History Quotes / BlackAndWhiteMorality

-->-- '''G'Kar''', ''Series/BabylonFive'', "Recap/BabylonFiveS03E13ALateDeliveryFromAvalon"

-->-- '''G'Kar''', ''Series/BabylonFive'', "A Late Delivery From Avalon"

->''"What ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' gave weight and import to just comes off overly simplistic and Manichean here. The heroes are good and the government and citizens who have genuine concerns about them are easily shown to be wrong because they're being influenced by Darkseid."''

->''"The principle of the movement is whoever is not included is excluded, whoever is not with me is against me, so the world loses all its nuances, and pluralistic aspects that have become too confusing for the masses."''

->''"Ultimately, not Christ, not [[Creator/KarlMarx Marx]], not [[UsefulNotes/SigmundFreud Freud]], despite the pretensions of each, has the final word to say about the fact of being human. And those who take solemnly the words of other men as absolute are, in the deepest way, maiming their own sensibilities and controverting the evidence of their own senses in a fashion which may be comforting to a terrified man but is disastrous to an artist."''
-->--'''Creator/GoreVidal''', "Norman Mailer: The Angels are White"

->''The plays were written to match this style. Simple plots and characters. Baddies were bad and goodies were good. You booed and hissed the villain and cheered for the hero.''

-->-- Mack Bolan, Literature/TheExecutioner

-->--'''Clint Black''', "Iraq and Roll"

-->-- '''David Crosby''', "Hero"

-->--'''''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation''''' on ''VideoGame/DyingLight''

-->--'''''Jabootu''''' [[http://www.jabootu.com/ondeadlyground.htm on]] ''Film/OnDeadlyGround''

-->-- '''Garrus Vakarian''', ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', after reconsidering killing a traitor.

-->--''WebComic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', "How the Paladin Got Hit Scar"

->'''Yami''': Why would you want to do that?
->'''Anubis''': What?
->'''Yami''': What's the point in destroying the world? What do you gain from it?
->'''Anubis''': ...I don't understand the question.
->'''Yami''': Look, you must have some reason for wanting to destroy the world. Otherwise, this whole movie was just pointless bickering!
->'''Anubis''': Of course I have a reason!
->'''Yami''': Oh, goodie! Do you feel like sharing it with the class?
->'''Anubis''': No, it's a secret.
->'''Yami''': You're the most disappointing movie villain since General Grievous.

->'''Hawkeye:''' We were up against spaceships here. Fighting aliens who were in league with the Nazis, for God's sake. It doesn't get more black and white than that, right?
->'''Wasp:''' You know what I think it means?
->'''Hawkeye:''' What?
->'''Wasp:''' I think it means we're officially super-heroes now.

-> ''"That woman taught me my catechism!! I thought she was a lovely old woman but she is a ''loathsome hag''"''
-> ''"Jeez, you and your binaries."''
-> ''"Well it's one or the other isn't it!!"''

[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]

->''"There's no greys, only [[AntiHero white that's got grubby.]]"''
-->-- '''Granny Weatherwax''', ''Discworld/CarpeJugulum''

-->-- '''[[MeaningfulName John Locke]]''', ''Series/{{Lost}}'', discussing...[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic backgammon]]?

->''"It's terribly simple: The good guys are [[IncorruptiblePurePureness always stalwart and true]]. The bad guys are [[DastardlyWhiplash easily distinguished by their pointy horns or black hats]], and, uh, [[SugarBowl we always defeat them and save the day]]. [[LiesToChildren No one ever dies and everybody lives happily ever after]]."''

->''"[[OhMyGods By G'Quan]], I can't recall the last time I was in a fight like that! No moral ambiguity, no hopeless battle against ancient and overwhelming forces. ''They'' were the bad guys, as you say, and ''we'' were the good guys. And they made a very satisfying '''thump''' when they hit the floor."''

->''Is it possible for any creature, any living being, to be inherently evil? Such an assertion may itself facilitate [[ThenLetMeBeEvil the committing of evil acts]]. By viewing any person as inherently evil, we take away his ability to be anything else. All actions are seen as being motivated by the individual's evil. Even acts of kindness are questioned, and assumed to have ulterior motives. Thus the person is never rewarded for behaving properly. Similarly, by defining a person as evil we also give that person free rein to behave as he will. After all, [[TheFarmerAndTheViper he is not responsible for his evil nature]] and thus he feels no compunction to behave properly.''
-->--'''Ansolm Haas''', ''[[FictionalDocument The Isolation of Evil]]'' -- an epigraph from ''Van Richten's Guide to [[{{Golem}} the Created]]'' (TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}} sourcebook).

[[IRejectYourReality So we act as though they don't exist]]''

->''"The helicopter lands, leading a nearby oldster, one Hugh Palmer, to exclaim, 'Oh, thank God!' This remark proves that Hugh [[ObligatoryJoke isn’t a film critic]], for out of the 'copter emerges [[Creator/StevenSeagal Steve Seagal.]] However, it does indicate that the old-timer is a Good Guy. For in the wonderful simplicity of the world of Steven Seagal, the lyrics of [[TheMightyHercules the old Hercules cartoon series]] theme song ring true: '…People are safe when near him /only the evil fear him.'"''

->''"There is no gray area in Rand’s philosophy. There can’t be any exceptions to the rule or qualified statements such as “The government can be a force for good, but…“ No, it is either black or white, good or evil, hero or parasite. You need to be wary of any philosophy that is so simplistic or tries to so easily lump others in the ‘us‘ or ‘them‘ camp."''

->''"Bad people are inherently bad. Good people are justified in what it takes to stop bad people. And it's that simple. The world divides into good people, who are either smart (i.e. [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality agree with the Doctor]]) or foolish (i.e. [[TheWarOnStraw don't agree with the Doctor]]), and bad people, [[DirtyCommunists who all work for the Master.]] And that's just how people are. Bad people want to hurt us. And we have to stop them."''

->''"It’s a nice touch that the Cigarette-Smoking Man is watching a black-and-white [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Second World War]] movie. One of the primary themes of ''The X-Files'' is that the legacy of the Second World War is much more controversial than traditional historical narratives allow. Of course the Cigarette-Smoking Man [[MyCountryRightOrWrong likes to remember it as black-and-white.]]"''

->''"Somewhere between these two sets is where you’ll find the ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine DS9]]'' crew with lots of shades of light and dark (some call it ambiguity) and as such the are far more interesting than the ''Voyager'' crew that have no flaws [[{{Glurge}} and thus are loaded with them.]]"''

->'''Chris''': Really though, how much of an asshole do you have to be to go “Oh, [[{{ComicBook/Superboy}} he has some of Lex’s DNA]], that will surely make him evil. Fortunately he also has mine, which will definitely make him good.”\\

'''Chris''': I think [[SuperDickery he’s just a jerk.]]
-->--Chris Sims and David Uzumeri [[http://comicsalliance.com/recap-smallville-episode-10-16-scion/ on]] ''{{Series/Smallville}}'' ("Scion")

->''"What ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' gave weight and import to just comes off overly simplistic and Manichean here. The heroes are good and the government and citizens who have genuine concerns about them are easily shown to be wrong because [[DebateAndSwitch they're being influenced by Darkseid.]]"''
-->--'''[[http://www.supermanhomepage.com/tv/tv.php?topic=reviews/smallville10-ep09 Julian Finn]]''' on ''{{Series/Smallville}}'', "Patriot"

->''"There are only three kinds of people in Bill O’Reilly’s world: good hardworking Americans, pinheads—people who are not actually malevolent but who are [[YouFOOL too stupid]] to understand the way the world really works—and evildoers."''

-->-- '''UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush''', speech made at Pearl Harbor, October 28th, 1990

[[folder:Web Comics]]
-> ''"That woman taught me my catechism!! I thought she was a lovely old woman but she is a ''loathsome hag''"''
-> ''"Jeez, you and your binaries."''
-> ''"Well it's one or the other isn't it!!"''
-->-- '''Webcomic/HarkAVagrant''', [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=388 ''Goodman Brown'']]
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[[folder:Real life]]

-->--'''Dr. Phil Sandifer''' [[http://www.eruditorumpress.com/blog/your-last-memory-is-of-receiving-a-contact-from-an-unknown-agency-me-everything-since-has-been-erased-from-your-minds-the-mind-of-evil/ on]] ''Series/DoctorWho'' ([[{{Recap/DoctorWhoS8E2TheMindOfEvil}} "The Mind of Evil"]])

-->--'''Dr. Phil Sandifer''' [[http://www.philipsandifer.com/2011/07/fear-makes-companions-mind-of-evil.html on]] ''Series/DoctorWho'' ([[{{Recap/DoctorWhoS8E2TheMindOfEvil}} "The Mind of Evil"]])

->''"To my mind, this embracing of what were unambiguously children's characters at their mid-20th century inception seems to indicate a retreat from the admittedly overwhelming complexities of modern existence. It looks to me very much like a significant section of the public, having given up on attempting to understand the reality they are actually living in, have instead reasoned that they might at least be able to comprehend the sprawling, meaningless, but at-least-still-finite 'universes' presented by [[Creator/{{DC}} DC]] or Creator/MarvelComics."''

-->--'''FitzroyMaclean''', ''Highlanders''

-> "That woman taught me my catechism!! I thought she was a lovely old woman but she is a ''loathsome hag''"
-> "Jeez, you and your binaries."
-> "Well it's one or the other isn't it!!"

->''"It’s a nice touch that the Cigarette-Smoking Man is watching a black-and-white [[WorldWarII Second World War]] movie. One of the primary themes of ''The X-Files'' is that the legacy of the Second World War is much more controversial than traditional historical narratives allow. Of course the Cigarette-Smoking Man [[MyCountryRightOrWrong likes to remember it as black-and-white.]]"''

--> -- '''Creator/AlanMoore''' on ''MrA''