History Main / MoralMyopia

-->-- '''Creator/AugustineOfHippo''', ''The City of God'', book IV, chapter 4

** In Issue 221, Mina Mongoose calls them out on this. When Sally tries to lecture her on being responsible after her songs end up rallying the public against [[ArtificialIntelligence Nicole]], Mina turns it around and retorts she and the rest of the Freedom Fighters have no room to lecture her on responsibility considering the fact that even after Nicole was [[BrainwashedAndCrazy hijacked]] by the [[{{Technopath}} Iron Queen]], they continue to keep her in power at New Mobotropolis and don't even bother coming up with any failsafes to prevent her from being compromised again.

* Gold Key issue #4 of ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces'' posits in the story "Follow Through To Yoo Hoo" that all the racers (even virtuous Peter Perfect) use a book entitled "How To Win A Race By Hook Or Crook," written by the series' token villain, Dick Dastardly.

* ''Webcomic/StalkerXStalker'': In episode 11 Yukio gets furious when he notices an older man following Junko -- when he was in fact doing the exact same thing and taking photos to boot.

** Villainess ComicBook/PoisonIvy frequently reacts this way to her beloved plants being ''pruned''. Gaia save you if you use weed killer. Meanwhile, she kills one or two ''humans'' per appearance. Of course, in Ivy's case it's sort of justified since it's implied she hears plants scream in pain whenever they're damaged (plants DO notice things like that), but it's hard to tell if it actually happens or if she's just so mentally unbalanced she imagines it. And the issue gets compounded when you remember that Ivy is typically portrayed as being a [[CarnivoreConfusion vegetarian]].

* In ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}'', the Reverse-Flash really rubs it in his nemesis' face that the CrapsackWorld was all Franchise/TheFlash's fault because The Flash went back in time to save his mother...from the hands of the Reverse-Flash.

** ComicBook/NormanOsborn runs on this; if it happens to him it's unforgivable, but if he does it to someone else, it's business as usual. Best shown in ''ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied''; he laughs off killing Gwen Stacy and openly mocks her death to Spider-Man's face, but when Spidey damages his Goblin Glider, he flies into an UnstoppableRage and swears to make Spidey pay for doing so. During ''The Osborn Identity'', while potentially justified as he has forgotten all knowledge of Spider-Man's identity, he even goes so far as to claim that he wasn't even bothering Spider-Man with his current role as an arms dealer, ignoring how he was still responsible for hurting innocent people.

** Felicia Hardy, aka The Black Cat takes any betrayal by Spider-Man, real or imagined, very personally and will often go to extreme lengths to make him pay for it. Perhaps the best example is when she became TheQueenpin after Spider-Man (actually Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man's body) sent her to prison for theft and she tried to take revenge on the real Spider-Man by defeating and unmasking him. This is despite the fact that Peter is often very forgiving of Felicia when she violates his trust in some way like when she stole and sold a sample of his blood.

** ComicBook/{{Deadshot}} [[InvokedTrope invokes this trope]] to Lady Vic, a fellow assassin who [[spoiler:once threatened Deadshot's daughter in order to get him to stand down]]. "A job is a job. And I would have done the same thing. No, we ain't clear."
** ComicBook/{{Bane}}, after a lifetime of murder, destruction and brutality, is shocked to discover that he's set for Hell when the team briefly goes there to rescue Ragdoll II. Bane insists that he followed a "code of honor", I.E avoided certain types of crimes like rape or killing children. In his mind, that's the same thing as actually being a good person. The demons laugh at him, and tells him that "men of honor" are a dime a dozen among the damned, and him following a personal moral code doesn't protect him one bit from the consequences of his sins. However, Bane takes the exact opposite moral from his experience and decides that if he's damned anyway he might as well become TheUnfettered when they're back on Earth.

* Examples from ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' comics:

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'':

** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman2006'': Outside interference from the ComicBook/NewGods and ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} have led to Athena's death and Zeus once again becoming the king of the Olympians. Zeus acts like he is morally superior to Ares and considers genocide and removal of free will horrific when individuals other than him are the perpetrators, but spends the entire series perpetrating genocide and trying to remove free will from and subjugate humanity.

** There's a twofer in [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0372.html #372]]: first, Redcloak calls out Miko, whose paladin abilities remove her "natural" fear reaction, when she calls the lich Xykon unnatural (he even uses the word "myopic"); and, by FridgeLogic, Redcloak [[spoiler:also qualifies as "unnatural" despite calling himself "all-natural" immediately afterwards, since the Crimson Mantle has drastically reduced his aging.]] Lampshaded by the comic title.

** ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': ComicBook/TheJoker: "You killed Captain Clown. '''[[SeriousBusiness YOU KILLED CAPTAIN CLOWN!!!]]'''" (Captain Clown was a mindless robot, while Joker's current plot is driving an entire city insane.) Granted, expecting Joker to react the way a normal person would to anything is pretty foolish. He basically lampshades this himself by saying "I'm crazy enough to take on Batman, [[IntimidatingRevenueService but the IRS?]] ''No'' thank you!"

* Discussed in ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' episode ''Night Game'' where the spiritual forces of good and evil end up playing a game of baseball as the battleground they always use happens to now be a baseball field. Evil blatantly cheats to get a run and, when Peter points it out to The Umpire, he explains that evil cheats because that's its nature and that's why we call it "evil". He adds that only good is not allowed to cheat, [[HeWhoFightsMonsters because if good adopts the methods of evil, it becomes evil.]]

* While fishing in a Gene Deitch era ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' cartoon, Tom's brutish owner throws one of their catches at him as a prank (Tom is self-preserving enough to just take it in good humour). Jerry then throws a fish at him and frames Tom for it, knowing the owner's immediate reaction would be to beat the shit out of Tom in a rage.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'':
** [[Characters/TheOwlHouseAmityBlight Amity Blight]] was first introduced as an AcademicAlphaBitch with an InferioritySuperiorityComplex who treats though who are less successful than her as beneath her, when Luz comes along it led to a series of incidents between the two mainly caused by Amity's hostility, [[NeverMyFault and blaming Luz for getting her in trouble or embarrassed instead of taking responsibility for her actions]]. She was fine with [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking having Luz dissected, nearly maiming her in a duel that'll determine Luz's magic studies, and simply being mean to her friends]], but when her future in the emperor's coven is jeopardized by Lilith or some other bad thing happens to her its horrible. She even [[PsychologicalProjection calls Luz a bully]] when she finds her with her diary, what makes this more ironic is that Luz was really trying to make amends with Amity, but Amity's {{Jerkass}} attitude [[HerOwnWorstEnemy keeps her from establishing authentic friendships]].
** At the end of "Elsewhere and Elsewhen", [[Characters/TheOwlHouseEmperorBelos Philip Wittebane]] concludes that Witches are barbaric after Lilith punches him hard in the face, completely ignoring that he had thrown her and Luz to the Stone Sleeper as a distraction with no remorse just so he could get what he wanted, and that he was trying to rope them into doing the same thing again despite having already seen his true colors. This is shown to be a recurring flaw with him even after he adopts the identity of [[spoiler:[[BigBad Emperor Belos]]]]. He constantly condemns anyone who opposes him or even remotely questions his methods as evil while plotting to commit genocide, and [[spoiler:loathes his brother Caleb and his clone Hunter for "betraying" him]] when he was the one who turned against them over petty grievances and [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder has betrayed every single one of his allies.]]

Compare ConvictedByPublicOpinion, when the general public have already given the "Guilty!" verdict because they personally dislike the accused. Related to OriginalPositionFallacy, where somebody supports a position or action believing that they alone can benefit from it. Contrast HypocrisyNod and AtLeastIAdmitIt.

* Pretty much every race in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', but special mention must go to the [[SpaceElves Eldar]]. One of their racial hats is that they see use [[{{Seers}} Farseers]] to divine numerous possible futures, and most manipulate events to make sure that events lead to the future most beneficial to themselves. This includes engineering events that ensure billions of Humans, Orks, Tau, and pretty much any other race, die instead of risking the lives of a handful of fellow Eldar. The War for Armageddon, multiple novels, and one recent video game were all the result of Eldar manipulations. It's made even more jarring in the Eldar's case, when you consider that they know that their own actions might just be futile, when their efforts are more or less trying to stave off extinction in a galaxy where [[EverythingTryingToKillYou everything wants you dead]], but then again, [[FateWorseThanDeath they know there's something much worse waiting for them in the Warp if they die, courtesy of Slaanesh]].

** Simon Laurent throughout Book 3 as he slips further and further into insanity after being reminded of his trauma. Simon wants Grace to empathize with him while he has no empathy for others.

* Encyclopedia Dramatica tends to do this with 4chan. To be honest they are almost the same except for the fact that one is a wiki and the other is an imageboard.
* Examined in this Website/{{Cracked}} article: ''[[http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-reasons-humanity-desperately-wants-monsters-to-be-real/ 5 Reasons Humanity Desperately Wants Monsters to Be Real]]''.
* Website/{{Reddit}}: Discussed with an attempted {{aversion}} on the popular forum [[https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/ /r/AmITheAsshole]] where posters submit their controversial actions for community judgment. Commenters respond by voting [=YTA=] (You're The A-hole), [=NTA=] (Not The A-hole, the other party is), [=NAH=] (No A-holes Here) or [=ESH=] (Everyone Sucks Here). Naturally, though, there are many posters who are stupefied to find that people believe ''they'' could be in the wrong.

** ComicBook/NormanOsborn runs on this; if it happens to him it's unforgivable, but if he does it to someone else, it's business as usual. Best shown in ''ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied''; he laughs off killing Gwen Stacy and openly mocks her death to Spider-Man's face, but when Spidey damages his Goblin Glider, he flies into an UnstoppableRage and swears to make Spidey pay for doing so.

* ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'': Despite being motivated by the loss of his daughter due to another man's mistakes, [[Characters/BigHero6Yokai Yokai]]/[[spoiler:Professor Callaghan]] is shockingly dismissive of Tadashi's death (which he indirectly caused) and Hiro's own grief; when accused of leaving Tadashi to die in the fire he caused, [[KickTheDog he callously snaps that it was Tadashi's mistake]] in a tone that clearly indicates [[{{Hypocrite}} he thinks Hiro should just get over it]]. However, this is subverted in the [[WesternAnimation/BigHero6TheSeries following TV series]], as upon learning that his daughter is still alive and well, Callaghan (who ends up being arrested and sentenced to life in prison) [[HeartfeltApology admits to a visiting Hiro that he holds himself responsible for Tadashi's death and that that he's truly sorry for it]]; Callaghan even admits that he understands that his apology may not be enough for Hiro to forgive him.

* ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'': Despite being motivated by the loss of his daughter due to another man's mistakes, [[Characters/BigHero6Yokai Yokai]]/[[spoiler:Professor Callaghan]] is shockingly dismissive of Tadashi's death (which he indirectly caused) and Hiro's own grief; when accused of leaving Tadashi to die in the fire he caused, [[KickTheDog he callously snaps that it was Tadashi's mistake]] in a tone that clearly indicates [[{{Hypocrite}} he thinks Hiro should just get over it]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': [[spoiler:[[Characters/AmphibiaSashaWaybright Sasha Waybright]] doesn't see a problem with betraying Anne and her friends for the sake of control, but she has the nerve to call out Marcy for betraying her and Anne for the sake of them spending more time together. While she [[HypocriteHasAPoint isn't wrong]], she still ignores that her betrayal was no better.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': [[spoiler:[[Characters/AmphibiaSashaWaybright Sasha Waybright]] doesn't see a problem with betraying Anne and her friends for the sake of control, but she has the nerve to call out Marcy for betraying her and Anne for the sake of them spending more time together. While she [[JerkassHasAPoint isn't wrong]], she still ignores that her betrayal was no better.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': [[spoiler:[[Characters/AmphibiaSashaWaybright Sasha Waybright]] doesn't see a problem with betraying Anne and her friends for the sake of control, but she has the nerve to call out Marcy for betraying her and Anne for the sake of spending more time together. While she [[JerkassHasAPoint isn't wrong]], she still ignores that her betrayal was no better.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': [[spoiler:[[Characters/Amphibia SashaWaybright Sasha Waybright]] doesn't see a problem with betraying Anne and her friends for the sake of control, but she has the nerve to call out Marcy for betraying her and Anne for the sake of spending more time together. While she [[JerkassHasAPoint isn't wrong]], she still ignores that her own betrayal was no better.]]

** In the episode "A Jones for a Smith", a crack-addicted [[Characters/AmericanDadStanSmith Stan Smith]] ends up ruining Steve's family-to-family dinner date with the family of the latter's new girlfriend, and ultimately spoiling the latter's chances with her. After kicking the habit, Stan insists that Steve, who is still without the girl and livid over it, will forgive him for it. Consider that just earlier in the season, Stan said that it would take time to forgive Steve for piloting a drone without his permission. Then again, this isn't too surprising considering that Stan tends to be an arrogant {{jerk|ass}}.
** When Francine is upset with something Stan does, she will go to ridiculous lengths to get him to stop it, includes setting his mom up with Roger, openly flirting with his coworker (she found out that Stan agreed to marry their dentist if she died before him) yet she is furious when Stan is upset with something and goes to the same extreme lengths. One of the more reoccurring instances of this the fact that she keeps spoiling their kids while admonishing Stan any time he tries to discipline them. Yet any time Stan tries to spend time for himself giving them free reign she calls him out for being selfish.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', when Iroh's son Lu Ten died during the war against Ba Sing Se, Azulon is shown to sympathize with Iroh's grief, however when Ozai tried to make an inappropriate bid to the throne, Azulon immediately became furious before ordering his son to kill his youngest grandson Zuko just so he would feel the same pain that Iroh did. Note that this also disregards the fact that Azulon himself has staged multiple raids and undoubtedly led to the deaths of many people, including other families. Averted for [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderGeneralIroh Iroh]] where after his son died, realizes that he is inflicting the same pain of grief towards the people of the Earth Kingdom, which served as the catalyst for his HeelFaceTurn.

* ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'': Despite being motivated by the loss of his daughter due to another man's mistakes, [[Characters/BigHero6Yokai Yokai]]/[[spoiler:Professor Callaghan]] is shockingly dismissive of Tadashi's death (which he indirectly caused) and Hiro's own grief; when accused of leaving Tadashi to die in the fire he caused, [[KickTheDog he callously snaps that it was Tadashi's own fault]] in a tone that clearly indicates [[{{Hypocrite}} he thinks Hiro should just get over it]].

'''Rick:''' We're Rick and Morty.

** {{Exaggerated|Trope}} with Roger. He'll lie, cheat, and even murder for his own selfish goals, but if he's even slightly wronged in ''any'' way, shape, or form (i.e. Steve stealing his cookie in "Stannie Get Your Gun"), [[DisproportionateRetribution he'll go above and beyond]] to make the offending party's life miserable.
** In the episode "A Jones for a Smith", a crack-addicted Stan ends up ruining Steve's family-to-family dinner date with the family of the latter's new girlfriend, and ultimately spoiling the latter's chances with her. After kicking the habit, Stan insists that Steve, who is still without the girl and livid over it, will forgive him for it. Consider that just earlier in the season, Stan said that it would take time to forgive Steve for piloting a drone without his permission. Then again, this isn't too surprising considering that Stan tends to be an arrogant {{jerk|ass}}.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', when Iroh's son Lu Ten died during the war against Ba Sing Se, Azulon is shown to sympathize with Iroh's grief, however when Ozai tried to make an inappropriate bid to the throne, Azulon immediately became furious before ordering his son to kill his youngest grandson Zuko just so he would feel the same pain that Iroh did. Note that this also disregards the fact that Azulon himself has staged multiple raids and undoubtedly led to the deaths of many people, including other families. Averted for Iroh where after his son died, realizes that he is inflicting the same pain of grief towards the people of the Earth Kingdom, which served as the catalyst for his HeelFaceTurn.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince'' gives us Viren, a villain who seems to hold genuine love for his daughter Claudia. When [[GreaterScopeVillain Aaravos]] speculates that she will be a valuable asset to their plans, Viren protectively shoots it down with the sentiment that she is his daughter, not an asset. This would just be a simple case of EvenEvilHasLovedOnes if Viren didn't have a history of disregarding the parent-child bonds between other people, assuming he can't use it to manipulate those people. Shown crystal-clear in the SeriesFauxnale when he has the Dragon Prince helpless and cornered, and cruelly taunts that once he's done with him, he'll kill the little dragon's comatose mother, for seemingly no other reason then sadistic glee. Viren also constantly treats his other child, Soren, as DumbMuscle and gaslights him into following his every command. Viren's love for Claudia is genuine, but it is clearly motivated by her being a prodigy in dark magic. Soren, who's more a physical fighter, is dismissed as a tool.

* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim''. The Irkens as a whole think of non-Irkens as nonpersons, but the Tallest at least have no problem throwing their own kind ''out of an airlock'' when it pleases them. Come to think of it, [[VillainProtagonist Zim]] seems to think anyone who isn't him is expendable for the sake of his mission, as shown in "[[BootCampEpisode Hobo 13]]" where he sacrifices his entire training squad (including fellow Irken [[TheChewToy Skoodge]]) in order to complete his training.

** Starlight Glimmer, the resident poster child for [[HeelFaceTurn "evil villain turned good guy"]] and [[EasilyForgiven "constantly being handed second chances",]] is very quick to outright refuse to give Thorax a chance to prove he's a good person or give up on Pharynx and write him off as a lost cause after he's not easily willing to change his ways. Both of these episodes do have scenes where she [[HeelRealization realizes the double standard]] (or has it pointed out to her), and she's since become friends with both of them.
** Twilight is the princess of Friendship, forgives her enemies constantly, and encourages her new student Starlight to make some friends around town. Starlight meets and hits it off with one of Twilight's old foes, the stage magician Trixie. Twilight is completely against this, is called out on it by Starlight who then doubts if Twilight genuinely forgave her, and ultimately realized how her unfair treatment hurt them and apologized.
** With Rainbow Dash, whether being an obnoxious braggart and daredevil who puts others in danger is okay or not typically depends on whether it's her doing it or someone else. She got in Trixie's face about bragging on-stage because "strutting around and showing off is [her] job", she blames Lightning Dust for endangering others while she was implicit in it every step of the way as well, and her chastizing Lightning Dust for putting Scootaloo in danger comes only two episodes after she nearly ''drowned Yona'' and thought nothing of it during a ClassTrip.

** Amity Blight was first introduced as an AcademicAlphaBitch with an InferioritySuperiorityComplex who treats though who are less successful than her as beneath her, when Luz comes along it led to a series of incidents between the two mainly caused by Amity's hostility, [[NeverMyFault and blaming Luz for getting her in trouble or embarrassed instead of taking responsibility for her actions]]. She was fine with [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking having Luz dissected, nearly maiming her in a duel that'll determine Luz's magic studies, and simply being mean to her friends]], but when her future in the emperor's coven is jeopardized by Lilith or some other bad thing happens to her its horrible. She even [[PsychologicalProjection calls Luz a bully]] when she finds her with her diary, what makes this more ironic is that Luz was really trying to make amends with Amity, but Amity's {{Jerkass}} attitude [[HerOwnWorstEnemy keeps her from establishing authentic friendships]].
** At the end of "Elsewhere and Elsewhen", Philip Wittebane concludes that Witches are barbaric after Lilith punches him hard in the face, completely ignoring that he had thrown her and Luz to the Stone Sleeper as a distraction with no remorse just so he could get what he wanted, and that he was trying to rope them into doing the same thing again despite having already seen his true colors. This is shown to be a recurring flaw with him even after he adopts the identity of [[spoiler:[[BigBad Emperor Belos]]]]. He constantly condemns anyone who opposes him or even remotely questions his methods as evil while plotting to commit genocide, and [[spoiler:loathes his brother Caleb and his clone Hunter for "betraying" him]] when he was the one who turned against them over petty grievances and [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder has betrayed every single one of his allies.]]

* Rick from ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' is all about this. Here's just a few glaring examples:

** In the AprilFoolsDay episode, "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E18SoItsComeToThisASimpsonsClipShow So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show]]", Bart, in retaliation for a series of mean spirited April Fools pranks pulled by Homer, [[AprilFoolsPlot finally pulls one over on him,]] only to accidentally send him into a coma. After Bart confesses to the prank, Homer wakes up and strangles him. This is just plain wrong, because Homer pulled some harmful if not potentially deadly pranks, including duct-taping Bart's eyes shut and putting milk in the fridge that had been next to a furnace for six weeks yet never apologized. He'd rather drink a beer than be father of the year, that's for sure.

** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS14E18DudeWheresMyRanch Dude, Where's My Ranch?]]", when the family goes on a ranch holiday, Lisa gets a crush on an older boy. She hears him talking to a 'Clara', and promising her the first dance. When she meets Clara, she misdirects her down a dangerous trail. Later she finds out Clara is his ''sister'' and only then does she go to help her. The boy calls her out for this when she admits what she did.

** In the Coon and Friends Trilogy, Cartman starts to think the rest of the organization [[FaceHeelTurn turned evil]] just because they kicked him out and sees himself as the hero because according to him, heroes make the world a better place for '''themselves'''.

** [[IdiotHero [=SpongeBob=]]] generally acts clingy toward [[ButtMonkey Squidward]] (which irritates the latter senselessly); once Squidward[[note]]after getting a personality change from being electrocuted[[/note]] starts doing the same to him, [=SpongeBob=] gets indignant and goes as far as harshly telling him off for it.
** In "Krusty Towers", [[MeanBoss Mr. Krabs]] forces Squidward to be Patrick's indentured servant, using the (plagiarized) motto "We shall never deny a guest, even at the most ridiculous request." However, Squidward quits and starts turning the tables on Mr. Krabs by making him ''his'' indentured servant and even [[IronicEcho using the same motto against him]], which Mr. Krabs has the nerve to take offense to.

Moreover, people understand their own thoughts, emotions and motives that cause them to act immorally, while other people's thoughts, emotions and motives are outside personal control and therefore not nearly as easily trustworthy. [[NotHelpingYourCase It doesn't help that some people outright lie about their situations]], making it ''more'' unlikely to label their actions as anything other than inexcusable, fundamental immorality.

* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': Calvin will constantly procrastinate, cause trouble for others, and gush about how amazing he is. However, he will loudly scream and complain when other people are late ''for'' him, cause trouble for him, or say how great ''they'' are. For example, any time he throws a water balloon or snowball at Susie, he'll laugh and insult her for it, but is absolutely furious any time she does the same to him. This isn't a blind spot in Calvin's morality; he genuinely believes that [[SmallNameBigEgo he's the most important human being to ever exist]] and deserves special treatment because of this.

Likewise, if they do somehow manage to commit some crime or atrocity, this is considered an aberration: something that goes against their innately moral nature -- a mistake soon left in the past, followed by an inevitable return to the right path. Meanwhile if their enemies do the same thing, it is considered a reflection of their innately ''immoral'' nature, because deep down that is who ''they'' are, and evidence of an inherent moral defect.

* ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'': Despite being motivated by the loss of his daughter due to another man's mistakes, [[BigBad Yokai]]/[[spoiler:Professor Callaghan]] is shockingly dismissive of Tadashi's death (which he indirectly caused) and Hiro's own grief; when accused of leaving Tadashi to die in the fire he caused, [[KickTheDog he callously snaps that it was Tadashi's own fault]] in a tone that clearly indicates [[{{Hypocrite}} he thinks Hiro should just get over it]].

** The Tau are an [[ZigZaggingTrope interesting]] case: while they think other species can be callous and/or barbaric, they generally try to use diplomacy or political maneuvering before they resort to a military conquest of a planet; and even then they take pains to try to integrate the local population of a species, and will resort to trying to exterminating them only if they have been judged as being incompatible with [[TheNeedsOfTheMany the Greater Good]]. This is in contrast to humans, Orks, Tyranids, and some Necron dynasties who will happily conquer a world upon first contact and try to exterminate the local alien species as soon as look at them. Tau society, rather deliberately, scales on how idealistic is looks [[DependingOnTheAuthor depending on the perspective its seen from]]. From the side sympathetic to the Tau, they have one highest standards of living in the galaxy and it's about as idealistic as the Tau are. Opposite is that the Tau hierarchy is [[BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood secretly manipulative]], and their society is oppressive and incredibly Orwellian, and will resort to "reeducation", genocide, and using conquest as a first option if it suits their purposes. Given how a Tau society and how they interact with their neighbors, planet to planet, can be pretty diverse, and these two opinions aren't mutually exclusive.