Humanity Is Insane: Difference between revisions
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A thread sometimes seen in Sci-fi, is that humans - all of us - are several cans short of a six pack. It could be the emotional drive that overrides [[Straw Vulcan|logic]], or more of a "[[What the Hell, Hero?|What were they thinking]]" when aliens watch us go about our day, but when looked at compared to all the races in space, Humanity is bonkers. This can be to our advantage, as a sane race would never even consider trying to sneak into the fortress dressed up as pizza delivery men. What really drives other races crazy is that [[Crazy Enough to Work|it sometimes works]].
This also makes it very difficult for Humans to be mind-controlled, for as soon as the [[Puppeteer Parasite
Of course, [[Starfish Aliens|other species might seem just as insane to humans.]]
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* ''[[The Killing Joke]]'':
{{quote|'''[[The Joker]]:''' Faced with the inescapable fact that human existence is mad, random and pointless, one in eight of them crack up and go stark slavering buggo! Who can blame them? In a world as psychotic as this... any other response would be ''crazy!''}}
** Several of the Joker's more notorious schemes are attempts to prove this is true to everybody
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== Literature ==
* [[Values Dissonance]] can leave modern readers with the interpretation that it is the ''humans'' portrayed in the works of [[H.P. Lovecraft]] who are insane, being so fixated on a ridiculously dull, narrow-minded view of the universe that any exposure to the fact that they ''don't'' know everything there is to know about the universe and/or are not inherently gifted above even other branches of the human race causes them to end up going mad.
** This is particularly noticable when one compares straight up Lovecraft-authored protagonists to those of more "[[Sword and Sorcery]] branches" of the [[Cthulhu Mythos]], such as [[Conan the Barbarian]], where the protagonist, whilst still finding the [[Eldritch Abomination
* [[Arthur C. Clarke]]'s [http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0743498747/0743498747___1.htm "Rescue Party"] comes to mind. "Are they trying to make an interstellar voyage with ''rockets''?!"
** Explanation: {{spoiler|the Sun is about to go nova so humans '''ALL''' got on rocket ships to find a new sun, knowing how crazy that would be. Aliens find us mid-journey. They might regret that.}}
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* Similarly the Hegemony in [[Out of the Dark]] dismisses the human race as "insane, bloodthirsty barbarians" after witnessing the battle of Agincourt. And then the [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Shongairi]] invade and discover that humans lack a "submission instinct"
* ''Letter to a Phoenix'' ends thusly: "Only the insane destroy themselves. And only the phoenix lives forever." All other sapient species in the galaxy grow moribund and die out, but humanity survives because it periodically comes within a hair of wiping itself out. (The near-immortal narrator still hopes we never again get as far as the civilization that planet-busted the world between Mars and Jupiter, though.)
* ''[[Codex Alera]]'': Kitai is a
** The Canim consider humanity to be insane as well, but ''not'' in a good way. When Tavi is attempting to negotiate with Nasaug to have the Canim leave Alera peacefully, he points out that the both sides are going to suffer needlessly if they fight, as the Alerans want the Canim gone and the Canim want to leave. Nasaug agrees, pointing out that in a rational world, this would happen. However, he says, they are in ''Alera''.
** Interestingly, Kitai says in the third book that she also thinks the Canim are insane, if not quite so insane as the Alerans. It's the convoluted internal politicking both groups engage in that she finds so irrational.
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