Everyone Has Standards

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Whether someone is a villain, geek, jerk, pervert, etc. deviant from the customs of "normal" society -- one often finds those things that 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.

A Super-Trope to:

• Even Beggars Won't Choose It
• Even Evil Has Standards
• Even Nerds Have Standards
• Even the Rats Won't Touch It

Examples of Everyone Has Standards include:

Anime and Manga

• In Magi Labyrinth of Magic, Ka Kyoubun's attempt to make King Sinbad marry Princess Kyougoku, his superior, by making it look like King Sinbad had violated Princess Kyougoku fails because his henchmen, who he had promised promotion to, can't stand Princess Kyougoku crying.
• In Naruto, anyone who has ever met and spoken to Uchiha Madara pretty much hates his guts, barring his brother Izuna and his former best friend Hashirama. Not even Kurama can stand him, and considering the shit he's probably had to put up with over the last few centuries, that says a lot. The people that can stand him? Izuna's dead, and Hashirama became his mortal enemy the moment Madara decided to attack Konoha, the village they built together. It gets to the point that even his long-time accomplice Tobi/Obito Uchiha reveals he doesn't care for him all that much either.
• The Seven Deadly Sins: Ban wishes for immortality, but he isn't willing to destroy an entire forest full of sentient life in order to do so. Sure enough, he decides his lover Elaine is more important than being immortal.
• One Piece: Nami might be greedy, but she won’t sell out her comrades to the marines. Even if they do have bounties on their heads.

Comic Books

• Despite his wife, Wanda, marrying Terry Fitzgerald and welcoming a daughter, Cyan, Albert Francis "Al" Simmons a.k.a Spawn opts to leave her alone as he notices she had move on.

Film

• Batman and Harley Quinn sees a reformed (sort of) Harley living in a condemned building working as a waitress to get by; she is unable to get a better job because most companies that need her type of skills won't hire super-villains. Despite that, she has gotten quite a few offers from adult film producers, but she isn't that desperate for work.

Live-Action TV

• In Will and Grace, Lionel thinks Karen is a hooker when he first meets her:

Lionel: You don't have sex for money? Karen: No, I do not! For jewels, for furs, for mixed securities, like a lady! But for money? How dare you!

• Charlie from Two and A Half Men is a Casanova, but on one occasion, he almost slept with a woman who may be his half-sister. They didn't know then, and their mothers told them barely on time. Charlie's reaction was to say he draws the line at incest, but his possible half-sister's reaction...she was willing to continue.
• In Dexter, complete Jerkass Quinn shows up at a party thrown by his ex-girlfriend, Deborah, and he has some anonymous slutty girl with him. He acts drunk and stupid enough to annoy everyone at the party, but the slutty girl doesn't mind, until she finds out that she's only there to make Deborah jealous.
• The Mystery Science Theater 3000 crew watched but refused to riff on Child Bride as it was worse than Manos and the subject matter disgusted even them.

Music

• Eminem, despite his reputation for what is perceived by some as violent, sexist and homophobic lyrics, balks at the use of the N-word out of deference to his African-American contemporaries. While he did use the word in a song as a teenager, he has since regretted that phase and says, "It's just a word I don't feel comfortable with. It wouldn't sound right coming out of my mouth. If a white kid came up to me and said it, I probably would look at him funny. And if given the time to sit down with him I'd say, 'Look, just don't say the word. It's not meant to be used by us.'" He did however use the word in certain instances especially when given a pass by a black artist as part of a collaboration.

Newspaper Comics

• Garfield:
  • As shown in this strip, even the Internet has standards.
  • Like most cats, Garfield likes to hunt birds, but he was upset with Jon's family turning Nadie the chicken into soup. He considers pets as family.
• Calvin and Hobbes: While Calvin can indeed be self-centered, he and Hobbes draw the line at mocking those who are starving.

Tabletop Games

• Warhammer 40,000: The Imperium of Man is entirely willing to apply We Have Reserves and throw Imperial Guardsmen at a problem en masse, even to the point of having commissars conduct summary executions of cowards. That said, it considers the Death Korps of Krieg too zealous and eagerly self-sacrificial for its liking, and commissars assigned there are supposed to rein in their charges.

Video Games

• Bully: Though Jimmy isn’t averse to drawing graffiti, he is appalled by Gary Smith’s enjoyment of tormenting others, even before he discovers his intentions for the school.

Web Comics

• Schlock Mercenary: Tagon makes a big deal out of two recruits keeping their children on the ship, initially citing the logistical constraints of it, but mostly because, as amoral and greedy as he is, no paycheck is big enough for him to wilfully endanger children.

Web Original

• 90s Kid of Atop the Fourth Wall loves extreme things, but killing pregnant women is not extreme to him - in fact, one such scene in a comic leaves him depressed, and it took a Rob Liefeld comic to get him better.
• SF Debris was offended by a particularly sexist scene in a Star Trek: The Original Series episode, even though (as he subsequently mentions) he thinks porn should be on the food pyramid.
• One of the tentacle monsters in Ghastlys Ghastly Comic thinks it's wrong to sexually assault human women.
• When The Nostalgia Critic tried to review Sesame Street: Follow That Bird, but no matter how silly or dumb the movie was, Critic couldn't make himself do it.
• In Bum Reviews, Chester notes that even a bum wouldn't forget to put on a coat while hiking in the mountains, unlike Bella from Twilight.
• In The Dolan True Stories episode, OUR WEIRDEST PERSONAL SECRETS, Nixxiom, Lord of Darkness, explains how disturbing fan fictions were normal by his standards. One such fan-fiction involved Decapitation and have 'somethings actions' with the body.
• The warez scene may be thought of as a loosely-knit band of info-anarchists who mercilessly pillage and rip copyrighted works, but while that may hold true in some ways, they have drafted an elaborate set of standards with which all groups within the scene must adhere to following ratification, or else get their releases rejected (i.e. "nuked" in pirate parlance) and at worst ridiculed for whatever violation they may have committed. Things such as archive formats (ZIP, RAR...) the video codec and container used, bitrates and in the case of software, disk image formats and how the games are cracked are of utmost importance, and nuked releases are followed by a "proper" release which addresses any deficiencies an earlier release might have. The Scene has also expressed contempt for those leaking their warez to the internet-at-large in their NFO readme files, as they are, at least by principle, an underground community of hackers whose releases are mainly for internal consumption, and any Hells Angels-style open flaunting would attract unnecessary attention from law enforcement. There were even some groups who do not release any pirated works at all, but would act as "enforcers" to expose and oust any and all of those who leak warez releases to the public, mostly those who do it for profit. And as much as they hate complying with such guidelines, some torrent sites do accept DMCA claims and would comply to them when needed, likely to mitigate any legal repercussions.
• While arguments over the moral and ethical implications of pornography are a big YMMV, porn sites and those who are into it agree that there's a line to be drawn with things as abhorrent as child porn or bestiality. Sure, they don't mind hosting the usual smut like hardcore porn and fetishism, but hosting something that even most who are into adult stuff would find repulsive is too much and would inevitably get them into a lot of legal trouble. This led to initiatives within the adult entertainment industry to help stamp out underage pornography, as well as parental advisories on using filters such as Net Nanny to keep their kids from somehow stumbling upon content not meant for them. Such initiatives are nothing new though: the fallout from the Traci Lords underage pornography scandal prompted pornographers to be accountable for the models they hire lest be liable for trafficking CP, though at the same time the porn industry also established industry-wide lobby groups such as the Free Speech Coalition both to protect the adult film industry's interests and counter attempts by Moral Guardians to stifle artistic freedom.
• In Charlie the Unicorn, despite them tormenting him in all the episodes, Charlie genuinely sounds remorseful when it's revealed Blue and Pink are actually dead and are being puppeted by chaos spirits.
• The SCP Foundation may be willing to do things that most would consider monstrous in the name of securing and containing anomalies and protecting mankind, but it has an Ethics Committee, because there are still things it considers beyond the pale. Casual, pointless cruelty is one of them.

Western Animation

• While Glen Quagmire of Family Guy does a lot of perverted things, there are some lines he won't cross, like sleeping with Meg when she's desperate for affection.
  • Though in a more recent episode, she turned 18 (and thus became legal), at which point Quagmire immediately and shamelessly starts seducing her, and almost sleeps with her, before Peter and Lois stop it in time.
• In Phineas and Ferb, Perry the Platypus had thwarted many of Dr. Doofenshmirtz's Evil Plans, no matter how silly they would get. But when his scheme was learning whale speak, just so he could insult a whale for stealing his girlfriend, Perry left in disgust.
• Beavis and Butthead
  • Even the title characters have standards, Butthead can’t stand male nudity, especially if Beavis is naked.
  • David Van Driessen maybe a hippie, but you’re asking for trouble if he finds out about “inappropriate” touching.
  • Buzzcut may dish out abuse on the boys but it's okay if he’s is THE ONE dishing it out, anyone else… GAME OVER.
• Throughout the series of Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy, the kids of the cul-de-sac often had their issues with the title characters but they lived in fear of Eddy’s brother. At the film, when it was revealed that Eddy’s brother is abusive toward Eddy; the children including the Kanker Sisters were all disturbed at it.
• In the South Park episode "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson", a group of Rednecks wanted to kill Randy for using the “N” word on national television.
  • In "Eat, Pray, Queef", the male characters of the town are disgusted by women queefing. Yes, even Cartman is left horrified after Butters gets queefed on and tells off a lady to stop queefing.
  • Granted he's a Depraved Bisexual, but Mr. Garrison won't engage in pedophilia.
• In King of the Hill, even Conspiracy Theory-minded Dale has his limits. He's known to exhibit Papa Wolf traits Joseph, despite actually being his step-father, when Piggy is allowed to use paddling as a form of discipline. He also thinks Hank was going crazy for losing his faith in George W. Bush. Despite Nancy cheating on him with John Redcorn (resulting in Joseph), Dale won't cheat on her.
  • Despite being emotionally harsh when it comes to his parenting, even Hank doesn't like the idea of spanking kids. Instead, he rather give Bobby extra hard chores, like yard work, as a punishment as he considers it harsh enough. Of course, the exception being mowing the lawn, as he considers it a privilege.
• In Hey Arnold!, a sign of someone realizing they screwed up big time is when even Arnold loses faith in them.
• Arthur has Blinky showing his limits when it comes to bullying. If his victim shows signs of hurt or sadness, that's where Blinky stops. This was shown in "The Last Tough Customer" after Molly makes fun of George for his dyslexia, to the point of tears.
• The title character of Archer draws the line when it comes to underage women despite being a womanizer.
• Shaggy and Scooby are gluttons, but in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, even they're disgusted by Mr. O'Greazy's fast food and left Crusty Baker's restaurant because his cooking was so poor (he failed to boil pasta and used actual sticks for breadsticks).
• Total Drama:
  • Island (2007): Even Gwen (pre-character development) finds Noah's snarking annoying.
    • In the same episode, Heather (who has a similar attitude towards most things) also finds Noah's snarking insufferable. While she is an Alpha Bitch, she at least tries to win! She even agrees with Gwen when the team ditches him.
    • In That's Off the Chain, despite not seeming to like her, even Gwen seems to find Heather mistreating and lying about being Lindsay's friend to be an awful thing to do.
    • Duncan also agrees that's a cold to do. When Heather points out he's essentially been doing the same thing, he retorts that at least he's straight with people. This is proven wrong by World Tour, when he cheats on Courtney. But the point is still there.

Real Life

• If the numerous articles pertaining to them are to be believed, the Mid Night Club in Japan is respected and praised by the import tuner scene for its strict code of honour, and even the Japanese police were said to have expressed their grudging approval of their organisation. Despite being arguably illegal in nature with members driving their cars at almost 200 miles per hour, membership was strict and stringent and any attempts at impersonating the club were met with swift action. And safety was also paramount as any incident involving the club meant that they would be disbanded forever out of respect for the bystanders they hurt, which has said to have happened when an incident with the Bosozoku motorcycle gang culminated to a road accident. Their status as a secret society along with language and cultural barriers meant that there is at least some debate over the club's true nature however, with Wikipedia deleting their article for the Mid Night Club due to lack of reliable sources. Regardless, the club's (supposed) ethics became something of a legend amongst automotive enthusiasts.
• When Mac OS 8 was released, it was during the time when Apple was in dire straits. Even the warez scene sympathised with Apple by flat-out refusing to traffic the then-new OS, instead advising fellow pirates to buy it as Apple needed the money.
• Holocaust denial is seen by many as a vile and bigoted movement at the expense of Jewish people, and as such has been classified as a hate crime in most countries in Europe and especially in Israel (case in point Adolf Eichmann who was hunted down and tried by the Israeli government for his role in the Holocaust). It came to the point that those who deny that such atrocities took place have stooped to a new low when even former Auschwitz SS personnel themselves denounced said conspiracy theories, calling them "malevolent" or "in the wrong". Not that the former concentration camp personnel were by any means saints, but even they knew that such conspiracist mentality is denigrating and deceitful.
• As mentioned in the book Jacked: The Outlaw Story of GTA, the Houser brothers mulled about cancelling Grand Theft Auto III due to the September 11, 2001 attacks as they felt it was Too Soon to release a game taking place in a locale not unlike New York City which allowed players to freely maim and/or kill random civilians or police officers. Thankfully, Rockstar pushed through with the game, albeit with some cuts and changes made out of sensitivity. Not that the series wouldn't attract controversy for the rest of its existence, though.
• In 2012, Filipino boxer Johnriel Casimero fought against Argentinian boxer Luis Lazarte in the latter's home turf. The bout went on as planned but it eventually degenerated into chaos when the match turned in Casimero's favour, with Lazarte dishing out illegal moves in desperation. Being the Sore Loser that Luis was, he deliberately sparked a riot when the judge did not heed to his (unfair) demands and Casimero was proclaimed the winner. Casimero and his crew could have fought back at the irate crowds summoned by Luis and his camp purely out of self-defense, but he instead cowered and hid under the ring for about an hour, the reason being he took up boxing as sport and not to pick up fights randomly or out of anger.
• During the late 90s, Filipino-American graphic designer Dino Ignacio created "Bert is Evil", a parody website where Dino and numerous other collaborators uploaded edited photos of the Sesame Street character Bert who was juxtaposed onto notorious figures such as Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong-il, Robert Mugabe, and Osama bin Laden, as well as being present at events, such as the JFK assassination, humorously suggesting that Bert was far from an innocent children's character. While the site (and its mirrors, as the site's popularity made it more expensive for Ignacio to continue hosting it on his own) became a source of cheap laughs as an early viral hit prior to the rise of social networking and omnipresent New Media platforms, things took a decidedly serious turn soon after 9/11, when an undoctored Reuters photograph was published showing a pro-bin Laden poster at a protest rally in Bangladesh with the Bert/bin Laden edit incorporated on said poster. The Sesame Workshop took notice and threatened legal action against Ignacio, who voluntarily took down the Bert section of his website as he felt that "this has gotten too close to reality" and he did not want to further smear Bert in the eyes of children especially in light of the September 11 attacks.
• When transgender actress and rights activist Alexis Arquette died from AIDS-related complications, a former lover of hers tried to cynically cash in on her death by selling a sex tape involving Arquette. Prominent porn site xHamster stepped in and acquired the tape, but rather than just profit from it, they instead destroyed all copies of the tape and gave Arquette's ex-boyfriend a statement telling how much of a stupid bastard he is, stating: "Ms. Arquette was an icon and activist in the trans community and we could not see someone smear her memory the way the selling party was trying to do. We acquired the tape and subsequently destroyed all copies of it. We hope people will remember Ms. Arquette for the activist that she was and that her memory will continue to live on."