Protagonist-Centered Morality: Difference between revisions
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** It wasn't really very moral to allow Angel to continue existing, even after he had turned "good". Angelus is too evil and destructive, and the spell which keeps him from returning to his old ways was too easily broken. Angelus was a lot more homicidal than most of the monsters he killed: after all, you have to engage in a lot of rape and murder to earn the title of most evil vampire. Could anybody really prevent themselves from experiencing "one moment's happiness"? Happiness is as spontaneous and uncontrollable as any other emotion. The whole thing is a little like giving a small child the controls to an atomic bomb. But yet he's still portrayed as a hero.
*** This is not entirely fair or correct. The spell could only be broken through a moment of "perfect happiness" which is noted to be extremely rare for most people if it happens at all. Angel was shown often happy, but not "perfectly happy." The difference between Angel and Angelus they were for all intents and purposes different people compare to some others like Spike. Finally, Angel has spent the last hundred years trying to make up for all he did as Angelus even though his culpability itself is highly questionable and suffered greatly for it.
**** Furthermore, the curse only worked the first time because Angel didn't know about it. As shown on ''Angel'', the constant worry that a pleasurable moment might become too pleasurable and thus lead to an undesired outcome actually invokes a variant of the Centipede's
** In season five there was Ben. Even though Giles and the script in general present Ben as being an innocent, he's twenty five and fully aware that an evil being is using his body to destroy worlds and kill people. If he killed himself, a lot of people's lives would be saved and other people, who were trapped in whatever horrifying nightmare Glory created for them would have their sanity restored. But he doesn't do anything, except quibble over how Glory's possession of him is ruining his life and the career he worked so hard to build.
*** For that matter, Dawn could have ended the whole thing in the exact same way - by killing herself. Of course, she's fourteen, so it's much more understandable that she didn't.
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** In defense of their behavior at the Grand Galloping Gala, they were not only specifically invited but the hostess invited them (admittedly, without ''telling'' them) with the specific intent of having their usual antics upset the party for her own amusement. You cannot fairly criticize people for arriving at a party with an express invitation and then behaving precisely as their hostess wanted them to act. (You can, however, fault Princess Celestia with her apparent desire to pull a practical joke on every guest ''except'' the Mane Six, in addition to not telling the Mane Six that their actual purpose of being invited is to use them to set up a prank on someone else.)
** Prevalent in Boast Busters, where Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Applejack take issue with Trixie's magic show and boasting, despite all three doing plenty of boasting themselves and begin heckling her for little if any reason. By the end of the episode Trixie's home and possessions are destroyed by an Ursa Minor and the main culprits of the bear being brought there, [[What an Idiot!|Snips and Snails]] get mustaches as 'punishment'.
*** In point of fact they weren't 'heckling' Trixie; they were standing at the back of the crowd and talking amongst themselves about how unimpressed they were with her act. The only reason Trixie heard them in the first place is because Rainbow Dash forgot to use her indoor voice, but that was not intended. (We have seen what happens when Rainbow Dash deliberately intends to be
** Granted Rainbow Dash at least Lampshades this [[Hypocrisy Nod|on her part]], and in the end, Trixie is humiliated (indirectly) by the ''far'' more humble acting Twilight Sparkle.
{{quote|'''Rainbow Dash:''' There's no need to show off like that; that's ''my'' job.}}
** Also, Trixie's ''reaction'' to the 'heckling' is to throw out an open challenge to the audience that anything they could do she could do better (which means from that point on anything that anyone does to try and show Trixie up is entirely justified, as its being done at Trixie's express invitation), and then changes the rules of each contest halfway through so that Trixie always wins. So regardless of how the Mane Six behaved the final catastrophe is Trixie's
* [[South Park|Eric Cartman]] combines this trope with [[Self-Serving Memory]], being convinced that he's always right and therefore anyone who disagrees with him is always wrong. The "Coon and Friends" multi-parter illustrates this perfectly; Cartman joins forces with ''freaking'' '''''[[Cthulhu Mythos|Cthulhu]]''''', gets him to kill hippies and [[Justin Beiber]], and is still convinced that he's a superhero and his friends (who refused to go along with this) are villains and assholes. Mysterion (Kenny) [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|calls him out on this]], saying that the only "world" he's making better is his own, by attacking anyone who doesn't march in lock-step with his worldview.
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