The Social Darwinist: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

If they do talk about evolution, they are very likely to talk about [[Evolutionary Levels]] and [[Goal-Oriented Evolution]] rather than Darwin's actual theory.

 

Note that [[Charles Darwin]] himself would not be amused by all of these guys and the way they interpreted his works; he proposed nothing of the sort. You never see a social Darwinist treating societies in the same way a real Darwinist treats species: Darwinists are interested in maintaining biodiversity and never want to wipe out an endangered (and therefore unfit) species out of spite - after all, nature already does that. Darwinism is a ''description'' of the way species work, not a ''prescription'' for what species should live and die. See [[The Social Darwinist/Trivia|the trivia page for this trope]] for more information on that. This did not stop Social Darwinism from becoming a fairly mainstream philosophy from the Victorian era to WWII, when it became [[Godwin's Law|associated with the Nazis]]; this association contributed greatly to its loss of popularity. However, the emergence of [[Culture Police|culture war politics]] in the late 20th century appears to have revived it to a certain extent.

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[Code Breaker]]'': Though not yet outright stated, {{spoiler|Ogami's brother}} implies this is [[Terrorists Without a Cause|his group's ideal]] when he wonders why Ogami is protecting an ordinary (?) human.

* Emperor Charles zi Britannia in ''[[Code Geass]]'' has this philosophy—though it applies at its most ruthless to his children, as if any are weak, they deserve to die. The protagonist, a deposed prince of the empire, directly opposes this attitude as it's what cost him his mother and crippled his little sister—while Charles did nothing. {{spoiler|Subverted, as this was all a facade by the emperor himself.}}

* Vicious of ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' shows shades of this, particularly in his attitude towards those who lose their ruthless side. Notably, he assassinates his former [[Mentor]] Mao Yenrai for attempting to make peace with another [[The Syndicate|Syndicate]], (then dismissively describes him as "a beast who lost his fangs") denounces the Elders of the Red Dragon as "corpses that can't fight," and demands to know why Spike Spiegel, his personal and romantic rival, survived his exile if he's no longer as cold-blooded and ruthless as Vicious.

* Light Yagami in ''[[Death Note]]'' develops from a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] into this trope, and he [[Villain Protagonist|happens to be the protagonist]]. He believes that by using the Death Note to pick off criminals and the unpleasant, he can make the world consist of good people only. As he puts it, if Kira (his mass-murdering alter ego) is caught, then he's evil; if he wins and rules the world, he's righteous.

* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', there are [[Big Bad|Father and his Homunculi]], and [[Sociopathic Soldier|Kimblee]], who is an ideological and philosophical Social Darwinist. He doesn't believe that weak people should be automatically killed (though he ''does'' enjoy blowing up people regardless of how helpless they are), but he believes violence is the only way to solve philosophical disputes; whoever is alive at the end of the day was right. There are also non-villain examples. Olivier Mira Armstrong, for instance, is pretty much [[Four-Star Badass|General Badass]] and leads the Briggs fortress border troops, who are the most [[Badass]] soldiers in all Amestris. Her credo is "survival of the fittest", which she applied to everyone, including ''herself''.

 

 

* ''[[Ponies Make War]]'' has both [[Big Bad|Titan]] and his [[The Dragon|Dragon]], General Esteem, who both believe that power is the only thing that matters, and that only those with power have the right to rule.

 

* In ''[[Wall Street]]'', Gordon Gekko's philosophy is pretty much Social Darwinism of the economic kind. Several of his quotes are "It's a Zero Sum game<ref>using this term shows that he [[You Fail Economics Forever|fails economics forever]]</ref>—somebody wins, somebody loses" or "In my book you either do it right or you get eliminated". His entire "Greed is good" speech is of Social Darwinist nature. In the first movie, he lost the game, {{spoiler|but in the second movie, he won the game and now is a top dog within the British economy}}.

* This is [[Star Wars|the Sith]] in a nutshell.

 

== Literature ==

* The Dark One from the ''[[Wheel of Time]]''. This clearly backfires due to the fact that his chief servants, the Forsaken, fight with each other as much as with Rand al'Thor.

* In Donald Kingsbury's ''Courtship Rite'', the entire population of the world of Geta are Type 2 fictional Social Darwinists; the native life of the planet is mostly not edible, and famines are historically common. Cannibalism is part of their way of life, in which people with less ''kalothi'' (worthiness to survive) go to feed those of higher ''kalothi'' in times of need. The end of the book reveals that in the far future they have become a different species.

* The Fremen and Sardaukar of ''[[Dune]]'': by living on a [[Death World]] where merely surviving is a struggle, they have become the toughest and most effective soldiers in the known universe. ''Dune Messiah'' adds a dose of realism when Stilgar informs Muad'Dib of the various difficulties that the Fremen, himself included, have had on other planets, especially water-rich planets. Since the Fremen have adapted to an extremely arid and dessicated environment, it makes sense that they would suffer illness and weakness in water-rich environments.

* The villains of ''The City That Fought'' by [[Anne McCaffrey]] and [[S.M. Stirling]] are an entire race of social darwinists who, like the Fremen, have grown up in an extremely harsh environment.

* [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'' novels contain quite a few of these characters.

* In ''[[The Dark Side of the Sun]]'' by [[Terry Pratchett]], after the new security guy reaps the rewards of [[Fantastic Racism]] and being [[Too Dumb to Live]], an alien witness comments:

{{quote|'''Hrsh-Hgn''': Intelligence is humanity's prime survival trait, therefore it is as well that those who don't show it be weeded out.}}

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* The Clans of ''[[BattleTech]]'' have been [[Designer Babies|bred for war]] for centuries using intensely competitive rituals to determine whose genes get passed on and whose don't, and believe this makes them worthy of ruling the Inner Sphere. Naturally, they get whipped by the "inferiors", who recognize that you can still be of use in combat over the age of 30. The story of the Clan invasion could be a deconstruction of the whole thing. While their rituals and codes of honor helped perfect the Clans' fighting technique, they forgot many of the pragmatic realities of war. Meanwhile, the Inner Sphere realms were all too familiar with them, thanks to their constantly bickering, possessive, petty leaders.

* Yawgmoth, from ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]''. An unusual example is his nemesis Urza, a ''protagonist'' eugenicist; calling him "heroic" would admittedly be a stretch. Urza is such a darwinist that he {{spoiler|actually ''sides with Phyrexia'' after spending millenia trying to defeat it when he actually visits the place, since Phyrexia is basically everything he ever wanted as an artificer and as a [[Social Darwinist]].}} Vorinclex from New Phyrexia is a social darwinist as well, to the point of objecting to society at all. The only thing that matters is that ability to kill those weaker. Green and Black, despite being enemy colours, love social darwinism.

** Lunars have been known to apply this to the societies, both human and beastman, that they set up. Generally, if a nation they've been shepherding is going well, they'll stop giving it covert (or, in some cases, overt) assistance and watch to see what happens. Oh, and for the setting in question, they're good guys, who made colossal sacrifices to stop [[The Fair Folk]] from wiping out reality 800 years ago.

** Cecelyne, one of the Yozis, was responsible for the principle of law in Creation, but it's suggested her ideas, even as a Primordial, were a bit... off. Now that she's been made into a Yozi, her idea of "law" has twisted to "whatever benefits the strong so that they rule over or drive out the weak." Oh, and her chosen are the [[Dark Messiah]] caste. Be quite afraid.

* [[Eclipse Phase]] has two factions who act like this. The Ultimates are a group of [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|militant]] [[Warrior Poet|ascetics]] who strive for [[Ubermensch|perfection]]. While the Exhumans are [[The Singularity|Singularity-chasing]] psychopaths who often assume [[Body Horror|truly horrific morphs]] and some of which try to be the [[I Am a Humanitarian|top of the food chain.]]

* The eponymous creatures from ''[[Werewolf: The Apocalypse]]'' have definite shades of this, in that their leadership is decided by challenges. These can be non-violent challenges but rarely are. The cake is taken by the [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Get of Fenris tribe]], who think being tougher than everyone else is the only worthwhile goal in life.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Romanticism Versus Enlightenment]]

[[Category:Might Makes Right]]

[[Category:Villains]]