Pacifism Is Cowardice

"I thought the war was unjust, that Talax was fighting for reasons that weren't worth killing for. Or at least, that's what I told myself. But the real reason I didn't report was because I was a coward."

— Neelix, Star Trek: Voyager, "Jetrel"

Pacifism is about aversion to violence and love of peace. It often gets associated with cowardice because of the popular opinion that brave people won't hesitate to throw a punch. After all, Enemies Equals Greatness, meaning that if you aren't willing to fight, then you must not be great. This view features a lot in stories where the author wants to make the assertion that Violence Really Is the Answer for some situations (and it's worth noting that pacifists are not popular in any warlike society, or to those who subscribe to A Real Man Is a Killer).

Some of the forms this trope can take are:

• Cowardly Pacifist: A character is a coward, and excuses their own cowardice by claiming to be a pacifist. They will be perfectly happy to let someone else fight on their behalf (a true pacifist will be opposed to violence period). They may freely admit that they are cowardly, in which case this is usually Played for Laughs, or they may deny it in order to look more moral and upright than they really are.
• Pacifists Are (Called) Cowards: When pacifists, regardless of them being actually cowards or not, are mocked by other people for being cowards (note that this disregards whether the work thinks pacifism is bad or not). Compare The So-Called Coward when they're revealed to be really brave.

In shows set in the Wild West, Mormons are often stereotyped like this: they don't fight back when taunted, so they must be cowards. In Japanese Media, this is often a position held by someone opposed to a Samurai or Shōnen protagonist. In Superhero media, it's often some kind of Moral Guardian who advocates for a Super Registration Act or even Mutant Draft Board (especially if they don't see supers as human).

Compare and contrast:

• Badass Pacifist: Being against violence is portrayed as very brave and awesome. Usually demonstrated by suffering for their beliefs or through nonviolent civil disobedience. Their strong stand on pacifism and ability to resolve problems without resorting to violence often earns them a really good reputation. Example: Mahatma Gandhi.
• Inspirational Martyr: The positive portrayal of Suicidal Pacifism sees the pacifist as a noble (and brave) man of principle. His sacrifice inspires others. Example: Jesus.
• Martial Pacifist: He's actually a well-trained fighter, but he believes in solving things the peaceful way first and then only resorted to violence when it's absolutely necessary.
• Obstructionist Pacifist: When the pacifist just gets in the way.
• Pacifism Backfire: The pacifist's efforts to avoid violence end up leading to even more violence and the pacifist's pacifism is thus portrayed as completely futile, usually because the violent factions of the conflict decide the pacifist is an easy target.
• A Real Man Is a Killer: You're not manly unless you fight.
• The So-Called Coward: The pacifist (or otherwise unwilling to be violent) character is actively bullied by the conflict-mongers for their cowardice, and thus is more surprising when they finally cut loose.
• Suicidal Pacifism: The pacifist won't resort to violence even in the face of people trying to murder them and others.
• Technical Pacifist: The pacifist claims to be a pacifist but has no problem unleashing methods of retaliation that are potentially-but-nobody-got-hurt (or actually were but the pacifist wasn't actually the one who pulled the trigger) lethal. The pacifist, thus, is claimed to be a coward because he can't find the courage to admit he's violent or do his own dirty work.
• Turn the Other Cheek: People who return violence with kindness are portrayed as good (or sometimes, misguided).
• Virtue Is Weakness: With the virtue in question being pacifism, and of course the antagonists thinking that the "cowardice" can be exploited.

No Real Life Examples, Please!

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid: Tohru is revealed to have called Lucoa a coward for the latter refusing to fight against the humans at some point in the past. Of course, Tohru herself didn't actually want to fight either and she's long since patched things up with Lucoa.
• Pluto: Despite being among the seven most powerful robots on the planet, Epsilon was an avowed pacifist and refused to participate in the Central Asian War. He instead, opened up an orphanage for children who lost their families in the conflict. Epsilon's conscientious objection earned him disdain and criticism from many who perceived him as a cowardly bleeding heart. However, even Hercules, one of Epsilon's critics, admitted that he admired Epsilon's dedication to his beliefs.
• Rurouni Kenshin: While Kenshin Himura is willing to fight if it is needed, he is considered a coward by his enemies and Saito Hajime because he refuses to use violence as a first course of action as well as his refusal to kill. The villains even constantly try to kill Kenshin's friends in order to give Kenshin "proper motivation" to stop holding back
• Trigun: A recurring argument throughout the series is how much of Vash's pacifism^note he's willing to shoot his gun, but extremely reluctant to shoot to kill, deciding instead to use crazy skill shots and mind games to make threats back off is just plain cowardice, especially when it comes to fighting Knives and the Gung-Ho Guns, who have made it perfectly clear that they absolutely will not stop until they are either dead or have killed all of the humans on Planet Gunsmoke (in actuality, their true goal is to break Vash). This argument occasionally brings Vash and Nicholas D. Wolfwood to blows.

Comic Books

• DC: The New Frontier: Hal Jordan is treated like a coward by many because of his refusal to kill during the Korean War. As the story is set during the 1950s, this is a case of Deliberate Values Dissonance. Hal calls out this attitude in issue #5 and his predecessor Abin Sur tells Hal that courage comes in many forms.
• G.I. Joe: Doc was considered a coward for his pacifism and refusal to carry a weapon. When the entire team got poisoned, Doc successfully tricked Cobra into giving him the cure in exchange for an empty case instead of the plutonium Cobra Commander demanded. At that point, the Joes changed their tune about him.
• Injustice: After losing Lois Lane to the Joker's machinations, Superman comes to see his heroism and non-lethal methods as cowardice and refuses to be a coward ever again, becoming a world-conquering tyrant who annihilates any and all criminals and anybody who dares tell him he's wrong.
  Superman: I used to be afraid. Afraid my powers would make people fear me. Afraid who I'd hurt if I wasn't careful every second of every day. I spent my whole life holding back. My fear cost me Lois. That's why I don't hold back anymore!

Fan Works

• Compass of Thy Soul: Senju Hashirama is a Deconstructed Character Archetype of the Stock Shōnen Hero. The fact that, even with all of his power, he constantly refuses to do what he needs to do as a clan head and kill his opponents (which then leads to them either having to be mercy-killed anyway because he maimed them beyond any capacity to live a normal life and considers that "pacifism" or they leave to regroup and attack again) means that everybody else in the chain of command considers him a cowardly, unreliable Manchild and are forced to work around him to get anything done.
• Miraculous Ladybug fanfiction writers are constantly at war between the two types of this trope regarding Adrien and his choice to take the high road with Lila and allow her to continue to lie her butt off to his friends until she exposes herself. Depending on the Writer, he can be either a Dirty Coward who uses pacifism as an excuse to avoid conflict at any cost and willingly allows Lila to bully Marinette and manipulate their friends in the name of "peace"; or he's a well-intentioned but severely misguided soul with no idea how to handle tough social situations and not enough information about Lila to know just how much of a Manipulative Bitch she is, who is called a coward anyway by his betrayed and formerly manipulated classmates after the truth comes out. Examples of these tales include BURN THE WITCH (Miraculous Ladybug), Burning Bridges, Building Confidence, Raise Your Voice Against Liars, and The Karma of Lies.

Films — Live-Action

• The A-Team: This is referenced with a quote from Mahatma Gandhi. B.A. took a vow of nonviolence while in prison (the reasons aren't clear, but it involved reading a book about Gandhi), but Hannibal needs The Big Guy fully into their operation so he resorts to Quote-to-Quote Combat.
  B.A. Baracus: "Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary."
  Hannibal Smith: Gandhi. (Beat) "It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence."
  B.A.: Who said that?
  Hannibal: Same guy. Gandhi wasn't afraid to fight for what he believed in.
• Ant-Man:
  Scott: It wasn't a robbery, it was a burglary. Robbery involves force, which I never use. I hate violence. I'm a cat burglar.
  Dave: So you're a pussy.
  Scott: Yeah.
• Aquaman: Orm and Nereus both consider the Fisherman cowards because they don't believe that war with the surface is inevitable, and think that if they reveal themselves to the surface world it should be to educate them.
• The Big Lebowski: This is how Walter, an Ax-Crazy Vietnam War veteran, feels about the Dude's easygoing nature.
  "Pacifism is NOT something to hide behind!"
• Dogma: Azrael was made a demon as a punishment for refusing to take part in the war between God and Lucifer. While he insists that it was because he was a pacifist, Serendipity accuses him of being a coward, insisting that even a pacifist should have taken up arms against the Devil.
  "So you were an artist! Big deal! Elvis was an artist. But that didn't stop him from joining the service in time of war. And that's why he's The King, and you're a schmuck."
• Hacksaw Ridge is a Biopic about a conscientious objector who refuses to bear arms and becomes a combat medic. His drill sergeant brands him a coward and turns the rest of the squad against him, but he proves himself a Badass Pacifist who wins the Medal of Honor for saving over 75 of his comrades' lives.
  Sergeant Howell: Private Doss does not believe in violence. Do not look to him to save you on the battlefield.
• Maverick: In the film version, the eponymous hero tries to talk his way out of fights specifically BECAUSE he's a coward. This is Played for Laughs; he has a incredibly fast quick-draw and handily wins a fistfight against several opponents, but if it's up to him, he'd much rather just play cards (as evidenced by the later reveal that he staged the fistfight to get a real enemy to back off).
• The Patriot (2000): The film averts this. The main character initially opposes the rebellion that grows into the American Revolution, and specifically says, "I will not fight. And because I will not fight, I will not send another to fight in my place." However, he later winds up joining the war anyways to avenge his murdered son.
• They Call Me Trinity: A man tries to run the Mormons off their land so he can graze his horses there. The villain considers the Mormons cowards for not trying to fight back and even Trinity believes that their determination to remain non-violent is Suicidal Pacifism. The Mormons, however, manage to convince the man to leave them be by talking to him, by treating a nasty boil the man had in his neck... and by Trinity making clear that he will fight for them if the man ever changes his mind.

Literature

• Anne of Green Gables: Rilla of Ingleside is set during World War I. All men of appropriate age enlist right away except for Anne's son Walter who is a pacifist. He is harassed and publicly shamed as a coward until he enlists.
• C. S. Lewis wrote a non-fiction essay during World War II, on the subject of pacifism and conscientious objectors. He encouraged the pacifists to examine their own motives very carefully, to be certain that it was not cowardice that motivated them to denounce the war. Lewis was still sympathetic to the pacifists' position: having fought in World War One himself, his position was that war is a terrible thing, but it's not the most terrible thing, so sometimes it's necessary.
• The Screwtape Letters: Screwtape points out that patriotism and pacifism are neither righteous nor evil in and of themselves, but that it largely depends on the moral character of the "Patient". If the "Patient" had doubts about "serving in a just and legal war" that were not based in cowardice, then guiding him to Pacifism would do the demons little good. But it is also possible that a pro-war Patriot could be guided not by moral principle, but instead by hatred of their enemies. The trick, Screwtape advises his nephew Wormwood, is to make the "Patient" treat patriotism or pacifism as a part of his Christian faith, and then to have him treat it as the most important part.
• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: Eustace claims to be a pacifist to deter the annoyed Reepicheep after swinging him by his tail. Reepicheep gives him a caning with the flat of his blade instead.

Live-Action TV

• Babylon 5: Ivanova's ending narration in the season 2 finale "The Fall of Night" expresses this belief.
  "We came to this place because Babylon 5 was our last, best hope for peace. By the end of 2259, we knew that it had failed. But in so doing, it became something greater. As the war expanded, it became our last best hope... for victory. Because sometimes, peace is another word for surrender."
• Doctor Who:
  • In "The Daleks", Ian derides the pacifistic Thals (who have sworn off violence due to their world almost being devastated by war) as "cowards" for not wanting to help the Doctor's group against the Daleks.
  • It is noted quite often by several characters (including the Doctor himself) that his methods (to use his wits instead of fists and guns to deal with the Monster of the Week) are cowardly. By the time of the Doctor's eleventh incarnation, he even had started to lament the fact that he preferred to guide his companions as agents to do the dirty work that he himself didn't have the guts to do (and this same self-belief is also the reason why he created the War Doctor as a "warrior" persona).
• Kung Fu (1972):
  • Caine is sometimes accused of cowardice or hypocrisy for his pacifism. The first episode even has a railroad crew chief comment on the supposed Values Dissonance of a "man of peace who can fight like ten tigers."
  • In one episode, Caine joins up with a band of Mormons with the Serial Numbers Filed Off. They don't fight back even when they're attacked on their own land.
• Dad's Army: In "Branded", Private Godfrey discloses that he is a pacifist and was a conscientious objector in World War I, only for the platoon to turn on him as a coward. It's later revealed he was decorated for bravery under fire as a medic hauling the wounded out of no-mans-land, and there is appropriate reflection on the meaning of bravery.
• Madam Secretary: "The Ninth Circle" seems to come to this conclusion. Jason McCord is expelled from a Quaker school after he breaks a school bully's nose for insulting his mother. He apologizes for lashing out physically but flatly refuses to apologize for defending Liz, and the dean doesn't consider this sufficient.
• M*A*S*H: The series has a clear anti-war perspective and plays with this trope somewhat.
  • If you accuse Captain Hawkeye Pierce of being a coward, he'll readily admit it.
  • Frank Burns, in particular, was a straightforward patriot and took the United States' involvement in the Korean War conflict very seriously to the point that he would often accuse any of his comrades with anti-war sentiment of being "bleedin' hearts" and give them rousing speeches about the disasters that would be heaped upon America if they were to just make peace with the enemy. On one such occasion, the 4077th is pinned down by a lone sniper, and Hawkeye and Trapper insist on surrendering in hopes that the sniper will cease fire so they can tend to their wounded; both Frank and Margaret are appalled at the idea and are more concerned about maintaining the integrity of their positions as U.S. Army personnel rather than trying to help any wounded that may come in and be under fire.
• Mork & Mindy: Orkans are pacifists by nature and will hide when their planet is attacked by rival aliens. This is seen as cowardly by the rival aliens and one Orkan hero who was known for avoiding conflict ended up being nicknamed Squellman the Yellow (as in, yellow-bellied coward).
• Once Upon a Time: Before he became the Dark One, Rumpelstiltskin was a wool-spinning peasant whose decision to leave the army in the midst of the ogre war had earned him the reputation of a coward.
• Star Trek: The Original Series: In "Errand of Mercy", both Captain Kirk and Commander Kor frequently describe the natives of the planet Organia as cowardly and liken them to sheep (meaning "timid", not "conformist") because they don't want to fight the occupying Klingons. Subverted when the Organians reveal themselves as energy creatures who have the ability to stop both the Klingons and the Federation but chose not to interfere until matters escalated to all-out war.
• Star Trek: Voyager: In "Jetrel", Neelix explains he went into hiding to avoid conscription during the Talaxian-Haakonian War. He tried to justify it to himself by saying that the war was immoral, but he admits to Kes that he was just afraid to die.

Music

• Kenny Rogers: Coward Of The County is about a young man constrained by a vow he made to his dying father to refrain from violence and fighting. This effectively makes him a target of local bullies until one day he snaps and goes postal.

Theatre

• No Exit: Garcin presents himself as a Badass Pacifist, but is actually a Dirty Coward who was shot for desertion.

Video Games

• EverQuest II: The Ogres are a race well known throughout history for war and conquests. Their racial questline in Freeport has you discovering the pacifistic followers of Quellious, Goddess of Tranquility, trying to peacefully resolve a conflict. The Ogre mentor tells you to bash their heads in, because anyone who doesn't embrace war and fighting is weak.
• Final Fantasy XIV: Sharlayan has an extremely strict non-interventionist policy, its leaders declaring that the nation will only record history, not make it. As such, it refuses to help Eorzea against the Garlean Empire, deriding the Eorzeans as savages and barbarians for resorting to a war of defense. Louisoix and the Circle of Knowing left Sharlayan because they got tired of this Head-in-the-Sand Management regarding the crises going on around the world. Even when The End of the World as We Know It is upon them, the Sharlayans continue to remain Team Switzerland even though their nation will be in ruins too, much to the Eorzeans' bewilderment.
  Louisoix: To ignore the plight of those one might conceivably save is not wisdom—it is indolence.
• God of War Ragnarök: Týr was often considered a coward because he liked to settle fights instead of starting them, despite being a war god. Of course, he is an Aesir, one of history's most warlike pantheons; it makes sense that the gods the Vikings worshipped would think this way. When he finally appears, he's a neurotic Actual Pacifist who avoids combat at all cost and really doesn't want to risk Ragnarok, although this is more because he's traumatized from ages imprisoned and tortured by Odin. Or at least, Odin portrays Týr as a coward. The "Tyr" seen through most of the game is Odin in disguise, and he played up the cowardice to demoralize his foes and tarnish Týr's memory. The real Týr, as seen in the post-game and the Vallhalla DLC, is more of a Martial Pacifist who acknowledges that Ragnarok had to happen and is a good enough fighter to act as the DLC's final boss.
• Knights of the Old Republic/Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords: A major theme in the games is that the Jedi's Head-in-the-Sand Management approach to the Mandalorian war, which was partially done to avoid Neutral No Longer, was largely a result of cowardice on the Jedi Order's part due to their teachings. Both games have various characters critique the idea that Jedi are guardians of peace who promote pacifism when possible, yet turned a blind eye to the state of the galaxy when it was needed.

Web Original

• Dragon Ball Z Abridged: The series greatly exaggerates Gohan's canonical reluctance to fight to the point that both Cell and Android 16 giving him a "The Reason You Suck" Speech in which they call him a "coward", especially because Gohan knows perfectly well how absurdly high the stakes are but still doesn't want to fight.

Western Animation

• Futurama: This is referenced in "When Aliens Attack"; Bender declares himself a "conscientious objector... you know, a coward." Then his patriotism chip is activated and he becomes gung-ho against his will.

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