History Main / HumansAreBastards

** The most misanthropic part of the whole manga has to be in the Conviction: Birth Ceremony arc. Sure, there's the obvious; a CorruptChurch with a fundamentalist inquisitor and his sadistic torturers. a pagan {{Cult}} that indulges in human sacrifice and cannibalism, and the violent campaign between the two trapping a population of displaced, starving war refugees. However, it turns out that these "ordinary people" are also not fully good either, falsely accusing people they don't like of heresy to get rid of them and robbing whatever goods left with violent force, driven by extremes like fear and distrust and spite towards everyone else. However, it is important to note that these horrible conditions were, [[InMysteriousWays in a way]], manipulated by the [[GreaterScopeVillain Godhand]], as this cumination of [[DespairEventHorizon widespread despair and misanthropy]] allows them to kickstart an [[KillEmAll Incarnation]] [[ZombieApocalypse Ceremony]]. Still, their plan works ''because'' of human nature, not in spite of it; they are smart enough to exploit this trope for their plans.

*** The Final Test for the candidates was worse. Random accidents begin to happen, which could have been avoided had they done as they were taught and been observant and paid attention. The Final Test escalates [[spoiler: into a huge KillEmAll, where the situation mimics them being thrown into the future with no help from the teachers, no easily accessible gas or water source and a place to sleep. It's pure survival. You "fail" the test by dying. The last seven students, one from each class, that are alive are picked for the project]].

Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease We don't need any elaboration of all the bad things humans have done.

* The conclusion [[VillainProtagonist Aur]] from ''LightNovel/HowToBuildADungeonBookOfTheDemonKing'' has reached. He believes humanity is a collective of selfish beings who will sell out and betray anyone, anytime, anywhere if it means saving their behinds; something happened in his life, implied to be a massive betrayal that left him in shambles, that made him into the cold demon lord that Aur is today -- someone whose only life goal is to make humanity suffer and submit them to his rule. The irony is that Aur himself [[MisanthropeSupreme is a human being]], performing greater acts of evil out of misguided hatred; he is proving his own view to be right.

* In one of the early ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'' crossovers featuring the ''ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica'', an alien called Creator[--[[superscript:2]]--] plans to destroy both Earth-1 and Earth-2 in order to use the resulting energy to forge a new planet. When one of his underlings points out that this will kill billions of people, Creator[--[[superscript:2]]--] argues that due to the human race's history of warfare, violence and [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil slavery]], the universe will be better off without them.

* ''Fanfic/AdventureTimeFrozenHearts'': Most of the characters in Ooo sees the humans as one and considering their leaders, their observation is not far off.

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' likes to push this idea: ''every single evil thing'' that happens in the series can be traced back to human corruption and desire, and there is no external threat to humanity. Supernatural monsters? Humans dreamed them up. The demonic Apostles? All former humans who willingly and knowingly turned themselves into monsters. The God Hand? Same deal, but even more depraved and powerful. [[spoiler:The Idea of Evil, the UltimateEvil that is suggested to be behind everything? Born of unconscious collective human desire.]] All the horror and the suffering humanity goes through in the series is, ultimately, self-inflicted.

** ''Film/TheFirstPurge'' shows that when the Purge was first implemented, people used it to get high and have orgies instead of going on murder sprees as the government expected. To correct that uncomfortable fact, they deploy armed mercenaries.

-->'''Patch Adams:''' You know, Truman... in all of God's creations, only human beings kill their own species.

* Town Square in ''Pinball/TheTwilightZone'', where the citizens can be induced to panic and wreak havoc.

---> As it is written: None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands, no one seeks God.
---> All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.
---> Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.
---> The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.
---> Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.

* "Hide in the Fairytale" by Theocracy evokes this trope, which is surprisingly dark given that they are Christian power metal band.

* ''VideoGame/SoulSeries'': Though many evil characters in the story have the excuse of being corrupted or driven insane by [[ArtifactOfDoom Soul Edge]], Tira is actually Nightmare's PerkyFemaleMinion of her own volition. Raised as an assassin from birth and horrifically insane, she sees Nightmare as a kindred spirit and unlike [[TheStarcream Astaroth]], [[HeelFaceTurn Ivy]], [[UnwittingPawn Voldo]] and [[spoiler:[[ForcedIntoEvil Sophitia]]]], she is [[UndyingLoyalty genuinely and completely loyal]] to him.

* George Orwell's ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' is this trope taken UpToEleven. The world was destroyed in a nuclear war and all that's left is three warring super-states all run by totalitarian governments who all seek to control every aspect of their citizens lives and completely eliminate love, freedom, happiness and rebellion as concepts in the human psyche, and if anyone anywhere shows any hint of these ideas, the government arrest them, torture them and MindRape them until they are an EmptyShell who only love the government, and then the government executes them and [[{{Unperson}} wipes out all memory of them]].

* The Interim Coalition of Governance (the ruling government of humanity) from ''Literature/XeeleeSequence'' is this UpToEleven. They're like [[Literature/NineteenEightyFour Oceania]], but with better technology and on an interstellar scale. They would make [[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 the Imperium]] recoil in disgust. One of their worse atrocities is [[spoiler: [[WouldHurtAChild they spent the lives]] of ''[[WeHaveReserves trillions]]'' of ChildSoldiers in a gamble to [[FinalSolution get rid of the Xeelee from their Galaxy]] and become the dominant lifeforms in the Universe.]] They are so [[AbsoluteXenophobe xenocidal]] they have exterminated many aliens for getting in their way and reduced those who surrendered to a [[FateWorseThanDeath fate worse then death]]. They commit countless atrocities not because of GodzillaThreshold or DirtyBusiness, they commit them [[spoiler: just so [[SoreLoser they can fill the wound made in their shattered egos made during the occupation from the Qax]].]] They are hypocrites and liars who turned the societies under their rule into a totalitarian CrapsackWorld to [[spoiler: make their [[ThePowerOfHate people suffer and channel their suffering and hate]] towards the [[TheFarmerAndTheViper Xeelee, who are trying to save them from the Photino Birds]].]] When the Coalition finally [[spoiler: drove the Xeelee out of the Milky Way]], [[spoiler: [[EvilVersusEvil they immediately fell into civil war]] before [[HistoryRepeats being unified by another tyrannical regime]] which also quickly collapsed]].

* Taken UpToEleven in ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony,'' when is an actual reality show [[MetaSequel based off the now in-universe]] ''[[MetaSequel Danganronpa]]'' [[MetaSequel franchise]], and currently in its ''53rd season'' (or 50th, since it had to have started with ''Danganronpa 4'' at the earliest). The entire audience cares nothing about how everyone in the killing game felt, as they take pleasure in their misery.

** SCP-5000 manages to bring '''this entire trope''' UpToEleven. [[spoiler: All human emotions, the good and the bad ''don't naturally originate in the brain.'' Instead, as the Foundation discovered, they're the product of some...[[EldritchAbomination thing]] that wormed its way into humanity's collective unconscious at some point in the past and altered the way our minds work. Yes, that's right. Human nature as we know it is simply the result of MindRape committed by this unknown and impossibly ancient entity for its goals, [[NothingIsScarier whatever the hell those might be]], and our natural state is as a race of [[EmptyShell empty shells lacking emotion]] [[AlwaysChaoticEvil and empathy.]] The Foundation was so horrified by this discovery that they decided the only ethical thing to do was to wipe us out by unleashing ''every'' anomaly in their arsenal. And the man who [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificed himself to]] hit the ResetButton has now guaranteed that the entity can go on with whatever it's doing with it being unclear if it will be discovered in the new timeline.]]

In essence Humans Are Bastards is the reverse of RousseauWasRight -- the natural proclivity of humanity is towards [[ItsAllAboutMe selfishness]], [[BystanderSyndrome apathy]] and violence. Only a select few people manage to rise above their base nature to become something better, but the kernel of darkness is still InTheBlood. When Humans Are Bastards is in effect, even your "heroes" don't have clean hands, so most conflict is [[BlackAndGrayMorality gray against black]], with some [[GreyAndGrayMorality gray against gray]] or [[EvilVersusEvil black against black]] on for variety. Frequently used by [[OmnicidalManiac Omnicidal Maniacs]] as an argument in favor of a [[ApocalypseHow/Class3A Class 3a Apocalypse]].

** Also in ''VideoGame/SoulCalibur 4'', which features Angol Fear, Angol Mois' cousin who'd go on to appear in the Keroro manga later. Her story suggests the Angol race thinks HumansAreBastards, and possibly the reason they want to destroy Earth is to save the rest of the Universe from that corruption expanding; Ultimately, [[spoiler: Angol Fear observes that there are many innocent humans, and leaves it up to Angol Mois to decide whether to destroy Earth or not.]]

* ''Franchise/GreenLantern'': In Vol. 3 #155, Kyle Rayner decides to leaves Earth after being traumatized by the brutal hate crime inflicted on his young gay assistant Terry. Before he goes, he tells his then-girlfriend Jade (Jennifer-Lynn Hayden, daughter of the first Green Lantern) about his insights into the human psyche during his time as Ion (when he had achieved godhood and was nigh-omnipotent and nigh-omniscient) and what they revealed to him about the extent of man's inhumanity to man, which causes him to now view humanity with [[JadeColoredGlasses Jade-Colored Glasses]]:

* In one of the early ''Comicbook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'' crossovers featuring the ''Comicbook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica'', an alien called Creator[--[[superscript:2]]--] plans to destroy both Earth-1 and Earth-2 in order to use the resulting energy to forge a new planet. When one of his underlings points out that this will kill billions of people, Creator[--[[superscript:2]]--] argues that due to the human race's history of warfare, violence and [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil slavery]], the universe will be better off without them.

** However, a number of comics indicate that plenty of humans are ''not'' bastards, it's just that the ones who are tend to be really prominent. Furthermore, ''ComicBook/JonathanHickmansXMen'' goes some way to explaining ''why'' mutants are so particularly feared and hated -- they're a direct replacement for humanity (something that, DependingOnTheWriter, they aren't shy about reminding humanity of). Many of them have god-like powers, and consider themselves apart from, if not above, humans. The fact that their usual binomial name, often chosen by the relatively moderate Charles Xavier, is ''Homo Superior'', doesn't hurt, either. Thus, while humanity's actions aren't necessarily right, they are at least understandable (though this does veer into GreyAndGreyMorality, with suggestions that both sides are as bad as each other).

* A CentralTheme in ''VideoGame/TheForgottenCity'', a quest mod for VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim. Even in a society where crime doesn't and cannot exist, the negative qualities of human nature don't just disappear. For instance, [[FantasticRacism if you are not an Imperial then you do not get to live in the luxurious Citadel]], and LoopholeAbuse is common as violence and theft are not permitted but gossip, intimidation, scams, doing drugs and [[spoiler:necromancy]] are all fair game under the Dwemer's BlueAndOrangeMorality. There's also [[spoiler:Jarl Metelleus, who keeps a woman captive and rapes her every night without breaking the Dwarves' Law because he's figured out how the law works, and when confronted coldly gloats to you that there isn't a thing you can do about it.]]

* Taken [[UptoEleven Up to Eleven]] in ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony,'' when is an actual reality show [[MetaSequel based off the now in-universe]] ''[[MetaSequel Danganronpa]]'' [[MetaSequel franchise]], and currently in its ''53rd season'' (or 50th, since it had to have started with ''Danganronpa 4'' at the earliest). The entire audience cares nothing about how everyone in the killing game felt, as they take pleasure in their misery.

* This is the reason why the Phantom Thieves of Hearts exist in ''VideoGame/Persona5''. Society is [[TheCaligula run by corrupt psychopaths who walk over anyone they can get their hands on]], bystanders and victims can't or won't struggle against their hardships, and it's shown to almost always end in tragic results. The Phantom Thieves turn to supernatural brainwashing to convict those in power, the government conspiracy pulls every dirty trick and commits mass-murder just to end them, and the whole city [[NeverMyFault is in denial of their problems]] and near-completely [[ApatheticCitizens apathetic]] [[spoiler:even after a ControlFreak god sends a storm of ''acid rain'' to randomly kill anyone on the street]].

* In a lot of incarnations ComicBook/TheJoker holds this opinion (most famously in ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke''), maintaining that all it takes is "one bad day" to make anyone just as murderously insane as he is. In some cases it is implied that, deep down, he is outright ''disgusted'' with humanity and his murderous behaviour -- as well as his suicidal recklessness -- are violent acts of protest and despair at the world and not purely ForTheEvulz, with his battle with Batman being an ideological one over who is correct.

* In ''ComicBook/JusticeLeague2018'', Lex Luthor travels one million years into the future and learns that he's become a DarkMessiah, with [[BadFuture all of humanity following his philosophy]] of personal empowerment and embracing one's inner self [[BeingGoodSucks rather than aspiring to be something better]]. As a result, he created a VillainWorld where mankind embraced the worst aspects of human nature and [[GalacticConqueror subjugated the rest of the universe in his name]], [[CardCarryingVillain literally calling their way of life "Doom"]]. [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist To Lex, this was paradise.]]

* * ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'' zig-zags this. [[Creator/NaughtyDog The developers]] have gone on record as saying that the primary antagonists are other survivors, as opposed to the [[TechnicallyLivingZombie Infected]]. Sure enough, a lot of the worst actions in the story are carried out by humans, who are shown to be more than willing to slaughter one another without provocation to get what they want. The first game even features a group of cannibals [[spoiler:with a leader who likes to... [[{{Ephebophile}} erm, keep 'pets']]]] as an antagonistic force at one point. Despite this, though, there are humans out there who are only really interested in keeping to themselves and trying to make the best out of the CrapsackWorld they live in, such as the residents of Jackson, Wyoming, who have formed a self-sufficient community and only turn violent towards outside intruders ([[ProperlyParanoid although in a world like this, you can hardly blame them]]).