History Main / StrawVulcan

** That being said, Rossiu is never criticized for his actions by anyone ''except '''himself.''''' In fact, everyone else pats him on the back for doing what he thought was best and making painfully hard decisions. [[spoiler: Rossiu meanwhile is so overwhelmed by guilt over his miscalculations that he attempts suicide, only for Simon to punch sense back into him like Kamina did for him years earlier.]]

* The computer in ''Film/WarGames'' is supposed to have mastered all sorts of game theory, without ever having realized that there could possibly be a game in which neither player could win [[spoiler:(until, of course at the end, they introduce it to tic-tac-toe, and have it play against itself)]]. The message isn't so much that you can't win a nuclear war, but that the ''correct'' move is not to "play the game" at all. At least that seems to be the Aesop. In any case, WOPPER's "logic" is sound and subverts the notion that one can rationally plan a nuclear war, so this may count as a subversion of the trope.

*** While T'Pol is probably the queen of all Straw Vulcans, she's also [[StrawmanHasAPoint often proven completely right]] for [[IdiotPlot all of the wrong reasons]]. For example, in an early episode, the crew discovers an uncharted Earth-like planet. T'Pol mentions that standard Vulcan protocol for such an event is to scan the planet from orbit for a week before sending people down in person. Archer basically ignores her, because he wants to go down and explore in person, and immediately sends a team down that isn't equipped with any kind of protective suits. The entire conflict of the episode (which almost results in deaths) comes from the fact that the air contains hallucinogens, which is something that would have been discovered if they spent time scanning the planet first.

* Taiki may count as this in episode 177 of ''Anime/SailorMoon Sailor Stars'', unless this more counts as an example of GrumpyBear. In this episode, Taiki looks down on Ami for believing that dreams and romance are needed in academics, and when the prospect of rain clouds the possibility of seeing a waited-for comet, he challenges her with "can your dreams and romance beat the rain?" This being ''Sailor Moon'', the rain stops in time for the girls and Taiki to view the comet, and Taiki concedes that he can see the dreams and romance while viewing the comet.

* As a result of many items above, expect the Straw Vulcan to be a FlatEarthAtheist and running on the fallacy that either gods don't exist because their influence cannot be proven and if it ''is'' possible to prove it, well then, that means they aren't "gods", right? SufficientlyAdvancedAliens, maybe, and ''that's'' being generous.

** [[Anime/DigimonAdventure02 Takeru Takaishi]] was occasionally ''treated'' like this, mostly because he had to serve as the foil to the resident gogglehead. The idea that a temporary retreat could lead to a future victory seemed abhorrent to TheDeterminator. It should be noted, however, that unlike most examples of this trope Takeru actually has rather [[NotHimself poignant]] [[BerserkButton emotional]] [[UnstoppableRage outbursts]] of his own. Related mostly to seeing his [[DeadSidekick Digimon die]] in the previous season.

It starts by having characters who think "[[YouKeepUsingThatWord logically]]" try to solve a problem - and they can't. Either they can't find any answer, or they're caught in some kind of standoff, or every answer they can think of has some tradeoff that's unacceptable to the other characters, or they're even stuck in a LogicBomb-type loop. Once this is established, someone who uses good old human emotion comes up with a solution that the logical thinker can't. This provides AnAesop that emotion is superior and that the logical thinker shouldn't trust logic so much.

* ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}}'' parodies an instance of this from ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'' in [[http://www.shortpacked.com/comic/ripcord this strip]]. Willis labeled the strip "Is this something already covered by Wiki/TVTropes? I haven't checked yet." in his update blog.

*** {{Deconstructed}} in the episode [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS07E13FieldOfFire "Field of Fire"]], in which a serial killer is on the loose, killing Starfleet officers seemingly at random. [[spoiler:The killer turns out to be a Vulcan suffering from his species' version of PTSD, courtesy of the Dominion War, and was being [[TraumaButton emotionally triggered]] by his victims' laughter. When asked why he did it, all he can say is "because logic demanded it".]]

** Prowl plays the trope in a more straight-forward way. He is logical to a fault. This is presented like something good, since he is one of the best Autobot tacticians... and like something bad, since Prowl is downright unable to stand illogical things or let himself deal with their existence. He is capable of staying paralyzed in the heat of a battle as he tries making sense out of whatever has got him perplexed. The Autobot's first bout against the Decepticons in [[ComicBook/TheTransformers the Marvel comics]] is a good example of it. As the Decepticons were shooting at them and its squad was scrambling around, Prowl remained still as he tried to understand why the nearby cars (they were in a parking) were not running away.

** Used in ''Film/StarTrek2009'' (probably as an intentional ShoutOut) when Spock seeks to regroup with the rest of the surviving fleet, yet the seemingly invincible ''Narada'' is headed to destroy Earth; Kirk takes the opposing ''emotional'' side, notes the Earth will be doomed while the fleet rallies, and opts to face the ''Narada'' in a head on, likely suicidal confrontation. This time, however, Spock is captain, and outranks Kirk. Later Kirk shows that Spock is emotionally ''compromised'' and takes command after poving to everyone (including Spock himself) that Spock is not in the best shape of mind. In both instances we are talking about the young Spock from the alternate timeline created by the ''Narada'' at the beginning of the film.

* In Music/TheGratefulDead song "Terrapin Station", a potential love interest [[SecretTestOfCharacter tests]] the [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan worthiness]] of the heros, a [[TheSpock soldier]] and a [[TheMcCoy sailor]], by [[MoralDissonance throwing her fan into the lion's den]] and promising her love to whoever would retrieve it for her. The sailor [[MadLove decides to]], while the soldier refuses, and says "Strategy is my strength, not disaster." The sailor [[MillionToOneChance succeeds, and gets the girl, rather than getting his ass handed to him by the lions]].

* [[spoiler:The Incubators]] in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' regard human emotion as nothing more than [[spoiler:an energy source]], and often fail to understand why Madoka and the rest of the cast get sad or angry at how [[spoiler:the Incubators are using mankind]]. The entire conflict is due to [[spoiler:Incubators believing the energy release gained from a magical girl turning into a witch is far more valuable to a greater amount of people than one person's happiness, and go so far as to compare Incubators use of humans to how humans raise cows for milk and beef. They believe there's a fair trade in the wishes and technology the Incubators have provided humans for their actions, and refute any claims they've lied or tricked the rest of the characters, since the Incubators never directly lied and only omitted details about the contract the magical girls make. That's if you're willing to take their own word for it, of course; they present no evidence whatsoever for these claims, and have proven themselves completely untrustworthy. Kyubey goes considerably out of his way to never directly deny tricking the girls, instead saying it's their fault for trusting him. Even more horrible in TheMovie, when the Incubators are wiling to pull a HappyEndingOverride because they believe Madoka's wish has created an "inefficient" system.]]

* The Straw Vulcan will often commit the FallacyFallacy, dismissing a conclusion simply because it was based on invalid logic or on emotion. The fact that an argument contains a fallacy does not prove that the conclusion is wrong.

** Thomas Norstein from ''Anime/DigimonSavers'' often turns into one, though Masaru's abuse of DumbIsGood doesn't help.

** Played painfully straight in the episode "My Three Crichtons," in which the three Crichtons in question are the original, a primitive caveman-like creature, and an advanced version with a brain so big it has distended his skull. The advanced Crichton is explicitly stated at several points to run on pure logic, which in practice means that he's a gigantic, backstabbing {{Jerkass}}.

* One of Brainiac 5's roles in the ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}} is to be a Straw Vulcan for the more emotional superheroes, like Dream Girl and Bouncing Boy.

* [[ComicBook/GreenLantern The Guardians of the Universe]] have been made into Straw Vulcans more and more with each writer. They did always have a stoic and cold sense to them, but recent story arcs put great emphasis on their hatred of all emotion, even from those within their own Corps, all while they become less competent and trustworthy. [[spoiler:In the Blackest Night CrisisCrossover one of the Guardians, when asked why his people chose to defend the cosmos, replied "I don't remember," in spite of their motivations having been well-established for some time.]] This is given an in-universe expalantion; namely that early on, they were focused on using all emotions, but early setbacks and concerns had them focused on Willpower and little else, slowly degrading them into what we see them as. [[spoiler: Contrast this with their White Light of Life comrades who were sealed away for millinea until they were unsealed. They were ''not'' happy with what their comrades degraded into.]]

* Dr. Ellie Arroway in ''Film/{{Contact}}'' is a SETI researcher who argues that Occam's Razor makes it more likely that humans invented the idea of God rather than God creating the world without a shred of proof pointing to his existence. During the hearing in which Ellie claimed she had a trip through the Stargate and encountered an alien (when all the witnesses and recorded data indicates the Stargate was a complete failure and nothing happened), Occam's Razor is flung back in her face: is it more likely that she hallucinated the journey or that the aliens sent her through the Stargate without leaving a shred of proof? Ellie concedes this but refuses to withdraw her position because her experience was too monumental for humanity's future to dismiss on logic alone. '''The kicker:''' the Christian philosopher whose personal religious awakening she (politely) dismissed as a psychological phenomenon is the first person to believe her: not because IfJesusThenAliens but because [[NotSoDifferent they're both committed to the truth]]. She ultimately continues her SETI research in hopes of finding more signs of extra-terrestrial life, proving that (at least where aliens are concerned) faith and logic can coexist.

*** In "The Galileo Seven", we're shown Spock's first command, as the shuttle he is in charge of crashes on a desolate planet filled with savage aliens. Spock determines that a display of superior force will logically frighten away these aliens while the crew make repairs to the shuttle. Instead, as [[TheMcCoy Dr. McCoy]] points out, the aliens have an emotional reaction and become angry and attack, something Spock did not anticipate. In the end, Spock's desperate act of igniting the fuel from the shuttle to create a beacon proves to be the correct action since it gets the attention of the Enterprise and allows for a rescue. When called on this "emotional" act, Spock replies that the only logical course of action in that instance was one of desperation. The most irritating part of their razzing on him about it was that, even by the narrow definition of "logic" in said episode, that was in fact the most logical choice. The two options were drift and conserve fuel for as long as possible despite a remote chance of being seen and found ultimately and dying anyway, or ignite the fuel source, which might lead to a quicker death from lack of power but would far increase visibility and the chances of being found. The latter of the two choices is smugly called "emotional" despite still being perfectly logical. The part with the aliens doesn't really make sense either. Everyone, including Spock himself, comes down ''hard'' on him when his plan doesn't work, but what did he do that was so wrong? He wanted the aliens to leave them alone and hoped to avoid unnecessary bloodshed in the process. The aliens were enraged rather than frightened, and quickly renewed their attack, but no one could have ''known'' that would happen. He made a ''mistake''; it happens.

* ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}}'' parodies an instance of this from ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'' in [[http://www.shortpacked.com/index.php?id=980 this strip]]. Willis labeled the strip "Is this something already covered by Wiki/TVTropes? I haven't checked yet." in his update blog.

* [[ComicBook/GreenLantern The Guardians of the Universe]] have been made into Straw Vulcans more and more with each writer. They did always have a stoic and cold sense to them, but recent story arcs put great emphasis on their hatred of all emotion, even from those within their own Corps, all while they become less competent and trustworthy. [[spoiler:In the Blackest Night CrisisCrossover one of the Guardians, when asked why his people chose to defend the cosmos, replied "I don't remember," in spite of their motivations having been well-established for some time.]]

** Used in ''Film/StarTrek2009'' (probably as an intentional ShoutOut) when Spock seeks to regroup with the rest of the surviving fleet, yet the seemingly invincible ''Narada'' is headed to destroy Earth; Kirk takes the opposing ''emotional'' side, notes the Earth will be doomed while the fleet rallies, and opts to face the ''Narada'' in a head on, likely suicidal confrontation. This time, however, Spock is captain, and outranks Kirk. Later Kirk shows that Spock is emotionally ''compromised'' and takes command. In both instances we are talking about the young Spock from the alternate timeline created by the ''Narada'' at the beginning of the film.

** Rossiu touches on this after the time-skip; when the citizens are rioting over the destruction caused by [[spoiler:the Anti-Spirals]], he tries to placate the populace by having Simon arrested and scheduled for execution, since Simon is technically responsible for the actions that led to the villain's attacking them (even though everyone else did just as much) and caused a lot of property damage by destroying an enemy in a populated area. He also wants to have the Gunmen and Lagann destroyed because they're outdated technology, and tries to save humanity by having them hide underground or evacuate on a spaceship. When this turns out to be futile, Simon saves the day by kicking reason to the curb and breaking through the impossible. That being said, Rossiu is not criticized on-screen for his actions after the fact by anyone other than himself. In fact, everyone else pats him on the back for doing what he thought was best and making a painfully hard decision.

* The Straw Vulcan is also [[ScienceIsBad cold-hearted and merciless]]. When they (for whatever reason) calculate that some people have to die (or suffer in another way) because TheNeedsOfTheMany requires it, they just ''have to'', and there's nothing you can do about it (and expect them to toss those people to the wolves at the earliest possible time). Enter the [[TheMcCoy emotional man]] to show pity and protect them from the evil intellectual.

* The Straw Vulcan [[AgentScully cannot believe in the paranormal]]. Logical enough in RealLife, where the existence of such forces is debated and unproven scientifically (often becoming quackery), but this can lead to such characters coming off as being [[FlatEarthAtheist blind or in denial]] if they live in a universe where such things are shown to be real. Such portrait of blindness then might delegitimate skepticism in general towards paranormal, for association of ideas.

* The Straw Vulcan is also [[ScienceIsBad cold-hearted and merciless]]. When they (for whatever reason) calculate that some people have to die (or suffer in another way) because TheNeedsOfTheMany requires it, they just ''have to'', and there's nothing you can do about it (and expect them to toss those people to the wolves at the earliest possible time). Enter the [[TheMcCoy emotional man]] to show pity and protect them form the evil intellectual.

* ArbitrarySkepticism is a hat that he keeps at hand all of the time. Even if the character has encountered every single damn weird thing under the sun and then some, it is impossible for him to accept the appearance of something new that doesn't fits within the rules of MagicAIsMagicA or the other kinds of PhlebotinumDuJour in the series because as far as he knows, those rules supposedly say that this weird thing cannot happen, and so logically it is ''not'' happening, ''period'' (so he can accept FasterThanLightTravel, aliens, InstantAIJustAddWater, telepathy, telekinesis, the existence of Atlantis, alternate dimensions, ghosts, and even the theory of all of these together ''somehow'' were involved in the assassination of JFK, but cats and dogs living together? Nope). Any scientist worth their salt is always (and must always be) open to the possibility that there is ''always'' stuff that has not been encountered, and if that phenomenon exists, then what does that says about the laws that have been theorized (not that they are wrong, maybe, just that whoever made them didn't encountered ''this'' particular situation), and is it possible to replicate the results? A lot of the time this is tied to the above bullet point, doubly so if the Straw Vulcan is the one who discovered whatever the phenomena is putting under question. Sometimes this applies to the paranormal, but if a writer decides to do stuff like add TimeTravel to his show, then obviously the Straw Vulcan will be the first to call it hogwash.

Note that the application of some of these does not inherently make a character a Straw Vulcan. If a logical thinker finds it difficult to predict the actions of irrational people, and it is portrayed as a character flaw or limitation, then it is not this trope. It is only this trope if this is treated as a problem of logical thinking itself, rather than as a character specific problem.

* ''Film/TheMist'': Norton and his group of skeptics who leave the store because they don't believe there are any monsters in the mist. Lets back up a step. If the skeptics are right about the mist being natural and stay in the store then the weather will blow over in a few hours to a day or someone will come by looking for the grocery store and update them on the situation. They are on their way after a short delay, at most a major inconvenience, or loss of jobs or other personal commitments. If the other groups are right about the mist and there are monsters outside the best bet for survival is not to go outside to be picked off by monsters. The risk analysis of the situation, however low the probability of lethal monsters, would point to staying in the well stocked grocery store and not wandering off. So of course they choose the 'rational choice' after concluding there are no monsters and immediately decide to leave. Norton tells David right before he leaves that if he's wrong the joke will be on him. Poor decision or not, he is at least willing to admit that much. In the novella, David thinks that Norton is, at some level, committing deliberate suicide. It's worth noting other characters also choose to enter the mist early and end up surviving, and better-of than those who chose to to remain.

** Parodied in ''Literature/TheWeeFreeMen''. Tiffany Aching, having gone to enormous trouble to get into fairyland to bring her brother home, finds him sitting in a pile of candy, wailing his head off, because he has arrived at the conclusion that he cannot eat any of it based on Buridan's Ass logic: he can grab any piece of candy he wants, and eat it, but if he chooses any one piece to eat, it would mean that he's letting other pieces of candy go uneaten, which is something he cannot bear to do. Justified in that A) he's approximately three, and B) it's implied he's been fed so much candy the sugar rush has addled his little three-year-old brain already.

*** Averted in "The City On the Edge of Forever" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before". In the first, Spock's cold, clear-eyed logic reveals to him what the choices before Kirk and himself in the time-trip into the 1930s are, and that Kirk's love for Edith Keeler is beside the point of those choices. He is not unsympathetic, as we see in his quiet words: "He knows, Doctor." after Kirk prevents [=McCoy=] from saving Edith. In WNMHGB, Spock analyzes the necessary implications of the changes in Kirk's then-best-friend Gary Mitchell, and the trend of where those changes are taking Mitchell, and knows that there is no way out: either Mitchell dies or catastrophe follows, and subsequent events prove him right-Kirk very nearly does wait too long out of sentiment, even after Mitchell ''himself'' affirms that Spock is right. In both cases, cold logic is revealing a painful truth that emotion and sentiment can cloud but not change.

*** In an episode of ''''; Sarkona, a Vulcan, joins the Maquis because she agrees with their position and believes their rather crude and barbaric actions to achieve "peace" to be logical... but she's called out by ''Quark'', locked in the brig with her after her plans are exposed, noting that, as the Federation had caught the Cardassians (the Maquis' enemies) red-handed supplying their people with weapons to fight against the Maquis, sitting down with them and hammering out an arrangement would bring the peace in better and "at a bargain price" compared to continuing the fight.
*** In another episode , Captain Solok has been hassling Benjamin Sisko across the known galaxy for the past two decades, all in the name of proving that emotional, illogical humans (like Sisko) are inferior to emotionless, logical Vulcans (like himself). Somewhat subverted by the end of the episode, when the Deep Space Nine crew successfully goad Solok into losing his temper, and it's generally implied that Solok is by no means representative of Vulcans, and [[FantasticRacism is really just kind of a jerk.]]

*** While T'Pol is probably the queen of all Straw Vulcans, she's also [[StrawmanHasAPoint often proven completely right]] for [[IdiotPlot all of the wrong reasons]]. For example, in an early episode, the crew discovers an uncharted Earth-like planet. T'Pol mentions that standard Vulcan protocol for such an event is to scan the planet from orbit for a week before sending people down in person. Archer basically ignores her, because he wants to go down and explore in person, and immediately sends a team down that isn't equipped with any kind of protective suits. The entire conflict of the episode (which almost results in deaths) comes from the fact that the air contains hallucinogens, which is something that would have been discovered if they spent time to scan the planet first.

** The series lives on the OddCouple relationship between emotional and intuitive Booth and logical and rational Brennan: she's frequently shown as being wrong in the end, or being right for the wrong reasons. It get's really jarring when you consider that Bones is very rarely rational or logical at all. In a recent episode Angela pointed out that one of Brennan's skills is, rather than being rational, ''rationalizing'' her actions.

** This is even more noticeable in the last two seasons where Bones did “THE EXACT SAME THING”, her father did to her “FOR THE EXACT SAME REASON” then comes back and acts like she’s done nothing wrong. To the point of wondering why Booth is so upset. What’s more jarring is that before this happened there was yet another episode dedicated to her abandonment issues with her father.

** Speaking of ''Series/{{Bones}}'', [[spoiler:Zack's decision to work for a cannibalistic serial killer because "his logic is unassailable". Really? Even accepting all his premises, where exactly does eating people and making a skeleton from their remains fit in to this plan?]] Of course, the ADA then dismisses the entire logic argument by saying this happened "the same way it always happens. A strong personality meets a weak one and decides to take advantage."
* ''Series/StargateSG1''; the hyper-logical Asgard, on the verge of defeat in their war against the Replicators, come to Earth seeking ideas from a more primitive, more savage race. Immediately averted by Jack saying "You're actually saying you need someone dumber than you are?" Carter, as it turns out, is indeed dumb enough to win that battle. The fact that the Asgard, practically alone among {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s, are able to acknowledge they are not perfect and, more importantly, humanity and Earth in particular actually have something to contribute is one reason they are such great guys. Of course, the Asgard's main reason for coming is that they are so advanced they have trouble coming up with low-tech solutions (for example, launching pieces of metal at a high speed using a small explosive to deal with targets that have shielding against energy weapons) or solutions to problem their technology can't solve. Which makes sense, as similar things happen IRL. People living in the 21st century would often not think (or even be aware) of several tricks and trades used centuries prior - and not think of using such tricks when they might again be useful (see the RealLife section of RockBeatsLaser for example). The Asgard's previous tactic of throwing more-and-more advanced technological weapons and spaceships against the Replicators was disastrous in particular because the Replicators would assimilate their tech and grow more powerful each time.

* In ''Franchise/SuperSentai'', TheHero is almost always a loudmouth with more adrenaline than brains (similar to the ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' franchise's [[GogglesDoNothing goggle-wearer]]). In an episode of ''Magiranger'' in which TheHero and his mentor switch roles, the very FamilyUnfriendlyAesop was to not waste your time thinking, and just [[ScreamingWarrior charge in yelling]] as TheHero does. RightMakesMight, and thinking only gets in the way. This exact plot was copied over in ''Series/PowerRangersMysticForce'', the Americanized version of ''Magiranger''.