Rousseau Was Right: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"It's difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality. It's a wonder I haven't abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart."''|''[[The Diary of Anne Frank]]''}}

Settings in which '''Rousseau wasWas rightRight''' ''always'' avert [[Card-Carrying Villain]], [[In the Blood]], [[Moral Event Horizon]] and [[Complete Monster]]. On the rare occasions when characters who would be regarded as [[Complete Monster]]s in other settings do show up, [[Cry for the Devil|their unrealized potential for good and the depths to which they have fallen instead are usually played up as tragic]].

This Trope can often be used as evidence against the idea that [[Hobbes Was Right]] while supporting those that claim [[Machiavelli Was Wrong]]. Compare [[Humans Are Good]]. Contrast [[Hobbes Was Right]].

** It's brought [[Up to Eleven]] during the [[Tournament Arc|Student Council Election arc.]]. Medaka openly admits that {{spoiler|that she's unsure of whether she can save}} the leader of Class Minus 13.

*** {{spoiler|sheShe does save him in the end though.}} He even {{spoiler|joins the student council!}}

* ''[[Princess Mononoke]]'' beautifully carries out this trope. The humans and the forests all habourharbor understandable, sometimes irrational hostility against each other. Yet they have intentions that see for the better.

* ''[[The Vision of Escaflowne]]'' has the good guys and the [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] antagonists. It does have [[Psycho for Hire|Dilandau]], but he is {{spoiler|the [[Jekyll and Hyde|inverted personality]] of Celena Schezar, Allen's "[[Dead Little Sister]]". Which makes Celena, the opposite to Dilandau in every way, likely the nicest person in the entire world, while Dilandau cannot be counted since he is not a human being found normally in nature.}}

* Dr. Tenma operates on this principle at the beginning of ''[[Monster (manga)|Monster]]''. The main conflict of the series is Tenma's idealism versus Johan's nihilism. In the end, {{spoiler|Tenma's idealism wins out, as he saves Johan's life.}}

* ''[[Elfen Lied]]'' plays this as straight as possible: all of the main characters have [[Dark and Troubled Past|Dark Andand Troubled Pasts]], and each of them have had some falter in their relationships and friendships with others. The only truly evil characters are the Unknown Man and the Kakuzawas (Ofof whom said unknown Man is implied to be a part of), who abused their power and took it to a [[Complete Monster|ridiculous extreme]].

** {{spoiler|And even ''they'' have a [[Freudian Excuse]]: They were relentlessly persecuted due to the horns sticking out of their heads, and it eventually reached the point where they had to hide into a radioactive island to avoid literal [[Would Be Rude to Say Genocide|ethnic cleansing]]. Eventually, they developed myth of their superiority to humans (Whichwhich was reduced due to inbreedinginterbreeding with them) and began expecting a Messiah to come for them. Turns out said messiah was our protagonist: Lucy, who promptly kills them whenupon finding out.}}

* ''[[With the Light]]'' has a lot of this. While there are people who are insensitive or antagonistic towards the autistic Hikaru or his mother's struggles in raising him, you can count the people who do so entirely out of spite on one hand. Most everyone else is just uneducated about Autismautism.

** Although even Chachazero has been able to show restraint, at the end of the Kyoto arc . {{spoiler|sheShe justonly scares Chigusa so badly that she faints, as opposed to using her [[BFS|freaking huge knife to actually do some damage]].}} The only character so far who's outright evil with no [[Anti-Villain]] tendencies or [[Freudian Excuse]] of some kind is [[Psycho Lesbian]] / [[Blood Knight]] Tsukuyomi, who has some [[Stalker with a Crush|serious]] [[Attempted Rape|issues]] regarding Setsuna.

* Most of ''[[Kimi ni Todoke]]'''s supporting characters are popular girls and jock guys who befriend the shy, outcast protagonist without any ulterior motive (unless there's an out-of-left-field {{scheme [[The Plan]]}} coming).

* ''Kero Kero Chime'' comes pretty close. There's only ''one'' human in the entire series that's actually evil, with most of the conflicts coming from misunderstandings or well-meaning efforts. The track record is similarly good for non-humans: {{spoiler|Although his minions are pretty nasty, even the Demon King himself turns out to be not that bad -- he's completely reformed by the time the main cast meets up with him.}}

* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' - Sailor Moon lives and dies by her belief in this. She will never allow herself to believe that someone is beyond saving. She proves it true time and time again as it is a rare villain she can notcannot redeem.

** Note that this really only applies to the anime—inanime -- in the [[Adaptation Displacement|original manga]], a good portion of the villains are just outright evil, and it's the rare villain who gets redeemed rather than summarily killed.

* In all of ''[[KyouKyo Kara MaouMaoh!|Kyō Kara Maō!]]'', there have been perhaps two [[Big Bad|BigBads]]s that are not redeemed. One of them is literally [[Sealed Evil in a Can]], and the other {{spoiler|becomes a mindless puppet for saidthe [[Sealed Evil in a Can]]}}.

* In ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'', this trope is featured numerous times with Yugi Muto repeatedly believing that goodness resides in everyone and that their dark side needs to be defeated for this to become free. Examples include {{spoiler|Dartz}}, {{spoiler|Raphael}}, and {{spoiler|Marik Ishtar}} while characters that independently seemed to change their ways and become good having been previously evil would include {{spoiler|Pegasus}} and {{spoiler|Valon}}. Seto Kaiba also tends to be obnoxious and mean a lot of the time while actually being shown to have decent values at heart, not least his love for his little brother Mokuba. To elaborate:

** Even the [[Complete Monster|absolute worst]] of the villains play this trope straight. Yami Marik is the [[Ax Crazy]] [[Omnicidal Maniac]] split personality of Marik. While there's nothing sympathetic about his character, his origin is: he was born from the pain and anger [[Freudian Excuse|Marik felt having his back]] carved ''by his own father.'' Yami Bakura is {{spoiler|an [[Omnicidal Maniac]] trying to summon [[Eldritch Abomination|Zorc Necrophades]], ultimately to avenge his entire town being murdered.}} Said {{spoiler|Zorc is summoned by the MilleniumMillennium Items, which ARE the collective group of townspeople that, while criminals, still didn't deserve [[Fate Worse Than Death|the fate they got.]] }}

** Don't get us started on ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's]]''. Who would have thought that {{spoiler|Yliaster, Paradox, and Z-One were just [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|trying to stopprevent a]] [[Bad Future]] [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|from occurring?]]}}

* There are two major villains in ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'', and ''both'' of them have good intentions: {{spoiler|Lordgenome suppresses the growth of humanity in order to avoid getting the attention of the Anti-Spirals, who, in turn, want to destroy humanity in order to prevent them from ''destroying the universe'' through overuse of spiral energy.}}

** Even though they have similar names, this is not RossieuRossiu. Though it might be a call out, as RossieuRossiu eventually learns a lesson and starts to believe more along the lines of this trope.

* Like the [[Sonic the Hedgehog|main branch of the series]], ''[[Sonic X]]'' has at least one moment that alludes to this;. duringDuring the Metarex saga, the dub tries to explain Knuckles' getting tricked by Eggman by saying that he believes everybody is capable of good, or of turning over a new leaf. Considering the way [[Sonic 3 and Knuckles|he joined the cast]], this is [[Fridge Brilliance]]... but only in the [[4Kids! Entertainment|4Kids!]] dub, since the original presents us with a [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop]] instead.

* Arguably, the ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. It appears to be black and white morality at first, but several points in the story suggest otherwise. Tellingly, Elrond's comment that no one is born evil, not even Sauron, and when they see the dead eastlander and wonder what caused them to do what they did. Moreover, in the appendices it clearly shows Sauron thought, at least at first, that he was in the right, which reeks of Rousseau Was Right.

* ''Who Taught You How to Hate?'' by [[Disturbed]] is either a [[Deconstruction]] or [[Subversion]]. [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|The title really says it all.]] This song is far from optimistic. The eponymous [[Driving Question]] is a meditation on [[Children Are Innocent]] and the [[Freudian Excuse]], as the narrator asserts "[this] isn't in your blood, not a part of what you're made" and "there's always one who plants an evil seed". However, there are also lyrics which undermine these themes and suggest they are merely excuses or justifications for evil, such as: "Can it still be if you're what made you this way?" (After all, even if every child ''is'' born aan [[Ambiguous Innocence|<s>indiscriminate</s>]] nondiscriminatory tabula rasa with an inclination toward good, the corrupt are no less so for their innocent origins. There are plenty of killers who [[Used to Be a Sweet Kid]]., so, Inin the end, a hateful soul is nothing more than the spiteful anger they embody, making them "dead to everyone (you're not anyone)".) Ultimately, ''Who Taught You How to Hate?'' could be said to be a pessimistic condemnation of holding [[Cycle of Revenge|grudges]], because that iswas the ''only'' way a fundamentally blank slate cancould be tarnished -- by choice, willfully [[Subverted Trope|neglecting]] [[Turn the Other Cheek|to forgive]] and [[Forgiveness|wipe the slate clean]].

* As revealed in the NG+, almost all of the conflicts in ''[[Nie RNieR]]'' are a result of tragic misunderstandings, with several foes just having been trying to protect themselves/loved ones. In fact, the [[Big Bad]] who {{spoiler|kidnapped your daughter/sister?}} He was just trying to {{spoiler|save his. And was responsible for keeping the remnants of humanity sane.}}