History Main / InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves

[[/folder]

Compare HumansAreTheRealMonsters, ''HumansAreBastard'' and HumansAreMorons. Contrast ApeShallNeverKillApe. See also PretextForWar.

Compare HumansAreTheRealMonsters, HumansAreBastard and HumansAreMorons. Contrast ApeShallNeverKillApe. See also PretextForWar.

Frequently, characters (of the StrawNihilist type) will claim that it is in the nature of the human race [[HoistByHisOwnPetard to destroy itself]]. When the character is an alien but not a ProudWarriorRaceGuy, they'll look down on us as [[HumansAreMorons primitive, violent, and socially unacceptable]].

Compare HumansAreTheRealMonsters and HumansAreMorons. Contrast ApeShallNeverKillApe. See also PretextForWar.

* ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', This is one of the main beliefs of Zamasu about all mortals; he views mortals as since despite possessing the knowledge of the gods, ending in a cycle of prosperity and destruction when they repeatedly go to war and keep making the same mistakes again and again .

* ''VideoGame/StarCraft'': Supposedly, this tendency is why Terran military technology is able to keep up with the [[BugWar Zerg]] and [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Protoss]] -- and also why the Terrans insist on fighting their own wars in the midst of a Zerg invasion.

* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': Kal-El's belief in the innate goodness of mankind is sometimes tested by the violence he sees humans dole out to each other, as he admitted to a Catholic priest in ''ComicBook/Superman1986'' #205 of the "For Tomorrow" storyline. He talks to the priest about how he put a temporary halt to armed conflict in a Middle Eastern region (which is clearly based on Palestine) by using his super-speed and snatching all possible weapons from them, including guns, rocket launchers, mortars, knives, and grenades. However, one young boy decided to throw a rock at Superman, which was all it took to ignite the violence again, as everyone began brawling violently.

** Of course, part of that has to do with the fact that he sees humans as a kindred species (if organic). His own race nearly wiped themselves out in a war that has lasted for ''millions of years'' and is still going on. All movies focus on both sides seeking a piece of technology that would allow the Cybertronians to restore their civilization. Giving advanced weapons to humans would most likely result in the end of human civilization. Hell, look what we did with the stuff we got by studying Megatron.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'': During the end of the game, Shepard meets [[spoiler:the Catalyst, the Overlord of the Reapers, who justifies the mass genocide of the Galaxy as a means to prevent civilizations (human or alien) from creating powerful AIs who will end up destroying their creators and endangering the Universe. Rather than just ensure [[SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum no organic life continues]] these powerful AIs sweep though the Galaxy every couple of millenniums, to allow organic civilizations time to grow before violently destroying and [[InTheirOwnImage absorbing them]]]]. {{Averted}} for extra irony if you do things [[GoldenEnding just right]] and make peace between [[spoiler:the quarian and the geth before speaking to the Catalyst.]]

* ''[[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion End of Evangelion]]'', with the comment "Humanity is the only creature capable of hating its own kind."

** A similar example in the old manga ''Grey''. The never-ending war that's destroying the future world is secretly orchestrated by [[AIIsACrapshoot master computer]] [[FluffyTheTerrible Toy]], because, according to its calculations, humans only exist to kill each other and destroy everything. And also because [[AGodAmI it believes itself to be a god]].

* In the Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}, the [[GaiasVengeance Counter Force]] exists basically as a cleanup mechanism whenever there's a threat to humanity's continued existence. More often than not, that threat is humanity itself.

* ComicBook/{{Superman}}'s belief in the innate goodness of mankind is sometimes tested by the violence he sees humans dole out to each other, as he admitted to a Catholic priest in ''Superman'' #205 of the "For Tomorrow" storyline. He talks to the priest about how he put a temporary halt to armed conflict in a Middle Eastern region (which is clearly based on Palestine) by using his super-speed and snatching all possible weapons from them, including guns, rocket launchers, mortars, knives, and grenades. However, one young boy decided to throw a rock at Superman, which was all it took to ignite the violence again, as everyone began brawling violently.

* ''FanFic/KidIcarusUprisingTheNovelization'': Hades outright tells Pit that all he did was give the humans a reason to go to war. As he states, it's in human nature to go to war for any reason, and while Pit may be able to defeat Hades, there's nothing he can do to stop human nature.

* Considering the many environmental degradations due to the abundance of Coal Mines (which pollute the air to the point it reached the American West Coast), Dams (which results in a lot of flooding and many deaths), deforestations (up to including deforesting other nations like Africa), and overfishing and destruction of biodiversity (they are not known for environmental preservation to the point they downright shrug it off), mainland China may have the potential to destroy the world! As detailed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xl7Sct6y18 here]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRXxei96niU here]].

* Monsoon and Sundowner from ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'' are firm believers of this. The former, being a StrawNihilist himself, holds a belief that humans by nature are only defined by memes; memes that is centered around warfare, hatred, and destruction. And the latter, being a brutal warmonger himself, believes that people (especially kids) are cruel by nature, and wants to restart the war because that's how humans are.

* Considering the many environmental degradations due to the abundance of Coal Mines (which pollute the air to the point it reached the American West Coast), Dams (which results in a lot of flooding and many deaths), deforestations (up to including deforesting other nations like Africa), and overfishing and destruction of biodiversity (they are not known for environmental preservation to the point they downright shrug it off). Mainland China may have the potential to destroy the world! As detailed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xl7Sct6y18 here]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRXxei96niU here]].

* ''Series/KamenRiderOutsiders'': This is [[TheComputerIsYourFriend Zein's]] master plan with [[Series/KamenRiderExAid Kamen Rider Chronicle]]. Zein takes advantage of Rider Chronicle's nature as a DeadlyGame to produce a cannon fodder of Ride Players to be used as expendables against the villains knowing players getting a game over is instantly a death sentence. In Layman's terms, Zein tricks mankind into speeding up their own extinction.

* When [[Film/TheFifthElement Leeloo]] is in the middle of her HeroicBSOD, she says of humanity: "Everything you make you use to destroy."

* In Octavia Butler's ''Literature/{{Xenogenesis}}'' trilogy of books, the alien Oankali say that humans combine two traits -- intelligence and hierarchical social structures -- that will inevitably lead to our self-destruction. And they have a point: the whole series starts in the aftermath of nuclear holocaust that the Oankali nearly mistook for willful planetary suicide. Some of the viewpoint characters are human/Oankali hybrids (which have the intelligence without the hierarchical behavior), and they can directly perceive this contradiction -- they know that leaving any humans unmodified will simply doom them to self-destruction.

* Creator/SpiderRobinson's short story "Unnatural Causes". Humanity's tendency to destroy itself has been engineered by the alien Krundai. They want us to slaughter ourselves so [[ToServeMan they can eat us]].
* Creator/LarryNiven's short story "War Movie", part of his "[[Literature/TheDracoTavern Draco Tavern]]" series, a ship full of alien explorers came across Earth and made recordings of several battles during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. The recordings made them rich, so they came back to Earth to film more "war stories", knowing that such a warlike species as ours would eventually nuke ourselves back to the stone age. When we didn't, the alien film producers were forced into bankruptcy.

A SubTrope of HumansAreTheRealMonsters and HumansAreMorons. Contrast ApeShallNeverKillApe. See also PretextForWar.

* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed'', [[spoiler: Rau Le Creuset]] believes this, due to [[CloningBlues personal misery]] and [[CrapsackWorld just watching humanity]] [[WarIsHell tear itself apart]]. He [[OmnicidalManiac decides to speed up the process]].