History PlayingWith / TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized

'''Soldier Tom''': Are you kidding?! Those Liberation Front bastards murdered every man and raped every woman in my village and called it "recompense" for not siding with them! [[TheEnemyOfMyEnemy Any side opposing these brutes is the side I want to be on!]]

** Bob joined the Liberation Front out of anger towards the incompetent and oppressive policies of the Empire. However, as the civil war grows, Bob sees a side of the revolution that is blind to the public eye. Not only are the revolutionary soldiers full of crooks and killers, but their leaders are corrupt shills taking bribes from the emperor's political rivals. Bob is left with a choice: stay with the revolution that isn't as good as they claim, or defect from it and be considered a traitor by both sides.

** [[OverlyLongName Troperitania's People's Democratic Resistance Liberation Front of Light and Peace]] uses fear as its main weapon, [[RapePillageAndBurn massacring any settlement that has loyalist sympathies]], [[SinkTheLifeboats murdering any and all enemy soldiers who try to surrender]], and [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil allowing its soldiers to rape people with utter abandon]].

** The Resistance Liberation Front wants to [[RageAgainstTheHeavens overthrow God]] (who [[GodIsGood is good]]) and/or [[OmnicidalManiac destroy existence]] as the ultimate act of rebellion.

** The author was a veteran in a loyalist militia during an actual revolution, and so does not have fond memories of the [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits plucky band of rebels]]/[[ArmyOfThievesAndWhores]] who spent a decade fighting against everything he stands for.

* '''Straight''': Bob is a resistance fighter in [[LaResistance a Liberation Front-led revolution]] against the [[TheEmpire Troperitanian Empire]]. During the war, he watches some of his comrades commit war crimes.
* '''Exaggerated''':

* '''Inverted''': TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified.

** The Empire is [[WhatTheRomansHaveDoneForUs efficient and benevolent enough]] that any revolution that can form would be minor and powerless. Why would there be any support for violent rebels when the people are happy? Any rebels that get a bit too violent are immediately crushed and written off as one-time terrorists.

** The Liberation Front [[ChaoticEvil is fighting for an inherently unjustifiable cause]] such as [[UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar the "right" to own other humans as slaves]], "freedom" from the rule of a [[TheGoodKing benevolent King/Emperor]]/[[TheHighQueen Queen/Empress]]/other ruling class who happens to belong to [[FantasticRacism a racial/cultural/religious group they consider "unworthy", "evil"]], and/or [[FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence "oppressive"]], or the removal of a RagsToRoyalty monarch in exchange for one of "proper" birth, or [[ForTheEvulz just for the sake of seizing power for themselves]]. Or even all of the above. In other words, the rebels were the villains from the start. It's not hard to resort to bad methods when starting with bad intentions.

** [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters The Liberation Front may commit evil, terroristic deeds]] but the Troperitanian Empire commits just as bad (if not, worse) atrocities, [[BlackAndGrayMorality hence the formation of the Liberation Front to begin with.]]

** "The day that made me [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere leave the Liberation Front and flee the country]] [[ShellShockedVeteran is still burned into my nightmares]]. We had captured a loyalist town that we suspected had been feeding information to the Empire about revolutionary activities in the area, and we needed to know what they had been telling them. No one would talk. So we marched a crowd of people to the town square, picked half a dozen people at random, and [[ManOnFire necklaced them]] in front of the crowd and forced them to watch. Then another half-dozen, and another, until people started talking. [[HeelRealization That was when I knew]] [[MotiveDecay that whatever we were fighting for didn't matter.]] [[HeWhoFightsMonsters That we had become pure evil.]] I'll still remember the screams and the stench of burning rubber and flesh. Whatever better tomorrow we wanted to create would exist because of our evil, and [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone I could not live in that world with the knowledge of what I had been a part of]]."
-->'''Soldier Tim''': Tom, what if we're the bad guys? I mean, TheEmperor is kinda harsh-\\

* '''Conversed''': "So, another scene of puppy-kicking by the Liberation Front. The writer's sympathies are clear..." "* '''Implied''':

** All the Liberation Front wanted was to depose the existing power. They '''never''' actually promised any improvement.

** [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters The Liberation Front may commit evil, terroristic deeds]] but the Troperitanian Empire commits just as bad atrocities, [[BlackAndGrayMorality hence the formation of the Liberation Front to begin with.]]

** The Empire is efficient enough that any revolution that can form would be minor and powerless. Why would there be any support for violent rebels when the people are happy? Any rebels that get a bit too violent are immediately crushed and written off as one-time terrorists.

* '''Conversed''': "So, [[ObligatoryWarCrimeScene another scene of puppy-kicking]] by the Liberation Front. The writer's sympathies are clear..." "* '''Implied''':

* '''Exploited''': TheEmpire captures rebel atrocities on film and uses it in propaganda to paint the Liberation Front as being AlwaysChaoticEvil.

** The author was a veteran in a loyalist militia during an actual revolution, and so does not have fond memories of the [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits plucky band of rebels]] who spent a decade fighting against everything he stands for.