, sacrifice, humility, respect, utopia (and many, many others) suggest that even if we aren't outright good, we, at the very least, still try our best and do hold a certain significant ''spark'' of goodness.
* Think of a time someone did something bad, then think of why they did it. It probably wasn't "I wanted to be bad" and if it was, there was probably something else behind it, such as panic, desperation, peer pressure, or impulse.
* Humans are perhaps the only predators who actually care about the feelings of their prey. Imagine a lion giving a shit about the fact that it's hurting a gazelle as it devours it, let alone deciding to swear off eating gazelles out of concern for them.
* As opposed to ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies'' suggesting that HumansAreBastards, [[https://www.newsweek.com/real-lord-flies-true-story-boys-island-william-golding-humankind-human-nature-rutger-bregman-1503204 when a real life version of the book happened]], instead of devolving into savagery, the kids created a peaceful commune until they were rescued.
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* Wiki/TVTropes has, in [[Heartwarming/RealLife this link,]] stories where humans did good things for one another.
* [[http://www.greatnewsnetwork.org/ This site,]] [[http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/ this,]] and [[http://www.happynews.com/ this]] show off this trope. Turns out not all of us are always completely horrible to each other.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_truce The Christmas Truce.]] That is all.

* Linkara of ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'' seems to have this as his central philosophy. Time and time again he says that people are decent and kind and nice, even when his opponents try to convince him otherwise. This is also why he dislikes the idea that superheroes has to be mean to be realistic.

* "Utopian Futures" by Music/KimyaDawson is set AfterTheEnd, but instead of people fighting and killing each other for what's left, everyone instead "begins to sit and talk;" now that capitalism has crumbled and "there's nothing left to buy or sell, or kill or die for anymore," everyone can live together peacefully in this new, more simple world, unmotivated and unpressured by greed, instead creating art and dancing in the streets and sharing stories joyfully. After many years, global warming reverses itself, the concept of working for someone else is forgotten, strict gender binaries become obsolete, and although people still "grieve for what is lost," they also "share all that we've won" and "celebrate each other."

* Kimya Dawson's "Utopian Futures" is set AfterTheEnd, but instead of people fighting and killing each other for what's left, everyone instead "begins to sit and talk;" now that capitalism has crumbled and "there's nothing left to buy or sell, or kill or die for anymore," everyone can live together peacefully in this new, more simple world, unmotivated and unpressured by greed, instead creating art and dancing in the streets and sharing stories joyfully. After many years, global warming reverses itself, the concept of working for someone else is forgotten, strict gender binaries become obsolete, and although people still "grieve for what is lost," they also "share all that we've won" and "celebrate each other."

Since MostWritersAreHuman (and readers/viewers/etc. too for that matter) this trope so strong in the minds of the audience that most of said audience will side with the human faction in cases of GreyAndGreyMorality and even EvilVsEvil.

* Think of a time someone did something bad, then think of why they did it. It probably wasn't "I wanted to be bad" and if it was, there was probably something else behind it, such as peer pressure (making it "I wanted to fit in").

* The video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73M2sq9zK-I is Batman a Fascist]] by Thought Slime points out that almost all stories where people with superpower use them [[ItsAllAboutMe just for their own selfish gain]] portray such people as the villains, whereas, almost all stories where you are meant to identify with the superpowered person have them using said powers [[ForGreatJustice to help people and the like]], and points out this says something good about humanity in general

** However, this is shockingly subverted in the final season, when we discovered that there are humans [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters just as cruel and twisted as Aku himself]] (The High Priestess and The Dominator). Then it's double subverted when [[spoiler: Aku has captured Jack in the finale and broadcasts his seeming victory, only for ''all'' of Jack's old friends and allies to rush to his aid, defying the BigBad even at the cost of their own lives]].

** However, this is shockingly subverted in the final season, when we discovered that there are humans [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters just as cruel and twisted as Aku himself]] (The High Priestess and The Dominator).

[[caption-width-right:350: No one ever said the world ''has'' to be a horrible place.]]

[[caption-width-right:350: Believe it or not, the world doesn't always have to be a horrible place.]]

* There is a very dark example of this in the episode "A Small Talent for War" of the 1980s version of the ''Series/TwilightZone''. Despite our bickering ways, occasional wars, and nuclear arms race, humans are merciful, afraid of conflict, and genuinely want peace. This makes us completely useless for the reason Earth was seeded: to breed a civilization of warriors. So the aliens who planted those seeds wipe us out and start another crop elsewhere.

In a SpeculativeFiction setting in which there are other species running around, human beings are AlwaysLawfulGood paragons of virtue (most of them anyway). In reality, while perhaps not always "paragons" if you will, you might be glad to know though that this, at least to some extent, can be TruthInTelevision.

[[folder: Comics]]
* Turns up in ''Marvel Apes''. In the ape universe, [[{{Might Makes Right}} justice is based on claw]]; Comicbook/{{Spider|Man}}-Monkey find the human universe's idea of justice by law to be very appealing.

In a SpeculativeFiction setting in which there are other species running around, human beings are AlwaysLawfulGood paragons of virtue (most of them anyway). In reality, while perhaps not always exactly "paragons" if you will, you might be glad to know though that this, at least, can be TruthInTelevision.

* While [[LightIsNotGood white and green are not always good]], in the ''MagicTheGathering'' set Innistrad, humans are primarily white and green, and the opposite color, black, while [[DarkIsNotEvil not always evil]], is the most classically evil. Given that Innistrad is a horror setting, yes.

* [[http://www.greatnewsnetwork.org/ This site,]] [[http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/ this,]] and [[http://www.happynews.com/ this]] show off this trope as well as the CrowningMomentOfAwesome page. Turns out not all of us are always completely horrible to each other.

* The entire premise of ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' was that humans would eventually grow into this state. The sequel series moved away from this; while ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]'' mostly stuck with it, ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space 9]]'' really started [[BewareTheNiceOnes slipping away]] during the Dominion War, and ''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'' and ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]'' mostly abandoned it. (Although, as a {{Prequel}}, it ''could'' be argued that ''Enterprise'' is simply set before it happens. Or that Berman and Braga [[CompletelyMissingThePoint just don't get Trek]].) The steady inversion of ''Franchise/StarTrek'''s meaning begins in the middle of Next Gen, reaching completion in Voyager. It parallels the fading of the WWII-survivor generation in the USA media.

** However, this is shockingly subverted in the final season, when we discovered that there are humans [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters just as cruel and twisted as Aku himself]].

* This is 100% true in ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack''. Human goodness specifically is so pure and righteous that a katana forged from it is the only thing in the universe that can truly harm Aku, a being made of pure evil.