Line #42 Main/OfThePeople


1	->''"They called themselves the Munrungs. It meant The People, or The True Human Beings. It's what most people call themselves, to begin with. And then one day the tribe meets some other people and calls them The Other People or, if it's not been a good day, The Enemy. If only they'd think up a name like Some More True Human Beings, it'd save a lot of trouble later on."''
2	-->-- '''Creator/TerryPratchett''', ''Literature/TheCarpetPeople''
3
4	The ProudWarriorRace of {{Noble Savage}}s has what the heroes perceive as a simple, [[MightyWhitey possibly even backwards]], culture. During their talks or negotiations (or heated battles), however, they'll run into one [[BlueAndOrangeMorality nearly incomprehensible]] linguistic and cultural custom: Their name for their tribe is translated "The People", but the name they have for the heroes? "Not-People".
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6	That's right. They don't consider outsiders to be proper people. This might just be a curiosity mentioned in passing, but usually it indicates that their culture has a high degree of xenophobia, [[HiddenElfVillage isolationism]] or both. It might just be a benign way of saying "part of this tribe, not a part of this tribe". At worst, it means they have a codified MoralMyopia that makes them view not-people as animals at best. To be put down when dangerous or annoying... or if they're too ugly and they're bored.
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8	A more moderate standpoint might just be that they consider "not-people" to be anyone who doesn't live their way of life, rather than as a biological imperative. In this case, other people or societies that share their values (be it honor, war or harmony with nature) will be considered "of the people". On that note, someone who is GoingNative will become "of the people" after adapting to their culture and winning honor.
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10	For some reason, [[CantArgueWithElves no one argues]] with their exclusionist views. Alternately, heroes who [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman share similar]], [[WhatMeasureIsAMook unspoken sentiments]] and act in exactly the same ways may either [[WhatTheHellHero be called out on it]], or fail to notice their own [[{{Hypocrite}} hypocrisy]] when calling them out on their values.
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12	SpeculativeFiction sometimes points out human/alien dichotomy as an example of this trope.
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14	Real-world tribal peoples, by contrast, are much more likely to call themselves "those who speak eloquently" and their neighbors "the people who don't know how to talk." Peoples who call themselves "the only real people" are few and far between; peoples who call their neighbors "not real people" are practically unknown. A rare exception may be the various European biologists of the eighteenth to early twentieth centuries who proposed that other ethnic groups were actually different species. Their theories have largely been discredited by UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust, wherein ThoseWackyNazis acted upon their recommendations and tried to kill 40 million people and enslave a further 140 million (but "only" successfully knocked off 25 million). Today's true believers in the validity of Of the People in the real world overlap significantly with Holocaust deniers.
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16	If you do know of a case of a people calling themselves "The Only Real People" and their neighbors "The Evil Enemies", please vet it on the talk page before adding it here. Unless and until an example can be found and proven true, '''Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease''' [[noreallife]]
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18	Compare TheChosenPeople, when this arises from the belief that one's group or species is favored by a higher power. No relation to PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny, where totalitarian regimes put "Of the People" and other [[{{Newspeak}} similar, democratic-sounding phrases]] in their titles. No relation to ForYourPeopleByYourPeople.
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20	----
21	!!Examples:
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23	[[foldercontrol]]
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25	[[folder:Comic Books]]
26	* In ''ComicBook/BlackPanther'', Wakandans are somewhat xenophobic and racist. They tend to view foreigners as barbarians and avoid doing business with them. When one government official suggests giving Westerners the CureForCancer, T'Challa overrules him, fearing that they would somehow turn the cure into a weapon.
27	* One issue of ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'' revolves around an east-European tribe who call themselves the People and are decidedly contempteous of outsiders. [[spoiler:As the story goes on, it's revealed that they're werewolves.]]
28	[[/folder]]
29
30	[[folder:Film]]
31	* The Na'vi in ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' skirt very close to this trope. When Jake finally wins them over and joins the tribe, their ceremony explicitly says he is now "of the people". They also call humans "sky people", so they aren't exactly dehumanizing [--(hee)--] us.
32	** The Na'vi word for human, "tawtute", is a compound of ''taw'' (sky) and ''tute'' (individual being).
33	* In ''Film/LittleBigMan'', the character played by Dustin Hoffman used the term "Human Being" when referring to "The People". But in reality, "Tsitsistas", the name of his tribe of the Cheyenne, means something more like "people like us." ("Cheyenne," for reference, is a Sioux term meaning "people who talk like foreigners." "Sioux," for reference, is an Ojibwe/Chippewa term meaning "people who talk like foreigners." And guess what "Ojibwe" means in Cree...)
34	* In ''Film/TheGodsMustBeCrazy'', the Bushman apparently considers non-black people to be some kind of ugly man-child who can't speak normally (since their languages lack the clicking consonants), are illiterate (since they can't interpret the animal tracks) and rude (because they don't greet the Bushman when they meet him), and wear cobwebs for clothes.
35	[[/folder]]
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37	[[folder:Literature]]
38	* ''Literature/TheFadedSun'': The name Mri means "people". What do these catlike aliens call humans and regul? Tsi-mri, "not-people". This makes the entry of Duncan into their society all the more noteworthy, and the inclusion of three humans in their holy records unheard of for any other species.
39	* ''Literature/ThePeople'': There's a group humanoid aliens living on Earth that refers to themselves as "the People" in so many words. They arrived here around the turn of the 20th century, when their home planet exploded. They look human enough to pass for human, provided they're not flying at the time, or doing one of the many other wondrous feats they're capable of. While some isolated groups on Earth attempt to suppress and deny their heritage, others continue to use their powers discreetly. While continuing to call themselves "the People", they refer to the inhabitants of Earth as "Outsiders", and there's a distinct sense that they continue to call themselves that as a way of reminding themselves that they are not human.
40	* ''Literature/SecondApocalypse'': The species that ruled Eärwa in ancient times call themselves the Cûnuroi, or People of the Dawn. The humans who displaced and largely exterminated them called them the "Not-Us"; their modern descendants continue to refer to them as the Nonmen.
41	* Creator/TerryPratchett:
42	** ''Literature/TheCarpetPeople'' opens with a prologue that describes how every tribe in the Carpet starts out believing that are the only people in the world, and call themselves the "true human beings" in their own language. As their numbers grow they expand out and discover there are other tribes out there, that also call themselves the "true human beings" and don't agree that the first tribe are real people. By the present day the humanoid people of the Carpet all acknowledge each other as people, albeit often people they don't like, but consider the [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Mouls]] monsters. Later, someone tells the protagonist that in the Mouls' language, "Moul" means "true human beings".
43	** ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' series:
44	*** In ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'' the terrifyingly warlike D'regs adopted their name from the local word for 'enemy', because it was what everyone else in the area already called them, anyway. ''Literature/SoulMusic'' reveals that conversely, the D'regs word for 'stranger' also means 'target'.
45	---->...and the D'regs were at war with everyone, including one another, and having considerable fun because the D'reg word for 'stranger' was the same as for 'target'.
46	*** This trope is examined by Pratchett's co-authors in ''Literature/TheScienceOfDiscworld'' books, in which Cohen and Stewart refer to the cultural conditioning and education of children as the "Make-A-Human-Being Kit". Every tribe has one exclusive to itself, and if you grew up in a culture that uses a different version of the Kit, your status as a True Human Being is probationary at best.
47	*** A similar idea is used in ''Literature/InterestingTimes'', though with countries instead of people:
48	---->It is more than just a wall, it is a marker. On one side is the Empire, which in the Agatean language is a word identical with "universe". On the other side is -- nothing. After all, the universe is everything there is.\
49	Oh, there may ''appear'' to be things, like sea, islands, other continents, and so on. They may even appear solid, it may be possible to conquer them, walk on them... but they are not ''ultimately'' real. The Agatean word for foreigner is the same as the word for ghost, and only one brush stroke away from the word for victim.
50	* In the ''Literature/JohnnyMaxwellTrilogy'', the aliens from ''Only You Can Save Mankind'' tell Johnny that they call ''themselves'' "mankind", and that it's really them whom he's obliged to save.
51	* The Literature/ArtemisFowl fairies refer to themselves as The People. Even the few humans who have contact with them, such as Artemis, use that name. They refer to humans as Mud Men.
52	* The Atan people of David Eddings' ''Literature/TheTamuli'' are a bog-standard ProudWarriorRace, so naturally it's mentioned at one point that they consider everyone else to be non-humans. In a bit of a twist, though, they've long since sold themselves as slaves to the Tamul Empire, because without an external interest directing their warlike tendencies they would quickly devolve into constant civil war.
53	* Diane Duane's Trek novel ''Literature/SpocksWorld'' gives many details of the history of Vulcan, including "The Sundering." "United Federation of Planets" translates into Rihan (aka Romulan) as "Them, from There" (as opposed to "Us, from Here), while the Klingon Empire is "More of Them, from Somewhere Else."
54	* In Mary Doria Russell's speculative fiction novel, ''Literature/TheSparrow'', one of the two species of aliens present in the work refer to themselves as the "Runa," which simply translates into "the people." However, the Runa seem very tolerant of the differences of outsiders. When a group of humans make first contact with some Runa, the villagers dub them "foreigners," using a word that literally means "people from the next river valley."
55	* The aliens [[ScienceMarchesOn inhabiting Jupiter]] in Isaac Asimov's short story "Literature/NotFinal" alternate between this and comparing humans to vermin.
56	* Treecats in ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' call themselves The People and call humans "two-legs". This is not out of disdain; they are in fact rather in awe of humans.
57	** This does not mean that in the early days of contact between the two races Treecats did not have intense debates over whether or not humans could even count as "people." When the race of exclusively telepathic and empathic 'cats first sees humanity they're absolutely baffled by our "mouth noises" and aren't even sure we're capable of communicating at all. As time goes on, while impressed with humanity's tools, they frequently pity our "mind-blindness," and inability to know what other humans are feeling.
58	* Steven Brust's ''Literature/{{Dragaera}}'' series renders this attitude:
59	** Both Dragaerans (elves, more or less) and Easterners (humans, apparently), refer to themselves as "humans", and considering the other group not humans.
60	** The planet's only native intelligent species, the Serioli, tend to agree with the Easterners and call them the "Old People."
61	* The Ai-Naidar of ''Literature/{{Kherishdar}}'' consider themselves people, and everything else including aliens "other" -- humans are in some way lumped in with rocks and animals (and gods, [[BlueAndOrangeMorality oddly enough]]).
62	* In ''Literature/SpeakerForTheDead'', it's explained that there are four words for the varying kinds of 'people' that by the end of the book have become commonplace--one for the person of your own tribe/family/city (one's kin and equals), one for the person of another country/city/world (capable of sharing a community, communicating, and living as equals), one for the person who is of another species (who can at least be communicated with and thus peaceful co-existence achieved), and one for the truly alien or savage beast (with whom no communication can take place, usually meaning one side will destroy or dominate the other in order to be safe).
63	** The Human-Bugger wars were the result of both sides assuming the other was type 4, leading to first humans and then the buggers being pushed to the brink of extinction. When humanity encounters another (far less technologically advanced) alien species, they resolve to avoid the mistakes of the past (those made with the buggers and with other humans during the age of European colonialism) and treat them as type 3. There is to be no exploitation of their resources, no colonization of their planet, no cultural contamination or attempts at religious conversion. What they don't realize is these aliens are smart enough to realize this is still a lopsided deal that will leave them with one little stone-age planet while humanity fills in all the other worlds around them. What they ''want'' is to be treated as "of the people" by humanity, to share in the exploration and colonization of the galaxy as equals.
64	* The Temuji of the ''Literature/RangersApprentice'' series have named themselves The People. Anyone who isn't them isn't a person, and so they have no more qualms about killing others -- no matter how old or young -- than we have of stepping on an ant.
65	* In ''Literature/TheImmortals'' by Creator/TamoraPierce, the animals--all of them--call themselves the People, and any with Wild Magic are considered People as well.
66	-->'''Cloud:''' ''[a horse speaking to a human Wildmage]'' Inside you are People.
67	* The rabbits of ''Literature/WatershipDown'' have their own language, and they have words for almost everything. Notably though, they don't have a word for "rabbit". Given how they [[FantasticRacism consider all other animals]] to be either [[AlwaysChaoticEvil stupid, evil or both]], it's possible that they don't even have one.
68	* ''Literature/TheBookOfTheNamed'' series has the eponymous Named cats, who can think, invent, and see themselves as distinct individuals. Cats who live outside the clan (and don't have 'the light [of intelligence] in their eyes') are referred to as the Unnamed, and treated much as humans treat animals. It's a major plot twist in the first book when the protagonist, a Named exile, realizes that some Unnamed ''can'' think and feel, and that the difference between them and her clan is not as great as she once believed.
69	* In the language of the Radchaai in ''Literature/AncillaryJustice'', "Radchaai" is synonymous with "civilization". Outsiders (aside from aliens or [[NoTranshumanismAllowed transhumans]]) can become citizens and thus proper people, but only through being conquered by the Radch.
70	* The Skinners, from ''Literature/TheGeneralSeries'', call themselves "fraihom" meaning "real men". They acknowledge Raj as a 'half man', as a token if his badassery.
71	* Traders in the Literature/CircleOfMagic books refer to themselves as ''Tsaw'ha'', meaning "the people". They don't consider non-Traders as not people, at least not all of them: their word for a hated non-Trader, ''kaq'', means "dirt under foot", but they also have a word for a non-Trader close friend, ''saati''.
72	* A DiscussedTrope in ''Literature/CitizenOfTheGalaxy'' by Creator/RobertAHeinlein. The protagonist finds himself being shunned by the Free Trader crew of the spaceship, and an anthropologist explains that they don't regard either of them as 'people'.
73	-->"Thorby, every excessively clannish culture--and I know of none more clannish than this--every such culture has the same key word in its language...and the word is 'people' however they say it. It means themselves."
74	* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' [[Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse novel]] ''Metamorphosis,'' one of the subplots deals with the ''Enterprise'' responding to a species that is being attacked by a race called the Konor, which turns out to be the ''Konor'''s name for themselves, calling anybody else "iKonor," which equates to animals. [[spoiler: The Konor are telepathic, and it turns out that they're actually of the same species which had called for aid, throwing the ''Enterprise'' into a [[AlienNonInterferenceClause Prime Directive]] quandary.]]
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77	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
78	* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E21TheReturnOfTheArchons The Return of the Archons]]", outsiders are said to be ''not of the body.''
79	* In the 1982 ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E3Kinda Kinda]]", the Kinda refer to themselves as "we" and outsiders as "not-we." UsefulNotes/{{Whovians}} have since co-opted the latter term to refer to non-fans.
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82	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
83	* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
84	** In older versions, halflings in their own language refer to themselves as "the People" and use other words (not all complimentary) for other races. This is used to justify why their general name is a bit of a [[FantasticRacism slur against their height]] whereas other races have names derived from their own languages.
85	** ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'': Elves call themselves ''tel'quessir'', which means "the people"; the various kinds of elves are named by adding qualifiers to this term; non-elves are ''n'tel'quess'', "not people". More often than not, the latter term has no elitist subtext attached, but depending on context may annoy even some elves. The funny part is that, after drow were "divorced" from the main elven community, both began to call each other "not people". Half-elves, meanwhile, get called ''cha'tel'quessir'', "almost of the people".
86	* ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'': Dolphins refer to humans and only humans as "Land People". Non-humans who also happen to be landlubbers are only referred to as "Others". Taking it a step further, humans who live and work on the sea are given an extra step up and called "Boat People".
87	* ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'': The aslan name themselves ''Fteir'', which means "People of honor". This doesn't mean that non-aslan are not people, just that they are dishonorable. It is possible, however, for a being born into a non-aslan body to be treated as ''Fteirle'' by living according to the appropriate tenets -- it is more of a philosophy than a racial identity.
88	* ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheForsaken'': Among the various names for the Uratha is "the People."
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91	[[folder:Theatre]]
92	* ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac'': In Act II Scene VI, Roxane and Cyrano discuss this trope in regard to the attitude the Gascon Cadets take if you want to be part of the regiment and are not a [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Gascon]]. Roxane asks for Cyrano's help in averting this trope with Christian. In Act II Scene IX, we see this trope played straight: Christian is from Touraine, and that means he is not a Gascon, so he is [[EatingLunchAlone ostracized]], is given an EmbarrassingNickname, and is subjected to the charming InitiationCeremony (condoned by the otherwise benevolent Captain Carbon!) consisting of a [[DareToBeBadass dare]] to [[BullyingTheDragon Bully The Dragon]] by mentioning the word [[BerserkButton “nose” to Cyrano]].
93	--> '''Roxane:''' Nay, but I felt a terror, here, in the heart,
94	--> On learning yesterday you were Gascons
95	--> All of your company...
96	--> '''Cyrano:''' And we provoke
97	--> All beardless sprigs that favor dares admit
98	--> 'Midst us pure Gascons—(pure! Heaven save the mark!)
99	--> They told you that as well?
100	--> '''Roxane:''' Ah! Think how I
101	--> Trembled for him!
102	--> '''Cyrano:''' ''(between his teeth):'' Not causelessly!
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105	[[folder:Video Games]]
106	* In VideoGame/DiscoElysium the leading world power Moralintern was founded by their supernatural patron saint Dolores Dei. Dolores enforced her Moralist ideology with an army succinctly named "The Army of Humanity". While this might seem like your typical PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny type of naming convention, your skills point out that the naming directly implies that their enemies are not human.
107	* Played pretty straight in ''Franchise/DragonAge''. Elves refer to themselves as ''Elvhen'' ("The People"), Humans are ''Shemlen'' ("Quick Children") and Dwarves are ''Durgen'len'' ("Children of the Stone"). In the third game [[spoiler: a surviving population of the ancient elf civilization the modern elves try to emulate completely reject the idea that modern elves are part of The People at all.]]
108	** The term ''Shemlen'' for Humans is the most frequently used and noteworthy. The name derives from the fact that Elves were originally said to have been immortal, until exposure to humans caused them to suffer a quickening and become mortal themselves. Due to this and a long tumultuous history between the groups, the term ''Shemlen'' has naturally garnered a rather pejorative meaning, although it can be used neutrally. [[spoiler:That said, this is based on an incorrect premise. Only the ancient Elvhen ''nobility'' were immortal, and it was because of their manipulation of the Fade, which was cut off when Fen'Harel (cultural equivalent of Loki) created the Veil. Humans just so happened to show up at roughly the same time, so the elves committed the correlation/causation fallacy and blamed them as they didn't know what actually happened.]]
109	** "Children of the Stone" is notably a much more respectful term, since according to dwarfish beliefs the phrase is literally true and central to their culture. Dwarves and Elves had more than a thousand years of history together before humans moved into the main setting.
110	** The Qunari have a similar notion: "Outsider" in their language is "Bas". It can also mean "Thing", though this partially stems from their strict cultural adherence to roles; outsiders don't have roles and thus a specific thing to be called, so they're just a general 'thing'. The name "Qunari" actually means "follower of the Qun", with the Qun being their religion; like with the elves, they take the distinction quite seriously but everyone else treats it as just a name for the large horned gray guys that make up the vast majority of the Qun's adherents, although 'Qunari' also applies to defectors from other races. In fact the race doesn't seem to ''have'' a name otherwise.
111	* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series has the Dremora, a ProudWarriorRace of [[OurDemonsAreDifferent lesser Daedra]]. Dremora refer to themselves as "the Kyn", which translates to "the people" in the Daedric language. This is because they consider themselves [[MasterRace superior and more intelligent]] than the other lesser Daedra, which they see as little more than mindless beasts. And [[PunyEarthlings don't even get them started on mortals]]...
112	[[/folder]]
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114	[[folder:Webcomics]]
115	* The People in Creator/UrsulaVernon's ''Webcomic/{{Digger}}'' (a tribe of semi-anthropomorphic hyenas) operate this way. A little more significant than some of these examples because it determines whether or not you're fair game to be ''lunch''.
116	* Variant in ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary''. The one-eyed Uniocs are from the planet Oth, and most species are named after their planet of origin.
117	-->'''Kevyn:''' Why do we call your people Uniocs rather than ''Oth''ers?\
118	'''Ebby:''' As cultural underdogs, it was all we could do to convince you to call us "one-eye" rather than "foreigner."
119	[[/folder]]

Context Main / OfThePeople