History Main / SuddenPrincipledStand

Compare EveryoneHasStandards; EvenEvilHasStandards; NeutralNoLonger; NotWhatISignedOnFor; ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight; SpannerInTheWorks; RageBreakingPoint (where anger is handled this way). Contrast SlowlySlippingIntoEvil, of which this can be a [[DefiedTrope Defiance]].

* No one hears it, [[FightingFromTheInside and it had been building for some time,]] with some [[WouldntHurtAChild foreshadowing]] but it is still very jarring (in a good way) when the [[spoiler: the Winter Soldier]] flat out refuses to assassinate [[spoiler: Carol]] in ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm''.

* The Literature/VorkosiganSaga by LoisMcMasterBujold has several examples:
** In ''[[Literature/VorkosiganSaga Falling Free]]'', Bannerji doesn't refuse to fire at and destroy the ship that the Quaddies escape on per se, but he demands a [[BotheringByTheBook proper work order]], signed by the Hazardous Waste Management Officer, and with an Environmental Impact Assessment attached. This gives the ship time to escape.
** In ''[[Literature/VorkosiganSaga Shards of Honor]]'', when Sergeant Bothari refuses to rape [[spoiler: Cordelia]] as per Admiral Vorrutyer's orders.

* Phoebus against Frollo in ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'', as quoted above.

* In the opening of ''[[HeirsOfAlexandria The Shadow of the Lion]]'', Abbot Sachs has, with the help of several KnightTemplar, apprehended some children in a church, that he claims are enacting satanic rites. Erik reminds the knights that the kids are most likely innocent, have sanctuary in the church, and can only be removed by order of the parish priest. This sets up Erik as a moral center for the knights, and a conflict with the abbot.

* ''{{Deryni}} Checkmate'': The day after the Curia excommunicated Morgan and Duncan, its leaders, Archbishops Loris and Corrigan, tried to push through an Interdict on Morgan's duchy as well. The previously neutral Bishop Cardiel spoke against the measure, precipitating a schism within the Church. Cardiel argued that it was unjust to punish the people of Corwyn for the actions of its duke and left open the possibility that Morgan and Duncan were morally innocent. The conflict escalated as other bishops, including Arilan and Tolliver (Corwyn's bishop) joined in, accusing Loris of supporting a rebellion against the king and promoting genocide against the Deryni.

* A form of this occurs in ''TheWestWing''. In the 6th season, a conservative Senator is trying to attach a rider banning gay marriage to a budget bill. Toby is looking to rally support, and goes to the Vice President, Bob Russell, for a statement of support. Russell, who is widely regarded as an idiot, mildly corrupt, and a bit of an opportunist, surprises Toby by refusing. Russell states that he has a gay nephew, but is against gay marriage because "it could set back progress fifty years." [[spoiler: [[YouShouldKnowThisAlready Bartlet eventually convinces the Senator to drop the amendment on the budget bill.]]]]

->"''With all due respect, sir, I was not trained to murder the innocent.''"

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* During the weeks leading up to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Soviet government increasingly pressured East Germany to crack down on protests. Combining a harsh TakeThat against China with a thinly-veiled accusation that the Soviets were demanding a return to stooping to the repressiveness of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany, the premier of East Germany pointedly and quite angrily rebuked Moscow, "We '''refuse''' to implement The Chinese Solution" (referring to the Tiananmen Square Massacre), with wording that intentionally drew an '''explicit''' parallel to the Third Reich's escalation of repression from Kristallnacht into the eventual enactment of "The FinalSolution." The speech marked the beginning of the end for the Eastern Bloc.

* During the weeks leading up to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Soviet government increasingly pressured East Germany to crack down on protests. Combining a harsh TakeThat against China with thinly-veiled accusation that the Soviets were demanding a return to stooping to the repressiveness of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany, the premier of East Germany pointedly and quite angrily rebuked Moscow, "We '''refuse''' to implement The Chinese Solution" (referring to the Tiananmen Square Massacre), with wording that intentionally drew an '''explicit''' parallel to the Third Reich's escalation of repression from Kristallnacht into the eventual enactment of "The FinalSolution." The speech marked the beginning of the end for the Eastern Bloc.

* During the weeks leading up to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Soviet government increasingly pressured East Germany to crack down on protests. Combining a harsh TakeThat against China with thinly-veiled accusation that the Soviets were demanding a return to stooping to the repressiveness of UsefulNotes/NaziGermany, the premier of East Germany pointedly and quite angrily rebuked Moscow, "We '''refuse''' to implement The Chinese Solution" (referring to the Tiananmen Square Massacre), with wording that intentionally drew an '''explicit''' parallel to the third reich's escalation of repression from Kristallnacht into the eventual enactment of "The Final Solution." The speech marked the beginning of the end for the Eastern Bloc

** [[DoubleSubversion Except that's not the case.]] Psychologist Gina Perry's research into the experiment found that Milgram had heavily manipulated data. In truth, about two thirds of people involved refused to continue. [[RestoredMyFaithinHumanity Feel better?]]

* In the ''ComicBook/BlackOrchid'' miniseries by NeilGaiman, the second Black Orchid, after one of Lex Luthor's operatives, Sterling, tracks her down to the Brazilian rainforest, refuses his ultimatum to accompany him peacefully to Lexcorp for anatomical study. Sterling orders his two {{Mook}}s to kill her with herbicide. However, awed by her beauty and that of the surrounding ecosystem, they refuse ("I--we've killed for you before. It's what we do. But not her. Not here."), and he returns to Metropolis empty-handed. {{Foreshadow|ing}}ed in that one of the mooks, en route, discusses what he's read about the endangered Amazon rainforests.

-> ''With all due respect, sir, I was not trained to murder the innocent.''

* Sabretooth, in the AgeOfApocalypse, begins his gradual HeelFaceTurn when after leading Apocalypse's Horsemen to successfully seize the U.S.'s nuclear stockpile at Cape Citadel, he refuses to obey Apocalypse's order to nuke the rest of the world in order to induce a global winter so as to promote En Sabah Nur's goal of Survival of the Fittest. He was okay with grabbing control of the weapons but not with actually using them. His HeelFaceTurn ends when, years later, he finally refuses to massacre child survivors of Apocalypse's culling of U.S. cities (as their will to live reminded him of himself when he was their age), even going so far as to actually hide them from the rest of Apocalypse's forces. Deemed to have committed the ultimate crime by acting contrary to "Survival of the Fittest", he is then court-martialed and sentenced to life imprisonment. When he manages to break out, he's firmly established to now being on the side of good, or at least not on the side of evil anymore.

* During the weeks leading up to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Soviet government increasingly pressured East Germany to crack down on protests. Combining a harsh TakeThat against China with thinly-veiled accusation that the Soviets were demanding a return to stooping to the repressiveness of NaziGermany, the premier of East Germany pointedly and quite angrily rebuked Moscow, "We '''refuse''' to implement The Chinese Solution" (referring to the Tiananmen Square Massacre), with wording that intentionally drew an '''explicit''' parallel to the third reich's escalation of repression from Kristallnacht into the eventual enactment of "The Final Solution." The speech marked the beginning of the end for the Eastern Bloc

-> ''With all due respect, sir, I was not trained to murder the innocent.''
-->--'''Phoebus''', ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''

* Many Dutch student fraternities let their members go through two weeks of humiliation (Which often include humiliating tasks, getting shouted at by older members, excessive alcohol consumption and very little sleep) before they are a full member. Other fraternities dislike this practice, and don't have this kind of initiation rituals (or some much lesser form.) At least one fraternity puts an older member among the new members, and calls this 'mole' forward to be 'humiliated', until the new members invoke just this trope, at which point the masquerade is giving up, and everybody has a good laugh.

* Invoking this was part of the Milgram Experiment. By asking a volunteer to administer increasingly painful electric shocks to someone (an actor) on command by an authority figure. The researchers were trying to find out when people would stand up and say "no more" due to an attack of conscience. They estimated that no more than 3% would administer a 450V (likely fatal) shock. [[spoiler: In initial testing ''65%'' administered that level of electricity. The actor was supposed to stop responding after 300V. RealLife FridgeHorror NightmareFuel at its darkest.]]

Compare EveryoneHasStandards; EvenEvilHasStandards; NeutralNoLonger; NotWhatISignedOnFor; ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight; SpannerInTheWorks; RageBreakingPoint (where anger is handled this way). Contrast SlowlySlippingIntoEvil, of which this can be considered a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]].

Compare EveryoneHasStandards; EvenEvilHasStandards; NeutralNoLonger; NotWhatISignedOnFor; ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight; SpannerInTheWorks; RageBreakingPoint (where anger is handled this way).