History Main / ItIsBeyondSaving

* ''{{Literature/Victoria}}'': John Rumford, the hero, has lost faith in America because it has lost important moral values, and in the process, fractured into warring states. He hopes to preserve some worthwhile culture in a successor state. One of the defining moments of his vision was when his commanding officer was willing to bend to a Congresswoman's views on politics in the Marine Corps instead of preserving their masculinity.
-->"This has nothing to do with truth," yelled Col. Ryan, who was starting to lose it. "What the hell is truth, anyway? This is about politics and our image and our budget. Congresswoman Bluhose is a leading advocate for women's rights. She'll be enraged, and I'll take it in the shorts from Headquarters, Marine Corps. Don't you get it?"\\
"Yes, sir, I think I do get it," I said. "You, and I guess the CG here at Quantico and the Commandant, want to surrender to Congresswoman Bluhose and what she represents, a Corps and a country that have been emasculated. But the way I see it, and maybe this is Maine talking, if we're supposed to fight, that means we have to fight for something. What's the point in fighting for a country like that? Whatever defeats and replaces it could only be an improvement."

** ''Strange Journey'' gives us the Schwarzwald itself, which is reality declaring this of human civilization.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'', the BigBad, Snadhya'rune, enacts a series of schemes to ravage her city and make it collapse so that she can takeover uncontested. Her schemes work ''[[PyrrhicVillainy all too well]]'' and go beyond her control. Her demons and her flower plague infest the city so deeply that they can no longer be suppressed or removed, only contained at an increasingly high price, leaving her with nothing left to rule. By [[GrandFinale the final chapter]] of Moonless Age, the city is nearly dead and everyone has given up on saving it, deciding to preserve who they can and return to the surface.

Compare PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery and SoiledCityOnAHill. Compare also MercyKill for a more personal version. If this is applied to a villain, this is BeyondRedemption. Depending on the circumstance, it might also end up being a HardTruthAesop.

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In the first chapter of ''Fanfic/CodePrime'' ''R2: Revolution'', the houses of Kyoto give the Black Knights and the Autobots their blessing to demolish Mt. Fuji. With their reasoning being because of how the Decepticons have desecrated it too much to be of any worth.
[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TronUprising'': [[OmnicidalManiac Cyrus]] concluded this about The Grid under Clu's rule and set out to detonate an electromagnetic bomb that would wipe the hard drive and everyone on it. This is why Tron [[spoiler: had to lock his crazy former apprentice away]]. The horrible part? [[TruthInTelevision Real-world computer troubleshooting]] actually ''would'' consider that an option for a hard drive or computer system too corrupt to save. [[note]] It's even used in the AlternateContinuity of ''VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh'' to try and slow down a virus causing ZombieApocalypse across Encom's servers. [[/note]] And depending on your opinion of Film/TronLegacy, [[StrawmanHasAPoint Cyrus might have been right.]]

* ''{{Franchise/Batman}}'''s ''ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand'': After two biological terrorists attacks and an earthquake hit Gotham City the US government decides to wall it off and make it no longer part of the US instead of trying to save those in Gotham who couldn't get out in time.

* In ''Webcomic/DrowTales'', the BigBad, Snadhya'rune, enacts a series of schemes to ravage her city and make it collapse so that she can takeover uncontested. Her schemes work ''all too well'' and go beyond her control. Her demons and her flower plague infest the city so deeply that they can no longer be suppressed or removed, only contained at an increasingly high price, leaving her with nothing left to rule. By the final chapter of Moonless Age, the city is nearly dead and everyone has given up on saving it, deciding to preserve who they can and return to the surface.

Compare PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery and SoiledCityOnAHill. Compare also MercyKill for a more personal version. Depending on the circumstance, it might also end up being a HardTruthAesop.

Compare PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery and SoiledCityOnAHill. Compare also MercyKill for a more personal version.

** In ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', Steve declares [[spoiler:SHIELD]] as this. Considering that [[spoiler:HYDRA]] infiltrated the organization at its very ''inception'', he's right -- the organization is too far gone to bother saving. It is dismantled in this movie and eventually rebuilt by loyal members.

* ''Film/TheDarkKnightSaga'':

* In the beginning of ''Anime/CrossAnge'', Ange [[TheWorldIsJustAwesome marvels at the World of Mana, calling it peaceful and perfect]]. By episode 10, having been turned on by everyone in her nation and exiled as CannonFodder against dragons on a PenalColony for being a Norma, she, after almost being executed, decides that the Mana world, which oppressed her and the other Normas, needs to be destroyed. It does not help that mana is actually a drug / mind control and the puppet master has a few screws loose. By episode 23, when [[TheMagicGoesAway Embryo severs the Mana network]] and starts [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the fusion of the two worlds]], a few of the people who turned on her encounter her and [[EntitledBastard demand her help]]. She tells them she could care less, and scares them off with a gunshot. In the end, she and the other Normas (and a few formerly-Mana-using sympathizers) go to the DRAGON world, while everyone else deals with the collapse of civilization and the loss of Mana; surprisingly, a world of trigger-happy barbaric raiders survive without mana fairly well.

** ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'': Ra's daughter, ComicBook/TaliaAlGhul, agrees with her father's assessment of Gotham and proceeds to enact his plans to destroy it to [[AvengingTheVillain avenge his death]].
-->'''Bruce:''' [Rha's] was trying to kill millions of innocent people!\\

-->'''Egon:''' Something terrible is about to enter our world and this building is obviously the door. The architect's name was Ivo Shandor. In 1920, he started a secret society (of Gozer worshippers)... After the UsefulNotes/FirstWorldWar, Shandor decided society was too sick to survive. And he wasn't alone, he had close to a thousand followers when he died. They conducted rituals on the roof. Bizarre rituals intended to bring about the end of the world, and now it looks like it may actually happen.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "Shelter Skelter", the CrazySurvivalist Harry Dobbs believes that the world has been destroyed by pimps, bureaucrats, hairdressers, rock stars and pornographers. He tells Nick Gatlin that he almost wishes that WorldWarIII will happen so that the "scum of the Earth" will be destroyed and people like him can build a better world.

** In the backstory of ''VideoGame/{{Bioshock 1}}'', Andrew Ryan (and lot of other disillusioned rich sociopaths) grew increasingly disgusted with the United States' [[ValuesDissonance corruption]] of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanDream, from social security to nationalizing private property. It was Ryan's belief that the idealistic dream of "one man born with nothing but the sweat on his brow, rising as high as he desired, and killing anyone who stood in his way" had died in America, so [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere Ryan decided to leave]] [[StartMyOwn and build his own city-state called Rapture]] in a place that couldn't be found or targeted by anyone. Ironically, he doesn't realize "It Is Beyond Saving" now applies to his own city. By the time the PlayerCharacter arrives in Rapture, the whole place is close to falling apart, everyone inside has gone insane, and they're fighting a civil war over the precious few resources that are left.

* There's a definite possibility to write all of Creation, the entire Multiverse, as this, in the ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' series. Lucifer attempts to convince you to destroy the entire process of creation and reconstruction in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne'', and the White in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'' try to invoke this to convince you to reduce all that exists to Nothing. Most often, though, any faction will invoke this against their enemies to convince you the world as is is broken, and that by joining up with them, you can get it back on its feet again. Think about the price of doing so for any given allegiance, though.

* This is the Flame Emperor's view of Fodlan and the Church of Serios in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', they believe the only solution to the corruptions of the Crest system and the nobility is to completely destroy the current order through war and rebuild the continent from the ashes. The other factions during the war phase disagree, aiming to either remove the corrupt elements of the system and reform it from the inside or to make the land's hidden history public and open its boarders to the outside world. As there is no true GoldenEnding but all paths lead to a brighter future, it's left up to the player to determine who's right.
* This is mentioned early and often in ''VideoGame/OneShot'', with several character believing even [[TheChosenOne Niko]] restoring the sun wouldn't save the world, merely prolong the inevitable. It turns out that is because [[spoiler:the world is produced by a ThreeLawsCompliant AI, who is forced to violate the first law as part of its core programming. It wants to die so it can stop putting a real person in danger to produce a fake world.]]

* WesternAnimation/TronUprising: [[OmnicidalManiac Cyrus]] concluded this about The Grid under Clu's rule and set out to detonate an electromagnetic bomb that would wipe the hard drive and everyone on it. This is why Tron [[spoiler: had to lock his crazy former apprentice away]]. The horrible part? [[TruthInTelevision Real-world computer troubleshooting]] actually ''would'' consider that an option for a hard drive or computer system too corrupt to save. [[note]] It's even used in the AlternateContinuity of ''VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh'' to try and slow down a virus causing ZombieApocalypse across Encom's servers. [[/note]] And depending on your opinion of Film/TronLegacy, [[StrawmanHasAPoint Cyrus might have been right.]]
* By the time of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', Superman seems to have this idea about Apokalips. Darkseid kidnapping him and brainwashing him into a leader of Darkseid's armies has a lot to do with it, but seeing Darkseid's subjects rally to help their GodEmperor after Superman defeated him and declared the Apokaliptians free probably didn't help.

* This is how [[spoiler:Eren feels about the rest of the world]] in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan''. [[spoiler:Since the entire world sees the Eldians living on Paradis Island as nothing but devils and will stop at nothing to destroy them all, he feels that there is no other option but to unleash the Rumbling on them.]]

** ''Film/BatmanBegins'': Ra's al Ghul, leader of the League of Shadows, believes that Gotham has become too corrupt to save, and therefore the League must destroy it before it spreads its cancer. Batman's disagreement with their perspective drives much of the movie's story.

** ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'': Rha's daughter, Talia al Ghul, agrees with her father's assessment of Gotham and proceeds to enact his plans to destroy it to [[AvengingTheVillain avenge his death]].

* ''Website/TheOnion'' has a video where [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0AEarudEdI an FDA commissioner gives up on Americans as a whole.]]

Compare PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery and SoiledCityOnAHill.

* The reason that Neku was brought into the Reaper's Game in ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' was that the Composer considered Shibuya beyond saving, but agreed to one last game against his Conductor to decide whether he would destroy it or not. [[spoiler:He ultimately wins the game, but decides it's worth keeping around after all.]]

* ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'': After 2 days of fighting, the [[TheCavalry US Military]], after heavy losses, decide to pull back and [[DeathFromAbove commence air strikes]]. Once they're finished retreating, they send special forces to detonate a [[NukeEm thermonuclear warhead]] at the center of the base.

** ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'': Rha's daughter, Talia al Ghul, agrees with her father's assessment of Gotham and proceed to enact his plans to destroy it to [[AvengingTheVillain avenge his death]].

* ''{{Franchise/Batman}}'''s ''Film/BatmanBegins'': Ra's al Ghul, leader of the League of Shadows, believes that Gotham has become too corrupt to save, and therefore the League must destroy it before it spreads its cancer. Batman's disagreement with their perspective drives much of the movie's story.

** The separatists from ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' use this rationalization in a deleted scene. [[spoiler:Arguably a subversion, as Dooku was secretly working for Chancellor Palpatine to create a conflict that would give Palpatine more power. No matter how accurate Dooku's statement about the Republic was, his goal was to replace it with something even worse...and he and his master had ''exploited and exacerbated'' the Republic's corruption rather than trying to thwart it.]]

--->'''Luke''': I know only one truth: it is time for the Jedi [[WhamLine ... to end]].