History Main / EveryoneHasStandards

* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: When someone tries to avoid being rude to the point everybody else thinks it's ridiculous.

* ToBeLawfulOrGood: The MoralDilemma that results when someone's standards conflict with their duties.

Compare ConscienceMakesYouGoBack, SuddenPrincipledStand. See WhatTheHellHero when someone calls out a person's actions for violating their own standards. If someone judges other people's actions but assumes their own must be good by definition, they have MoralMyopia. If someone's standards are applied inconsistently, it's a DoubleStandard. If this hypocrisy is never called out in the work itself, it's MoralDissonance. Conversely, someone's standards may be consistent but at odds with genuine morality, leading to CuriousQualmsOfConscience. See also ShadesOfConflict for the many variations that may occur when people with different levels of standards collide.

* Most of the population of Paris were quick to bully and attempt to flog Quasimodo in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'', but even they were horrified when Judge Frollo ordered Esmeralda to be burned at stake.

** Imelda may be unwilling to [[spoiler: forgive Hector for supposedly walking out on his family even after the truth is known but she gets shocked upon seeing her husband about to fade away showing that even she thinks that Hector doesn't deserve [[DeaderThanDead such a fate]]. Indeed, it is the threat of him being erased, not the revelation that he wanted to return before being killed that convince her to help him live by retrieving the photo that Ernesto has confiscated]].

** ''EveryoneHasStandards/DeadMeat''

Whether someone is a [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} weirdo]], [[EvenEvilHasStandards villain]], pervert, {{jerkass}}, geek, or just ''way'' too nice, deviant from the customs of "normal" society — one often finds that those things can only go so far. These characters find that when they're in a situation where they would cross a certain line, they don't do it. Or they get disgusted at those who ''do'' cross that line.

* In episode two of ''Podcast/MysteryShow'', Starlee tries to find Britney Spears by going to a mall and a restaurant where she had been had been photographed by paparazzi. After having no luck, she becomes very uncomfortable with her methods and decides to try [[BribingYourWayToVictory a different way.]]
** In episode five, which revolves around Starlee trying to find out how tall Jake Gyllenhaal is:
-->'''David:''' So many ways of finding out the objective truth of this information would have been unethical. You can't go to his doctor and find out. That's not the type of people we are. Unless that's what you did, in which case, that is the type of people we are.
* ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance'': Taako is generally the [[KleptomaniacHero party klepto]], as well as the undisputed king of RefugeInAudacity. However, he balks when Magnus tries to steal money from a bank. Not for any moral reasons, but because of the myriad of reasons [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome they'd almost certainly get caught]]. For one thing, the bank has loads of security measures. For another, they're literally there to ''stop a bank robbery''. For ''another'', they're working with the chief of police, who not only knows they're there, but is the one who let them in and is currently ''right outside''.
-->'''Taako:''' This isn't a dungeon, people do ''business'' here! Put that back! ''[later]'' You two can split it fifty-fifty if you want, I swear to ''God'', first thing I do when we get outside is I rat you out. I’m writing it on my goddamn character sheet, so I never forget to rat you two out.

* Vivien Reid in ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' is an ecoterrorist who thinks civilisation is a blight on the multiverse, and during her visit to Ikoria, she has nothing positive to say about the city of Drannith, which has a strongly authoritarian philosophy and kills monsters by the dozen. However, when Lucca - who had been her protege earlier in the story - formed an army of monsters by controlling them with the Ozolith and attempted to conquer Drannith with them, Vivien concludes this is an unnatural and cruel corruption of the ''eludha''[[note]]the magical bond that links some Ikorian humans to monsters as partners[[/note]] and leads the army of bonders she's gathered ''against'' Lucca in order to ''save'' Drannith.

* ''Theatre/MissSaigon'': For all the Engineer's unscrupulous greed, he never even considers the idea of running off with little half-American Tam, to lie his way into the visa he so desperately wants, without taking Tam's mother Kim with him. Right from the start of his plan, he says "they must let ''us'' in".

** [[http://www.garfield.com/comics/vault.html?yr=2008&addr=080224 Jon spent all morning writing a love sonnet and then the computer crashed.]] Actually, it just pretended to, because "Even the Internet has its standards".

** EveryoneHasStandards/DeadMeat

* In ''WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven'', before Charlie starts actually caring for Anne Marie, he's indignant when she tells him that [[NotSoDifferent he's not that much different from]] [[BigBad Carface]]. He even asks if he did what Charlie did for her like telling her a story or tucking her in bed or kissing her goodnight. Earlier in the movie, the dogs at the casino even say that Charlie treats them better than Carface does.

** Imelda may be unwilling to [[spoiler: forgive Hector for supposedly walking out on his family even after the truth is known but she gets shocked upon seeing her husband about to fade away showing that even she thinks that Hector doesn't deserve to have a FinalDeath. Indeed, it is the threat of him being erased, not the revelation that he wanted to return before being killed that convince her to help him live by retrieving the photo that Ernesto has confiscated]].

* ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance'': Taako is generally the [[KleptomaniacHero party klepto]], as well as the undisputed king of RefugeInAudacity. However, he balks when Magnus tries to steal money from a bank. Not for any moral reasons, but because of the myriad of reasons [[RealityEnsues they'd almost certainly get caught]]. For one thing, the bank has loads of security measures. For another, they're literally there to ''stop a bank robbery''. For ''another'', they're working with the chief of police, who not only knows they're there, but is the one who let them in and is currently ''right outside''.

* EvenTheLovingHeroHasHatedOnes: Even the AllLovingHero has people they dislike, especially if they're rotten enough that it's clearly impossible for them to redeem themselves.

* Most of the population of Paris were quick to bully and attempt to flog Quasimodo in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'', but even they were horrified when Judge Frollo ordered Esmeralda be burned at stake.

* EvenTheLovingHeroHasHatedOnes: A good guy may tend to be friendly and willing to be nice to anyone, but there are some individuals so rotten even they despise them and consider them beyond redemption.

* EvenTheLovingHeroHasHatedOnes: A good guy may tend to be friendly and willing to be nice to anyone, but there are some individuals so rotten even they despise them.

** According to Mick's first book, the idea to start on top of the Cell and get thrown off originated as a joke, and when Mick took the idea seriously, '''Wrestling/TerryFunk''' thought he was crazy.

* In 2004, WWE writer Dan Madigan (who was one of the people behind Katie Vick) suggested that Jon Heidenreich’s gimmick be an unfrozen Nazi managed by Paul Heyman, who is Jewish...and whose mother survived the Holocaust. When the idea was pitched, Vince McMahon himself walked out of the board room and didn’t come back for the rest of the day. Suffice to say, Madigan’s career didn’t last much longer and he was fired in early 2005.

A SuperTrope to:

Compare ConscienceMakesYouGoBack, SuddenPrincipledStand. See WhatTheHellHero when someone calls out a person's actions for violating their own standards. If someone judges other people's actions but assumes their own must be good by definition, they have MoralMyopia. If someone's standards are applied inconsistently, it's a DoubleStandard. If this hypocrisy is never called out in the work itself, it's MoralDissonance. Conversely, someone's standards may be consistent but at odds with genuine morality, leading to CuriousQualmsOfConscience. See also ShadesOfConflict for the many variations that may occur when people with different levels of standards collide.

Someone who doesn't observe any standards may cross the MoralEventHorizon and become a CompleteMonster.

This is TruthInTelevision, of course; just about all people do try to follow some sort of standard, and even [[MoralSociopathy outright sociopaths]] can tell (intellectually) the difference between right and wrong. Though standards may [[ValuesDissonance differ from time and place and individual]], and people may [[{{Hypocrite}} fail to live up to their own standards]], for someone to not care about ''any'' ethical or moral standards is generally a sign of [[Analysis/TheSociopath a severe mental pathology]]. That said, Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease

[[noreallife]]