Brainwashing for the Greater Good: Difference between revisions

Line 11:

Compare [[Heel Face Brainwashing]], and also see [[No Medication for Me]] for a trope that touches on the same ethical questions.

== Anime and Manga ==

Line 29:

* In the original run of Marvel's ''[[Squadron Supreme]]'', brainwashing villains and other criminals into becoming law-abiding citizens became part of their Utopian project. Unfortunately, this caused a rift in the group, and some of the rebelling heroes joined with villains, one of whom discovered how to reverse the process.

* One ''[[Flash Gordon (Comic Strip)|Flash Gordon]]'' story centered on a tank-sized ray that could turn entire crowds into happy, good-hearted pacifists. Ming the Merciless takes control of it and use it to subjugate the opposition, until the protagonists manage to turn it on him. Flash even remarks what a swell guy Ming is when he's not evil. Justified since the ray's effect is temporary, and the rebound causes a lot of trouble later on.

* [[Doctor Strange]] on occasion has used [[Laser Guided Amnesia]] to make villains forget the evil magic they have learned -- mostly for those who stumbled into it by accident and had no idea what they were doing.

* [[Doctor Strange]] on occasion has used [[Laser-Guided Amnesia]] to make villains forget the evil magic they have learned -- mostly for those who stumbled into it by accident and had no idea what they were doing.

Line 90:

* ''[[Starcraft]]'': Much of the Terran military is made up of 'resocialized' criminals. The training process of Ghosts involves this as well, though they aren't necessarily criminals; The program will take anyone with enough [[Psychic Powers|potential]]. One would hope this statistic doesn't apply to the higher command.

** Interestingly, Nova (one of the most powerful, if not THE most powerful, Terran psychics ever) actually ''chose'' to have her memory wiped, unable to cope with the memory of {{spoiler|her parents being murdered in front of her and living a year as a slave to a psychopath}}.

* In ''[[Megaman Battle Network]] 5'', {{spoiler|the antagonist Dr. Regal gets his memory erased and becomes a nice guy. No repercussions. Less of a [[What the Hell Hero]] since it was done by Wily not the heroes}}.

* In ''[[Megaman Battle Network]] 5'', {{spoiler|the antagonist Dr. Regal gets his memory erased and becomes a nice guy. No repercussions. Less of a [[What the Hell, Hero?]] since it was done by Wily not the heroes}}.

* In {{spoiler|Legion}}'s loyalty mission in ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', the heroes find out a way to turn the {{spoiler|Heretic}} [[Cyber Cyclops|Geth]] against the Reapers by introducing a computer virus into their network, essentially overwriting their thoughts. Given that the 'verse features several villains (including the Reapers) and [[Well Intentioned Extremist|Well Intentioned Extremists]] trying or succeeding in [[Not So Different|doing the same]] for their less-than-noble purposes, the parallels are made quite clear.

* In {{spoiler|Legion}}'s loyalty mission in ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', the heroes find out a way to turn the {{spoiler|Heretic}} [[Cyber Cyclops|Geth]] against the Reapers by introducing a computer virus into their network, essentially overwriting their thoughts. Given that the 'verse features several villains (including the Reapers) and [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Well Intentioned Extremists]] trying or succeeding in [[Not So Different|doing the same]] for their less-than-noble purposes, the parallels are made quite clear.

** Interestingly, this [[Grey and Gray Morality|isn't treated like the obvious good option]], with several characters pointing out that if you alter the geths' thoughts, you're still "killing" who they used to be. The alternative is to kill all those geth outright, but...it's still a strange moral issue.

** {{spoiler|Legion}} makes the point that the Geth are not a race of individuals like most other races, but a [[Hive Mind]] collective of inter-networked [[A Is]]. To equate their concept of morality- and attitude to the "brainwashing" option- to that of humanity is racist.

* In ''[[Xenosaga (Video Game)|Xenosaga]]'', criminal justice involves multiple levels "personality reconditioning." Albedo was sentenced to and underwent high level "personality reconditioning" twice--one that saw him stripped of human status and permanently assigned the status of a Realian--for two separate killing sprees.

* In the ''[[Dragon Age]]'' universe, mages can be made 'Tranquil', robbing them of the chaotic influence of ''emotions'' and thus rendering them [[Extreme Doormat|slavish]], [[The Spock|robotic]], [[Creepy Monotone|atonal]] and [[Empty Shell|altogether compliant]] to The Greater Good.

** Or for... [[He Knows Too Much|less]] [[And Your Little Dog Too|savory]] [[I Have You Now My Pretty|purposes]]. Really, how much the Rite of Tranquility falls under this trope depends on the morality of [[Reasonable Authority Figure|the people]] [[Knight Templar|using it]], and whether the mage in question was willing (or at least [[Shoot the Dog|beyond saving]]) [[A Fate Worse Than Death|or]] [[Mind Rape|not]]. The morality issue is brought up frequently, and the ritual remains ''extremely'' controversial, both in-universe [[Internet Backlash|and out]].

** Or for... [[He Knows Too Much|less]] [[And Your Little Dog, Too|savory]] [[I Have You Now, My Pretty|purposes]]. Really, how much the Rite of Tranquility falls under this trope depends on the morality of [[Reasonable Authority Figure|the people]] [[Knight Templar|using it]], and whether the mage in question was willing (or at least [[Shoot the Dog|beyond saving]]) [[A Fate Worse Than Death|or]] [[Mind Rape|not]]. The morality issue is brought up frequently, and the ritual remains ''extremely'' controversial, both in-universe [[Internet Backlash|and out]].

* [[Deconstructed Trope|Deconstructed]] in [[Strange Journey]]. When the [[Chaotic Evil]] members of [[Evil Counterpart|Jack's Crew]] leave the Red Sprite with little choice outside of [[Genocide Dilemma|kill or be killed]], [[Broken Bird|Zelenin]] tries to [[Take a Third Option]] by appealing to [[Light Is Not Good|the angel Mastema]] for help. He offers to [[One Winged Angel|turn her into an angel]] so her hymn can turn their hearts back to God. [[The Extremist Was Right|It worked]] [[Mind Rape|extremely]] [[Gone Horribly Right|well.]]

* [[Deconstructed Trope|Deconstructed]] in [[Strange Journey]]. When the [[Chaotic Evil]] members of [[Evil Counterpart|Jack's Crew]] leave the Red Sprite with little choice outside of [[Genocide Dilemma|kill or be killed]], [[Broken Bird|Zelenin]] tries to [[Take a Third Option]] by appealing to [[Light Is Not Good|the angel Mastema]] for help. He offers to [[One-Winged Angel|turn her into an angel]] so her hymn can turn their hearts back to God. [[The Extremist Was Right|It worked]] [[Mind Rape|extremely]] [[Gone Horribly Right|well.]]

** Later, a demon refuses to let you anywhere near Mother Maya unless you slaughter Jack's Crew. Zelenin offers to use her song to brainwash the demons as well. The problem here is that if you accept the demon's terms, you're killing people who can't really fight back... but the demons are survivors of Jack's Crew's [[Playing With Syringes|vicious experiments]], so they're kind of in the right. {{spoiler|The third option? Kill the demon who's sealed off the gateway, and ''only'' that demon.}}

** In the end, the fate of Jack Squad is only foreshadowing {{spoiler|the Law faction's true plans: should they have their way, they will end the [[Eternal Recurrence]] of the Schwarzwelt once and for all by having ''you'' kill its creator, Mother Mem Aleph, while ''they'' take over the Schwarzwelt to "eliminate" all unworthy humans and have the survivors brainwashed into the eternal, mindless, God-praising thrall of Zelenin's song. But hey, all the damage mankind has done to Mother Earth will heal, and nature will flourish once again, so that's a good thing, right?}}