History Main / DoUntoOthersBeforeTheyDoUntoUs

* According to TheMenWhoStareAtGoats, (which claims that this entry should be under the RealLife section,) both sides of the Cold War ended up doing psychic research mainly because of this trope. Even though not many people on either side actually ''believed'' there was anything in it, they couldn't let the other side lead the field ''just in case'' it turned out to be real. Explained by [[HeyItsThatGuy Colonel]] [[{{Avatar}} Quaritch]] at about 0:41 in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xvx4tQXpLaA&feature=related this video]]

* The warring sides of ''{{Gundam SEED}}'' use this trope as justification for their deeds; both are led by CompleteMonster extremists who aim for nothing less than the complete annihilation of the other side down to the last man, woman and child. Therefore, backing down and depending on MutuallyAssuredDestruction is equivalent to surrender. Things escalate when both sides aquire N-Jammer Canceller technology and a battle ensues where the Federation launches dozens of nukes at ZAFT's civilian population while ZAFT have a nuclear-powered WaveMotionGun pointed at Earth; had the protagonists failed to destroy these [=WMDs=], the result would've been a MutualKill. Fortunately, the extremists are killed during the battle, after which both sides have a HeelRealization and ''[[WarIsHell finally]]'' begin negotiations.

* In the ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'' comics, this is one of Magneto's main rationales in his war on humanity, and one of the main sticking points in his philosophical differences with the more idealistic Professor Xavier.

* Max on ''Living Single''.

* Occurs in the RobertHeinlein short story "Solution Unsatisfactory". One of the U.S. characters considers having everyone who knows about the secret of the radioactive dust shot, but decides that the enemies of the U.S. would eventually discover it and use it against the U.S. anyway. The U.S. goes ahead with creating and using the dust itself.

* This was Season 3 of ''StarTrekEnterprise'' in a nutshell, until the humans found out both sides were being played by the [[LetsYouAndHimFight Sphere-Builders.]]

* The explanation for the construction and deployment of DESTINI in ''TheCore'': "''Someone'' was going to build it, so we built it first."

* Minor premise: [[HumansAretheRealMonsters All humans are bastards.]]

* Minor premise: [[HumansAreBastards All humans are bastards.]]

* In the BadFuture the protagonist of ''{{Paycheck}}'' is trying to prevent, a machine capable of seeing into the future predicts a nuclear war. So the US decides to strike first, [[SelfFulfillingProphecy starting said war]].

* In the BadFuture the protagonist of ''{{Paycheck}}'' is trying to prevent, a machine capable of seeing into the future predicts a nuclear war. So the US decides to strike first, [[SelfFulfillingProphecy starting said war]].

* The warring sides of ''{{Gundam SEED}}'' use this trope as justification for their deeds; both are led by CompleteMonster extremists who aim for nothing less than the complete annihilation of the other side down to the last man, woman and child. Therefore, backing down and depending on MutuallyAssuredDestruction is equivalent to surrender. Things escalate when both sides aquire N-Jammer Canceller technology and a battle ensues where the Federation launches dozens of nukes at ZAFT's civilian population while ZAFT have a nuclear-powered WaveMotionGun pointed at Earth; had the protagonists failed to destroy these [=WMDs=], the result would've been a MutualKill. Fortunately, the extremists are killed during the battle, after which both sides have a HeelRealization and ''[[WarIsHell finally]]'' begin negotiations.\\
\\
One has to consider however the fact that both the Federation and ZAFT were being manipulated by [[spoiler:Rau Le Creuset]] who believed the war can only be stopped for good by [[OmnicidalManiac having the two mutually annihilate each other, thus rendering humanity extinct]] and unable to war among themselves just for the sake of being different from each other.

* This is a popular theory for why people allowed the commons in medieval England to be overgrazed. If I cut back and give the fields time to recover then someone else will just come along and overgraze the field anyways. They'll have better fed cattle and I'll be cut off from a free resource.

* The warring sides of ''{{Gundam SEED}}'' use this trope as justification for their deeds: both are led by CompleteMonster extremists who aim for nothing less than the complete annihilation of the other side down to the last man, woman and child. Therefore, backing down and depending on MutuallyAssuredDestruction is equivalent to surrender. Things escalate when both sides aquire N-Jammer Canceller technology and a battle ensues where the Federation launches dozens of nukes at ZAFT's civilian population while ZAFT have a nuclear-powered WaveMotionGun pointed at Earth; had the protagonists failed to destroy these [=WMDs=], the result would've been a MutualKill. Fortunately, the extremists are killed during the battle, after which both sides have a HeelRealization and ''[[WarIsHell finally]]'' begin negotiations.
** One has to consider however the fact that both the Federation and ZAFT were being manipulated by [[spoiler:Rau Le Creuset]] who believed the war can only be stopped for good by [[OmnicidalManiac having the two mutually annihilate each other, thus rendering humanity extinct]] and unable to war among themselves just for the sake of being different from each other.

* The warring sides of ''{{Gundam SEED}}'' use this trope as justification for their deeds: both are led by CompleteMonster extremists who aim for nothing less than the complete annihilation of the other side down to the last man, woman and child. Therefore, backing down and depending on MutuallyAssuredDestruction is equivalent to surrender. Things escalate when both sides aquire N-Jammer Canceller technology and a battle ensues where the Federation launches dozens of nukes at ZAFT's civilian population while ZAFT have a nuclear-powered WaveMotionGun pointed at Earth and ready to sterilize the whole planet with a miniature gamma ray burst. It's not until the protagonists' destruction of these WMDs that both sides have a HeelRealization and ZAFT calls for a cease-fire.

* This is one of [[{{X-Men}} Magneto's]] main rationales in his war on humanity, and one of the main sticking points in his philosophical differences with the more idealistic Professor Xavier.

-->-- '''Boyd''', ''{{Dollhouse}}''

-->-- ''{{Dollhouse}}''

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* The infamous GeneralRipper from ''DrStrangelove'' gives this excuse, claiming he's giving the US "the best kind of head start."
* The explanation for the construction and deployment of DESTINI in ''TheCore'': "''Someone'' was going to build it, so we built it first."