History Main / HumansAreBastards

** Traditional Catholicism, via St. Augustine, has the concept of the ''massa damnata'' -- the idea is that since genuine repentance can only come from acknowledging and rejecting one’s sins, and since most people [[NeverMyFault refuse to accept any responsibility for their wrongdoings]] even if they will claim such for appearance's sake, then almost everyone who has ever lived or will live, including [[FridgeLogic nearly all Christians]], is going to Hell. It’s a very depressing thought, but it teaches that salvation can still be obtained by repenting and doing penance.

* In ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'', the [[OurElvesAreDifferent races of Mer (Elves)]], ''especially'' the Altmer (High Elves), believe this about the races of Men. They see Men as having [[WeAreAsMayflies pitifully short lives]] filled with [[HumansAreWarriors violence and savagery]] who disrupt everything the elves try to achieve. According to Altmeri religious beliefs, the creation of Mundus (the mortal world) was seen as an act of malevolence as it forced them to experience mortal suffering, loss, and death while removing their spirits from a place of pre-creation divinity. While most are content to toil in this mortal "prison" with "more limitations than not," some extremists, like the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Thalmor]], actively seek to ''[[OmnicidalManiac undo creation]]'' to return to that state of pre-creation divinity. However, they believe that not just the ''existence'' of mankind, but the existence of the ''possibility'' of mankind [[FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence keeps them trapped in Mundus]]. (According to their beliefs, mankind were made up from the "weakest souls" by the [[GodIsDead "dead" creator god Lorkhan]] to spread Sithis (chaos) "into every corner," ensuring that there could never again be the "stasis" of pre-creation.)

* In ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' this is by and large the belief of the monsters of the Underground, owing to a particularly nasty war between them and humans that ended in defeat and imprisonment for them. While monsters range from apathetic to curious to outright violent against humans, most hold onto the belief that humans are a right lousy sort and believe stealing the soul of the main character is either NecessarilyEvil or outright deserved karma. [[spoiler:Your actions in the game will result in anything from proving them right, to proving them wrong, and even showing yourself to be "something" worse than humans ''or'' monsters, but it's ultimately subverted in the GoldenEnding: monsters escape into the world and apparently have no problem integrating into the overworld and indulging in the comforts of human life, implying humans on the whole have accepted them]].

In essence, Humans Are Bastards is the reverse of RousseauWasRight -- the natural proclivity of humanity is towards [[ItsAllAboutMe selfishness]], [[BystanderSyndrome apathy]] and violence. Only a select few people manage to rise above their base nature to become something better, but the kernel of darkness is still InTheBlood. When Humans Are Bastards is in effect, even your "heroes" don't have clean hands, so most conflict is [[BlackAndGrayMorality gray against black]], with some [[GreyAndGrayMorality gray against gray]] or [[EvilVersusEvil black against black]] on for variety. Frequently used by [[OmnicidalManiac Omnicidal Maniacs]] as an argument in favor of a [[ApocalypseHow/Class3A Class 3a Apocalypse]].

* Downplayed, but present in ''LightNovel/TheFruitOfEvolution''. The general population is just trying to live their lives in peace. The leadership of the human empire, however, revels in it. Without exception, those in charge treat their underlings terribly. A lich, Xenos, had his maid and lover butchered because the human emperor was jealous of his talent and wealth, transforming him into a lich in the first place, against his will. Even in the present, the rest of Seichi's school was enslaved, and forced to go through TrainingFromHell to prepare for the next rising of the "Demon King" that the human empire antagonizes in the first place. The reason Seichi is not among them? The rest of the school bullied him horribly, for his body-type and odor, the second of which was beyond his control, and abandoned him, just before everyone was shipped off to this new "fantasy world" RPGMechanicsVerse by an admitted JerkassGod.

* Shirou Kotomine (rather, [[spoiler: Shirou Tokisada]]) of ''LightNovel/FateApocrypha'' believes that mankind is beyond regular salvation, and only a true miracle granted by the Holy Grail can save them. Of course his solution is to create a WorldOfSilence...

* ''Anime/CrossAnge'': When we first meet the Norma, they seem self-centered yet stable; yes, their 'perfect' utopia is marred by the constant and irrational prosecution of girls born with AntiMagic, but at least they're exceptionally nice and behaved to one another. But this unnatural state of affairs comes at the cost of burning exomatter energy at exorbitant rates, footing the bill to what are revealed to be extradimensional species and then slaughtering them when they protest. And when Norma civilization crumbles, the survivors turn into roving bandits, and the ''only'' source of any human virtue is [[HumansAreWarriors through pure violence]]. The point? Humans can be better - at the expense of ''everyone else'', meaning a human 'utopia' is a festering cancer upon the cosmos.

* Downplayed cruelly in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', As Springfield is a town full of mentally unstable and simpleminded assholes. As shown in "Homer's Enemy", no normal sane person like Frank Grimes can even survive there. And in "The Boys of Bummer" And if you lose a simple sport like Bart did in "The Boys of Bummer", [[UngratefulTownsfolk RUN!]] RUN FAST. RUN FAR. Be thankfull if you have mother like Marge who can [[ShamingTheMob shame those jerkasses ]] for their abuse and cruelty.

* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony,'' which is an actual reality show [[MetaSequel based off the now in-universe]] ''[[MetaSequel Danganronpa]]'' [[MetaSequel franchise]], and currently in its ''53rd season'' (or 50th, since it had to have started with ''Danganronpa 4'' at the earliest). The entire audience cares nothing about how everyone in the killing game felt, as they take pleasure in their misery.

* A common theme in Creator/ProjectMoon's works is that, unlike most other dystopian CrapsackWorld settings, nature isn't actively out to get people, but ''people'' are out to get each other. The worst mishaps that happen in the City are all humanitarian disasters, be it insane {{Megacorp}}s out to conduct horrific human experiments on innocent civilians or TheSyndicate going out for a slaughter for bizzare reasons, among other things.

* A common theme in Creator/ProjectMoon's works is that, unlike most other dystopian CrapsackWorld settings, nature isn't actively out to get people, but ''people'' are out to get each other. The worst mishaps that happen in the City are all humanitarian disasters, be it insane {{Megacorp}}s out to conduct horrific human experiments on innocent civilians, TheSyndicate going out for a slaughter for bizzare reasons, or the occasional grief-ridden man going on a murderous rampage or AxCrazy SerialKiller.

* In ''ComicBook/TheWalkingDead'', the worst threats to the survivors of the ZombieApocalypse are other survivors. Sometimes it's more HumansAreMorons.

* On the whole, ''Anime/TheAnimatrix: The Second Rennissance'' explains that the Machines were not so much trying to overthrow humanity but pushed to the brink by humanity's own callous and disregard for their right to be treated as equal. The endgame of reducing humans to living power sources that are trapped in a virtual simulation of life before the war is almost like a gesture of mercy given how unfairly and cruelly humans used the Machine race.

->''"See, their morals, their 'code'... it's a bad joke, dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I'll show ya. When the chips are down, these, uh, these 'civilized people', '''they'll eat each other'''."''

** In the reboot to ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'', [[spoiler:after discovering a near-unlimited source of magical energy, the human empire of Eternia ''attempted omnicide against the rest of the universe'' by using the energy as a superweapon because they considered other races a blight upon existence. It just goes to show that no level of energy production can stop humans from being assholes.]]

* In ''Literature/IBecameTheDemonLordSoICreatedADungeon'', the vast, vast majority of the human population are genocidal antagonists who exterminate whole races purely to either fatten their wallets, or to slake their lusts for power, wealth, or [[SexSlave pleasure.]]

* In ''LightNovel/IBecameTheDemonLordSoICreatedADungeon'', the vast, vast majority of the human population are genocidal antagonists who exterminate whole races purely to either fatten their wallets, or to slake their lusts for power, wealth, or [[SexSlave pleasure.]]

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': There's various examples of SCP objects who certainly think this is true, and the amount of SCP objects that were man-made certainly helps. However, one SCP object in particular plays around with this in an odd and certainly impressive way: [[spoiler:SCP-2000, the ResetButton cloning facility and cold data storage they have to "reset" human civilization in case of catastrophe. Where does this come into effect? They can edit the output, and the logs say no more attempts to tone down humanity's violent and sociopathic tendencies will be made. Why? They're already made two ''successful'' ones, and any more would just kill humanity's drive to fight for their right to live]].

* ''Manga/NingenFushinNoBoukenshatachiGaSekaiOSukuuYoudesu'': A translation of the manga's title is "Adventurers Who Don't Believe in Humanity Will Save the World" and "Humans are Bastards" is almost literally one of the first lines of the manga, with Nick and the his future teammates agreeing that humans are completely untrustworthy due to each of them having experienced profound betrayal by people they trusted. Ironically three of the team's members are human and shown to be good people, getting along well with each other... but not without setting a few ground rules ahead of time first.

* In ''Anime/SerendipityThePinkDragon'', humans are the main threat to the island (except Bobby).