Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids

""I'm thirty. I'm five years too old to lie to myself and call it honor.""

- Nick Carraway, The Great Gatsby

""Innocence is chrysalis, a phase designed to end. Only when we are free from it do we know ourselves. My survival, my joy, are all that matter. I indulge. Nothing else exists.""

- Eleanor Lamb, Bioshock 2

When a character (primarily in dramas) is asked to go beyond their job and help with "a cause", the character sometimes refuses, and afterwards the other person asks, "What's happened to you?" or "Since when did you stop caring?" the answer sometimes comes down to the character saying, "I grew up," implying that the character "grew" from a Wide-Eyed Idealist to an embittered pessimist. It's also often used by the Anti-Hero or Nietzsche Wannabe to sneer at the idealistic methods and beliefs of the Ideal Hero and his ilk; such naive and childish wishful thinking has no place in the grown-up, random, cynical world that the Anti Hero lives in. Alternatively, a Retired Badass might have genuinely gotten too old or set in retirement to do what's being asked of them.

Considering that many shows and media that are on the idealistic end of the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism or are just plain Lighter and Softer are primarily targeted towards children and teenagers, while cynical media are often targeted to adults or attract controversy from Moral Guardians, there can often be a tendency, especially among more cynical people, to associate idealism with childish or naive thinking, something to outgrow, rather than an actual, legitimate, motivating philosophy that adults can also make use of.

Sometimes the result of the character crossing the Despair Event Horizon. The Sour Supporter often expresses it, especially in the face of Least Is First. May be accompanied by a warning that Hope Is Scary. Subtrope of Jade-Colored Glasses. See also Silly Rabbit, Romance Is for Kids. Could also overlap with Obstructive Bureaucrat, and Noble Bigot with a Badge.

Expect this phrase to be uttered in World Half Empty settings and Real Life.

Contrast Good Is Old-Fashioned, where idealism is regarded as only for the children's grandparents. The intent is much the same: To imply that the good/idealistic person is unfamiliar with the here and now. The character may say that what they are dealing with is Above Good and Evil, and the idealistic character should not drag in such childish morality.

It's not all one-way, however; the idealist may fire a few shots back in return. The cynic may be dismissed as a 'sell-out' who gave up on doing the right thing for their own selfish gain. For instance certain characters just aren't willing to jeopardize their careers, and livelihoods just to change the status quo (Cynically this could be Truth in Television depending on how cynical, or "realist" one is). Or maybe he'll even be called a 'coward' and a weakling who gave up the good fight because he found it too hard and instead resigns oneself in wangsting about bad things. For those kinds of call-outs, see Silly Rabbit Cynicism Is for Losers. Of course, a true cynic would also be cynical about their cynicism.

Compare and contrast Knight in Sour Armor, who still hold ideals, just not as idealists. A converted holder of Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids views may turn into a Knight in Sour Armour, keeping to the appearance of cynicism while reluctantly pursuing idealistic goals.

A direct antithesis of Good Is Not Dumb.

Anime & Manga

 * Partially due to his Heroic BSOD in Season 3, Judai in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX developed a "Stop Having Fun!" Guys mentality towards Duel Monsters during his journey into adulthood between Seasons 3 and 4, effectively losing the optimism that he had for two and a half seasons.
 * Oddly enough, before that he was big on 'It's a game, have fun!' Pretty big turn around.
 * Subverted in Rurouni Kenshin. When the villains try to Break the Cutie Kaoru by saying that martial arts are for killing, the titular protagonist agrees.. but also says that he prefers the idealism over the truth.
 * Used in Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei the first time Itoshiki Nozomu teaches the class.
 * To expand on it, Nozomu tells his class to write down their "Despairs for the future", essentially the students writing down their "Hopes for the future", what they are aiming at becoming, which Nozomu shoots down by saying "It's hopeless", and then giving them a Hannibal Lecture on their unrealistic goals... And then Fuura Kafuka shoots HIM down simply by stating that no matter how unrealistic your goal is, as long as you do your best to achieve it "the possibility exists" that you'll succeed.
 * In the Fullmetal Alchemist manga both Miles and another Briggs soldier mention this, as when they were Ed's age they thought they could get through life without killing anyone either.
 * The Token Mini-Moe in Heat Guy J gets in an argument with a Defective Detective, when he tells her that money isn't everything. In her world, where she and her mother barely have what they need to survive, money is everything, and she has become jaded. She tells him that believing in ideals like "money can't bring happiness" is all a fantasy.
 * Monster: Johan, the series's resident Complete Monster seems to be trying to teach this to Tenma, and toward the end says "The only thing humans are equal in... is death."
 * This trope is inverted in Black Lagoon when Takenaka, a Terrorist Without A Cause, attempts to interrogate Rock into giving up some info by convincing him that they're Not So Different. Rock refuses, and asks Takenaka why he keeps fighting for a cause he's already lost. Takenaka explains that he's long since lost any ideals about being able to do anything constructive with his actions, but "keeps preaching" because it's the only thing he finds meaning in doing.
 * Used in Tiger and Bunny to highlight the duality between Kotetsu and his partner Barnaby. Barnaby, a Punch Clock Hero who views superheroics as "just another job", finds Kotetsu's still-intact idealism and aspirations towards being The Cape (trope) to be childish and naive. The twist is that Kotetsu is at least ten years older than Barnaby, and seems to be holding on to the virtues of "the good old days" in an era where superheroes have become marketing mascots.
 * As the series progresses and he starts to rub off on Barnaby, the focus of the trope shifts from the two of them to Kotetsu and Lunatic, a Vigilante Man whose sense of justice involves burning criminals alive.
 * In his case, it turns out his mindset is based on
 * In One Piece, when the Sun Pirates helps a young human girl (whom they had grown to cherish) return to her village, Arlong is quick to ruin their mood by stating that Koala will grow up to hate fishmen like any other human.
 * In his case, it turns out his mindset is based on
 * In One Piece, when the Sun Pirates helps a young human girl (whom they had grown to cherish) return to her village, Arlong is quick to ruin their mood by stating that Koala will grow up to hate fishmen like any other human.

Comic Books

 * In DC Comics, Superman once battled the Elite (a pastiche of The Authority) a pack of super-anti-heroes who routinely killed. It was the Elite's point-of-view that Superman's boy-scout kid-gloves morality was a weakness, and that defeating evil required being just as bad. During their final face-off, Superman appeared to be going all-out, slaughtering his way through the Elite on live TV. But it was a fake-out - he was merely knocking them out in creative ways, trying to illustrate how terrifying superpowered killers can be. Manchester Black, the leader of the Elite, maintained that Superman's idealism was nothing but a facade until his dying day. (When Black realized that Superman honestly and sincerely believed and lived up to his ideals, it was more than Black could take and committed suicide.)
 * In fact, the very idea of idealism apparently screwed Black up so much that he eventually came back and tried to destroy the entire world to ultimately prove his point, in a large-scale prequel to the Joker's attempted demonstrations in The Dark Knight. Except with more Humans Are Bastards and You Suck thrown in. In the DC Universe, enough cynicism apparently leads to evil on an epic scale.
 * In one of Marvel Comic's Thunderbolts mini-series, Baron Zemo accidentally goes back in time and encounters many of his ancestors via time-jumps, one of whom is in young love with a lady that history says he's not destined to marry. Zemo tells them to their faces that they can dream because they are young, and that the harshness of reality will eventually make them adults.
 * Of course he was right all along. He knew he would marry another after all.
 * Gemini Storm's Elizabeth Rose is very negative, to the point of berating her male companion when he yells at her for killing one of the monsters trying to kill them both.
 * Speedball's evolution into Penance. This trope plus a dump truck full of Wangst. He had Amnesia at the time. He knew that he used to be a hero and that he'd done something bad, he just didn't know who or what.
 * The Comedian's speech at the "Crime Busters" meeting in Watchmen.

Film
"Dutch: What happened to you, Dillon? You used to be someone I could trust. Dillon: I woke up. Why don't you? You're an asset. An expendable asset. And I used you to get the job done."
 * The entire movie Training Day is about this trope.
 * Jackie, the ex-wife of Detective Mercer from the film The Brave One. Detective Mercer asks Jackie for help and she replies, "I can't help. Besides, I don't do 'pro bono." When Mercer asks why, she responds, "I grew up."
 * The hero of Dragonheart starts off as this, a cold hearted mercenary who was soured by trying to instruct a king in the old code, the code of honour of the kingdom, who grew up heartless anyway. He later becomes something of a Knight in Sour Armour.
 * In the Lou Diamond Phillips film Extreme Justice, a lot of the Powers That Be appear to be this way when dealing with Knight Templar cops. Mostly due to the fact they think the ends justify the means, and the lower level power's that be are largely useless due to being in fear of losing their jobs and pensions. And Lou Diamond Phillips' character is mostly seen as naive by his co-workers because he's trying to expose the corruption that people seem to passively aggressively support.
 * Predator. Dutch finds his special forces team has been duped by CIA agent Dillon.


 * The Mark Wahlberg film Shooter turns into this trope towards the end of the film as the protagonist tries to bring down a corrupt senator, a colonel, and a group of Private Military Contractors. Of course, his Exact Words are...

"Luke: So, you got your reward and you're leaving? Is that it? Han: Well, when you say it that way, I sound like a douche. But yeah, that's what I'm doing."
 * So Swagger
 * In a Deleted Scene from the fourth Harry Potter film, Moody tells Harry after the Second Task that "if you want to play the hero, I can find you plenty of playmates among the first years."
 * Watchmen (also in the comic), tells Nite Owl to grow up and adapt, as the new world has no place for silly old-fashioned heroics.
 * This is Somerset's attitude towards Mills in Se7en. Somerset's years as a cop have left him disillusioned, jaded, and borderline misanthropic. He scoffs at the younger man's more optimistic outlook on life, at one point even chastising him by saying "You can't be this naive!"
 * Star Wars has this late on; Han gets Luke to his destination (as per their deal), goes on a massive detour to save a princess and adds the Empire to the list of people who want him dead, only to be met with criticism from the naive teenager who owes him for wanting to leave after earning his reward. Averted when the Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism tipples ever so slightly towards idealism when The Power of Friendship means that the good guys win.
 * Lampshaded in Blue Harvest:


 * In The Dark Knight, the entire film is essentially a battle of ideologies between Batman and The Joker, with the Joker trying to prove to Batman that deep down, everyone is just as evil as he is.

Literature
""Can you imagine the damage it would have done to the administration's political capital? We're talking about an election year, and a damn hard, uphill fight. ... Oh, c'mon. Can you ever 'solve' poverty? Can you ever 'solve' crime? Can you ever 'solve' disease, unemployment, war, or any other societal herpes? Hell no. All you can ever hope for is to make them manageable enough to allow people to get on with their lives. That's not cynicism, that's maturity.""
 * In World War Z, this is the viewpoint of many Jerk Asses in such interviews as the one with former White House chief of staff Grover Carlson. Asked about the response of the White House to reports of the walking dead, Carlson claims it was above and beyond, and brags that Phalanx, a supposed anti-zombie drug, was pushed through the Food and Drug Administration. When the Narrator points out that Phalanx didn't work, Carlson explodes and launches into a tirade that what mattered was that a panic had been avoided, ultimately telling the interviewer to "grow up":

""Honor and courage aren't what matters, not in real war. What matters is whether you win. After you win, then you start talking about honor and courage. When you're in battle, you do what you have to do. Honor and courage and all that? Those are the words you say after you've killed all your enemies.""
 * Given that this guy was personally responsible for a number of the dumbass decisions that led the world to ruin, he should feel lucky that his punishment is simply collecting manure for a biodiesel plant. Of course, his viewpoint is that his decisions kept society going long enough for the Redekker Plan to be enacted, therefore making him one of the world's unsung saviors. The reader is left hanging as to this.
 * Theo Bell has this exchange with in a Vampire: The Masquerade spinoff novel,.
 * The Decembrist uprising of 1825 is described in such terms for all of Russian high society in The Death of the Vazir Mukhtar; while "the people of the [eighteen] twenties" are generally idealistic if superfluous, impractical and hypocritical, the people who replace them at the forefront of high society after the failure of the Decembrist uprising are more pragmatic, materialistic and outwardly conformist (notably, both sides can be pretty cynical or the opposite regardless of this divide, just in different ways). And then there is the main character, Aleksandr Griboyedov, who is stuck awkwardly between the two groups and is very cynical and contemptuous towards both.
 * Animorphs. Jake's brother Tom (who is actually controlled by an alien Yeerk slug) sums the trope up when talking about morality in war:

"It is painful to a man of experience to see you young fellows of such great promise come up and 'kick' yourself half to death 'against the pricks' of established business, parties, and customs, but half of you do it. In the end all of you come limping in, poor, disheartened, defeated, and then swing to the other extreme, by being so willing for a change you'll take almost anything, and so the dirty jobs naturally fall to you."
 * In James Stoddard's The High House, Murmur rebukes Duskin for wanting to join in the defense of the house; his father would have, but that was idealism of youth, which he never outgrew.
 * A Song of Ice and Fire seems to run on this trope.
 * In Gene Stratton Porter's Michael O'Halloran, when Douglas rejects an offical position, he gets this.

Live Action TV
"Amy: I grew up. The Doctor: (confidently) Don't worry. I'll soon fix that."
 * When Sasha Monroe from Third Watch points out Tyrone Davis Jr's shady police tactics and how it contributes to innocent black men going to jail, he put his hand up to her face and says "Don't preach to me."
 * Interestingly enough, Ty refused to believe his father was corrupt, yet he's going down the same slippery slope.
 * Tess Mercer from Smallville gives Oliver Queen the whole "I grew up" line.
 * Although this can be described as Silly Rabbit, Romance Is for Kids.
 * A bit of both; she also uses it as an explanation of how she went from an environmentally crusading marine biologist to the head of Luthorcorp.
 * Amy Pond in the new series of Doctor Who met the Doctor when she was a kid and wanted to travel with him but circumstances delayed him until she'd grown up, where she justifies her (not entirely unjustified) skepticism of him and his claims with this trope. Being the Doctor, however, he has the perfect comeback:


 * Ned in Pushing Daisies gives "I grew up" as the answer to why he no longer likes Halloween. He's lying, though.
 * Miss Parker from The Pretender, complete with the obligatory "What happened to you?" "I grew up" conversation in the first episode.
 * Law and Order loves to rub the viewers' face into the political version of this trope. Then there's Abbie Carmichael who is this trope personified.
 * When Captain Archer returned to Earth after the events of Season 3, where he carried a team of Space Marines, resorted to piracy, killed unarmed aliens manning a listening post, lost several crew members, and went back in time, he has taken this attitude. The other members of Earth's Starfleet, who are bursting with Roddenberrian enthusiasm for space travel, are deeply concerned as he talks about the importance of better arming ships and warfighting over exploring. They are convinced he's simply cynical, but he can't help but think that being more cynical may have saved some of his crew.
 * Though this can seem less idealistic and more stupid on the part of Starfleet. After all, they just stopped an alien race from, and another one from  , and they have met a lot of species that proved to be rather hostile. I think that this proves that not all aliens are goody-goody peace, freedom and apple pie loving explorers, and that there are more that enough dangers that they need to be able to defend themselves from, and to defend Earth from, since they are the only ones with the capability to do so (unless you want to rely on the Vulcans.)
 * Game of Thrones hands down.

Music
"I believe I've passed the age Of consciousness and righteous rage I found that just surviving Was a noble fight..."
 * Music example, slightly inverted: In his song "My Back Pages", Bob Dylan describes his angry-young-man cynicism of a few years earlier, and its gradual evolution into pragmatism, with the memorable (and confusing) chorus "I was so much older then / I'm younger than that now."
 * Similarly, Billy Joel in "Angry Young Man":

"Cuz no one wants to know the man who stands for things we outgrow He’s too noble and too blind We’re all older now and we don’t need someone to care about The innocence we left behind…"
 * Happened with pseudo-anarchist folk/punk band Levellers. Their early albums were all 'times are tough but if we work together we can get past Thatcher and have a time of peace and joy and happiness'. Now, twenty or so years later their songs seem to mostly be about how the world sucks and we're all screwed.
 * Green Day has at least two songs directly dealing with or referencing this, Emenius Sleepus and The Grouch. The former is about a friend who underwent the process, the latter, the narrator.
 * The Jam in "Burning Sky", though that was meant to be from the viewpoint of a character who'd embraced the capitalist system.
 * Both played straight and subverted with Avril Lavigne. Her first album, made when she was just a teenager, was a poppy, punky teen fest, and Sk8er Boi became a hit song among preteens. Two years later and she abandoned the "immaturity" for wagnst and cynicism. Three years after that, and she's a teenager again! But now, she's put out a soft rock/acoustic album, making this a Zig Zagged Trope.
 * In I Fight Dragon's 'No One Likes Superman Anymore':


 * Supertramp's "Dreamer".

Theatre

 * From Rent: "What happened to Benny? What happened to his heart, and the ideals he once pursued?"
 * Jean Anouilh's version of Antigone is a rare example of this being taken seriously as opposed to being scoffed at or framed as rationalization. The play is concerned with Antigone's willingness to die as a punishment for trying to ensure that one of her brothers gets a proper burial, which itself is a manifestation of her ideological opposition to Creon, the pragmatic ruler that's replaced her father. Her willingness to die for her principles is framed more as a symptom of youth. She can't appreciate how destructive and foolish dying for her cause might be and so winds up ruining the lives of everyone she loves and not accomplishing anything other than ideological purity. Anouilh regards her youthful lack of perspective as her hamartia.
 * In Vanities, Kathy learns the hard way, after losing her boyfriend and her nervous breakdown, that her idea of "an organized life" doesn't work well in adulthood. Then the cast as a whole finds out that their friendship "isn't what it used to be".
 * Cyrano De Bergerac: At Act II Scene VII, De Guiche offers us a more sophisticated examples than most, when he counsels Cyrano to study Don Quixote’s chapter of the windmills... implying that Cyrano too will be betrayed by his own idealism.

Video Games
"Jak: I've found out who my real friends are.
 * In Live a Live, the former hero Hash has this attitude; he despises people in general for forgetting him after he saved the day, and considers idealistic heroes to be stupid. He recants his position at the end, though, and tells  to keep fighting so long as any one person believes in him.
 * In Deus Ex, two semi-major supporting characters are idealistic teenage members of La Résistance helping you battle the Ancient Conspiracy. By Deus Ex Invisible War, long after their first plans have failed, they have grown up and become the cold-blooded, manipulative dictators of Earth and the new leaders of the Ancient Conspiracy, claiming that they did what they had to do to preserve human society.
 * Also worth noting is that Nicolette and Chad were really only fighting against Majestic-12, NOT The Illuminati as a whole, so they didn't go on to join the same group they were originally fighting (and their expressed goals didn't change as much as their methods did). If you speak to Nicolette enough in the original game, it becomes obvious that she's not entirely innocent even then (and that she sees her alliance with Chad and Silhouette through very cynical eyes - considering their value as a tool of the Illuminati just like her mother did). Chad, however, may have started out more idealistic, and does give a "I can't believe I was that naive" speech in the second game.
 * Fate/stay night's Archer is a very literal example. He is, literally,
 * Not really. The problem is that he tried to do so, resulting in him ending up.
 * Then there's the fact that the people he gave everything to save ended up betraying him and executing him as scapegoat for their own convenience. He claims to mostly got over it, or accepted it to begin with, but it still played a factor.
 * From Jak X:
 * From Jak X:

G.T. Blitz: Oh please, the BS meter is really pegging now!"

"Roy: "Drugs are prohibited. Doesn't mean people don't want to take them. Limiting supply doesn't mean that we have limited demand." Cole: "I understand that. I know that the average joe needs to unwind a little, let his hair down at the end of the week. But morphine? Heroin?" Roy: "It's important to demonize hop, Phelps. Looks good in the papers. But when all's said and done, it's just another chemical like booze. A lot of people in high places think we are doing the city a favor by keeping the dope rolling into Central Avenue. Donelly certainly believes we need to keep them anesthetized." Cole: "Better jobs and opportunities would go a lot further." Roy: "Will you listen to yourself?""
 * In Devil Survivor, Keisuke winds up playing reluctant mentor to Midori; she refuses to listen to his warnings partly because he feels this way. Over time, he grows more desperate to convince her and more cynical, until
 * Completely inverted in Final Fantasy VIII. Squall starts off believing that his own cynical, antisocial viewpoints are the correct ones, but as the game progresses and Rinoa and the friends he makes help him both emotionally mature and deal with his mental trauma, he becomes more idealistic.
 * This article concerning The Legend of Zelda claims that, since Twilight Princess went with a realistic art style, Nintendo ought to have made Link more "realistic," namely, by turning him into an antihero. The author's argument hinges in large part on his assertion that people were "very disappointed" with Twilight Princess because the realistic art style supposedly ought to have been paired with a non-idealistic hero. The article became Hilarious in Hindsight because, a mere three days later, Skyward Sword was revealed with an art style that was decidedly less realistic than the one in Twilight Princess, with a Link who is just as much of a normal hero as both the one in Twilight Princess and every other Link.
 * In LA Noire, veteran Vice Detective Roy Earle says this to Cole Phelps when they discuss the crack down (or lack thereof) on illegal narcotics in the city.

"Protagonist: What could the teyrn hope to gain by betraying the king? Alistair: The throne? He's the queen's father. Still, I can't see how he'll get away with murder. Flemeth: You speak as if he would be the first king to gain his throne that way. Grow up, boy."
 * Subverted in Backyard Sports with pretty much every character in there. They may have grown up, but, fortunately they're just as happy as they were when they were younger kids (maybe even more.)
 * This exchange in Dragon Age: Origins.

"Cecil: Did Firion give you his answer? Cloud: Yeah. He says he has a dream...and that he'll keep fighting to make it come true. Cecil: Sounds like Firion, sure enough. Cloud: He told you? Cecil: Yes, although he was embarrassed at first. He said he wants to create a world where flowers grow in perpetual peace. Cloud: Sounds so...childlike. Cecil: Honest men have honest dreams."
 * In God of War III, Kratos has such an exchange with Pandora, telling her hope is for fools. She responds with a plea that hope gives people strength.
 * This little exchange in Dissidia Final Fantasy between Cloud and Cecil in regards to Firion's dream of an ideal world.


 * Keeper, the boss of the Imperial Agent class in Star Wars: The Old Republic takes this attitude to Agents who make too many Light Side choices. Not so much that he disapproves in principle, but that he fears that idealism will cause the agent to burn-out.
 * Cyrus tells the hero/ine of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl that things like friendship, compassion, and love are just illusions people use to block out the horrible reality of their suffering. He then comments on the hero/ine drawing strength from their compassion.

Webcomics

 * Subverted in a It's Walky strip, in which Anti-Hero Knight Templar Sal, who is attempting to destroy every alien abductee in the United States (and, by extension, the entire continent itself) tells Joyce, the quirky, innocent goofy girl trying to stop her, that she's just a naive, deluded little girl. Joyce shoots back that Sal is the 'little girl'; Joyce has been through as many difficult and painful moments in her life as Sal has, but has matured enough to be able to cope with them without letting them poison her essential goodness and optimism, whereas Sal has been weak enough to let them corrupt her, and her reaction is the world-destroying equivalent of a childish attention-seeking temper tantrum. Sal has no comeback to that, and later events in the strip prove Joyce to be correct.
 * Of course, Sal could've easily countered that with "Tell that to Anti-Joyce."
 * Although given that that happened well before the storyline in question, surely that (and the mindset that led to it) would be one of the things that Joyce had difficultly and painfully moved on from?
 * Girl Genius: Remember when we had that youthful zeal?
 * In Sinfest, Silly fundie, God is for kids!

Western Animation

 * Grandad from The Boondocks shows heavy shades of this.
 * Likewise Huey suffers a heavy case of cynicism towards society while Riley is too ignorant to care. In the comic strip, he had Cesar, who was similar to Huey but lacked his extremely jaded ideas. And MacGruder to make the comic even more cynical has Cesar moving away to deliver the final coup de grace.
 * When part of the Justice League is turned into children in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Kid Stuff", most of them enjoy it. Green Lantern's having fun conjuring up things, Wonder Woman's having a girly crush on Batman, and Superman's being a bit goofy. Only Batman remains focused and serious, barely changed, and he's the one who eventually wins. When they return to normal, Wonder Woman comments that it was kind of fun being a kid again. Batman responds "I haven't been a kid since I was eight years old".
 * That's an unfortunate bit of Truth in Television. People who lost a parent to death when they were children often describe it, as adults, as "My childhood ended then." This reaction seems to be most pronounced when the child was between about 7 and 12 when the parent dies.
 * Resident Emo Teen Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender believes that Aang's ideas about peace, pacifism and forgiveness are childish

Real Life

 * In American politics, supporters of third-party candidates aren't congratulated for participating in the democratic system and standing up for what they believe in. Instead, supporters of Bob Barr, Ron Paul, Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney and like candidates are often demonized by moderates on their side of the aisle and belittled by the media, with the justification that "compromise is better than idealism."
 * This being a classic real-world example of why the gap between idealism and cynicism is actually a grey area in which a lot depends on the outcome. A third-party movement that succeeds can be an improvement on either party, at least in potential, from the POV of the third-party voters. But if not enough people join in the net result is often to bring about victory for precisely the party that the third-party voters would consider the worse option. Republicans still seethe about conservatives who voted for Perot and effectively elected Clinton, and Democrats often say that the green in 'green party' stands for Get Republicans Elected Every November. Hence, third parties these days tend to be in favor of things like approval voting.
 * The mathematics work out this way because American elections work on the basis of a simple plurality. So if 3% of the voters vote for whom they perceive to be the best party while 48% vote for the second-best and 49% vote for the worst (again, labels are as perceived by the 3% and maybe part of the 48%), well, Nice Job Breaking It, Hero.
 * The trick here is that altering the election system would require the co-operation of the party or parties in charge, and it's always in their best interest to keep third-parties as shutout as possible.
 * The very fact that the Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism was once called the Sliding Scale of Idealism Vs Realism illustrates this trope well.
 * In International Relations theory, the two biggest (though by no means only) schools of thought are usually referred to as Liberalism, which believes that countries can work together and that co-operation either is or should be a priority for countries in almost all circumstances and is mutually beneficial for all concerned; and Realism, which is a rather more cynical take on things that suggests all countries are/should be out for themselves at all times, are mutually hostile, and often are barely restrained from outright conflict at all times. Although realists were the ones who chose the label, so the choice was probably made with this trope in mind to suggest maturity and to downplay the 'silly' or 'naive' idealism of others.
 * And in the middle we have the Rationalist school, which accepts some elements of both theories.
 * A political cartoon in 2008 accused John McCain of pandering to the right wing in his Republican Presidential nomination campaign with his much less moderate views than he had promoted in his 2000 campaign. When asked what happened to the "Straight-Talk Express" McCain of 2000, the cartoon version of him replied, "He lost."
 * More than one Green Party has been torn between those who want policies that completely minimise our carbon footprint and those who want a chance at actually getting power to implement the lightest of said policies. Usually, the extremists have to break off and form a pressure group.