History WhatMeasureIsANonHuman / WebOriginal

* ''WebAnimation/TheAmazingDigitalCircus'' dives into this when Gummigoo learns he is an NPC and suffers an existential crisis over the idea that he's not real, but merely a construct in a digital game. Pomni snaps him out of it by comforting him, becoming his friend, and inviting him to live in The Tent with her and her friends, all of whom ([[HeroicComedicSociopath except Jax]]) are fine with the idea. [[spoiler:Caine [[ShaggyDogStory deletes Gummigoo without a second thought]] because he doesn't want to mix up the humans with the [=NPCs=], leaving Pomni [[HeroicBSOD every bit as horrified as she would have been if one of the human characters had died]].]]

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' is an interesting case. The Foundation insists on containing all [=SCPs=], even those that are sentient and have not been shown to pose any danger. However, [[DependingOnTheWriter at least in some stories]], they have strict ethical standards regarding how to treat [=SCPs=], unlike some other organizations in the same universe. It's also worth noting that they're perfectly willing to sacrifice human lives in the interests of their mission; their general attitude towards both humans and [=SCPs=] is to do whatever it takes to reliably contain them, but not to be any crueler than is necessary in doing so.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Penny calls her creator "father" but [[PinocchioSyndrome is insecure about the fact that she's not a real girl]]; Atlas regards her as a military secret, so even her teammates don't know what she is. Ironwood's stated mission is to replace human armies with robots to protect human life, and Penny believes that her purpose is to save the world. Ruby tells Penny that she does have a soul, but Penny's teammate associates with her only because ordered. [[spoiler:Cinder tricks Pyrrha into publicly killing Penny to expose Penny's secret and frame Atlas for Vale's invasion. Penny's death focuses on her body shredding inhumanely like metal then on the very human loss of light and life from her eyes. While Ironwood calls Penny a "girl" not a "robot", he seems less concerned with her death than with Ozpin's possible reaction to the reveal; this is unlike both Ruby and Pyrrha, who are devastated despite knowing she's a robot.]]

* Averted for dark laughs in the last segment of the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYnsfV5N2n8 first]] ''[[WebAnimation/ASDFMovie asdfmovie]]''. The guy is horrified when he [[spoiler:unwittingly stabs a sapient living cake [[IHaveAFamily (who has a wife and children)]], causing the cake to be DrivenToSuicide]].
* One of the major differences between the protagonists and other groups that know about dungeon Life in ''Literature/TheDailyGrind'' is their willingness to treat it as equal to humans.
* In ''Roleplay/DawnOfANewAgeOldportBlues'', Hyeon accidentally runs over a squirrel with his car. Normally, roadkill wouldn't have bothered him, but now he has the ability to [[SpeaksFluentAnimal converse with animals]], and is overcome with guilt when the squirrel's child wonders what happened to its mother. He feels so bad, in fact, that he takes the squirrel child home and unofficially adopts it.
* ''WebAnimation/DSBTInsaniT'': Lampshaded by Blake after defeating Darkness Robo via GroundByGears:
-->'''Blake''': And the graphic and extensive violence was totally okay because it was a ROBOT and not a PERSON!

* In ''Literature/{{Pale}}'' this is a major element of the plot. Less-powerful supernatural creatures are often exploited by human magic practitioners looking to get ahead, so when the local supernaturals of Kennet, a small Canadian town without practitioners, find that they need a practitioner to help, they instead decide to RecruitTeenagersWithAttitude rather than contact an existing practitioner in the hopes that they'll be less likely to bind and control the locals.
* Used at the start of ''WebAnimation/ReversalOfTheHeart''. A knight doesn't think twice of killing a defenseless young dragon so that he can steal its gemstone to make a necklace for his beloved. In revenge, the baby's mother curses the gem to [[BalefulPolymorph turn his beloved into dragon]] while he's out of the room, so when he got back, he sees a dragon in his beloved's room and his beloved "gone"...
* ''[[http://vimeo.com/31894179 Rosa]]'' has cyborgs that really blur the line between human and non-human [[spoiler:by making the red-eyed cyborgs seem inhuman and like cold-hearted machines, whereas the titular Rosa is shown in a sympathetic light.]]
* Played for laughs in a ''LetsPlay/TheRunawayGuys'' playthrough of ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' during the mini-game Shy Guy Says when LetsPlay/ProtonJon is horrified when the Shy Guy leaves Wario to drown in the ocean, but ignores Yoshi when the same thing happens to him right afterwards.
-->'''Chuggaa''': ''And you say I'm racist?''\\
'''Jon''': ''Ra... How is that racist? It's a dinosaur!''\\
'''Chuggaa''': ''Dinosaurs are people too.''\\
'''Jon''': ''No, they're not! They're dinosaurs, that's why we call them dinosaurs!''
* ''Literature/RunningWithRats'': The FantasticRacism against thoughtforms - people made out of the dreamstuff known as lio - is justified by the people [[BornIntoSlavery holding them as slaves]] to themselves by this logic:
--> They said that thoughtforms weren’t really people. They looked like people, sure, and acted like people. But a ray gun made out of lio could shoot real plasma rays, even if the inside was a black box that shouldn’t work by any world’s rules. In the same way, they said, a thoughtform could have ‘real’ feelings, but they weren’t the same kind of feelings everyone else had- they were just part of the illusion, there to make thoughtforms more like humans. They didn’t have souls, so any emotions they had were meaningless- hollow as a mannequin’s head.
* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Penny calls her creator "father" but is insecure about the fact she's not a [[BecomeARealBoy real girl]]; Atlas regards her as a military secret so even her team mates don't know what she is. Ironwood's stated mission is to replace human armies with robots to protect human life, and Penny believes her purpose is to save the world. Ruby tells Penny she does have a soul, but Penny's team mate associates with her only because ordered. [[spoiler:Cinder tricks Pyrrha into publicly killing Penny to expose Penny's secret and frame Atlas for Vale's invasion. Penny's death focuses on her body shredding inhumanely like metal then on the very human loss of light and life from her eyes. While Ironwood calls Penny a "girl" not a "robot", he seems less concerned with her death than with Ozpin's possible reaction to the reveal; this is unlike both Ruby and Pyrrha who are devastated despite knowing she's a robot.]]

* In ''WebAnimation/SpoilsburyToastBoy'', the doctor beetle explains to [[DelicateAndSickly Liache]] that "mucus is a living thing" and "it has a certain degree of intelligence." [[spoiler:The beetles later drown Liache when her mucus tells them she doesn't deserve to breathe.]]
* ''Literature/TalesOfMU'' makes this a plot point, especially when Mackenzie is trapped in [[DungeonCrawling the Labyrinth]] and runs across the [[YouAllMeetInAnInn adventuring party]], including a [[WhiteMage priestess]] [[TechnicalPacifist of the goddess of peace]] and is shot in the shoulder. The resulting argument among the party isn't whether they should save the story's [[HalfHumanHybrid half]]-[[OurDemonsAreDifferent demon]] protagonist, but whether they should [[MurderIsTheBestSolution kill her now]], or [[WhatTheHellHero let her bleed to death after they abandon her]].

* Deconstructed in this ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tuZtbca-V4&feature=relmfu Video Game Confessions]]'' which reimagines Samus as a violent torturer and serial killer. She asks "Why is it that when you kill an alien from another world, you're considered a hero?"

* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'' by Yami Marik/Melvin when he's confronted by guard robots in Noah's fortress.
--> '''Melvin:''' "Well howdy-ho. Robots! You know what that means: I can be as hardcore as I want and it'll still be PG-13."
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L1QIJ9PQ2M This video]] by Creator/TomScott is a parody of Youtube prank videos, in which the two guys running the channel see torturing an artificial intelligence copy of their friend as some hilarious prank content. One has second thoughts at one point, but not enough to stop his friend from putting the poor AI through hell.
* It pops up during the ''WebVideo/GameGrumps'' playthrough of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' when they defeat Castle #6 and the FlavorText reads that "Wendy O. Koopa has sung her last song":
--> '''Dan:''' Oh my god that's so sad!
--> '''Arin:''' Oh my god!
--> '''Dan:''' Jesus, eugh... I don't like to think of them as people with artistic dreams and aspirations!
--> '''Arin:''' That's so true, that's why it's so sad! It's like she had a future!
--> '''Dan:''' She just wanted to sing, and like come out of pipes and be like "hey how's it going?" and I was just like "DIE!!!"
--> '''Arin:''' And it's not like she was using her song for evil! She was just singing! She's sung her last song!
--> '''Dan:''' Yeah, downer. [[MoodWhiplash Welp, she's dead now! What're you gonna do?]]
--> '''Arin:''' [[IgnoredEpiphany No harm no foul]].

* In ''WebAnimation/SpoilsburyToastBoy'', the doctor beetle explains to [[IllGirl Liache]] that "mucus is a living thing" and "it has a certain degree of intelligence." [[spoiler:The beetles later drown Liache when her mucus tells them she doesn't deserve to breathe.]]

* Disturbingly deconstructed [[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/541886 here]].