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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"If you're not with me, then you're my enemy."''
|'''Anakin Skywalker''', ''[[Star Wars]]: [[Revenge of the Sith]]''}}
In a nutshell, it's a form of extremism that does acknowledge that there is a gray area between black and white, but that everything that isn't white ''still'' is as bad as black. A [[Sub
In fiction, a [[Writer
The [[Knight Templar]] and [[The Fundamentalist]] are characters prone to holding this particular belief due to their belief that they are "right" and the other people are "wrong." Totalitarian regimes ''love'' this trope, if your subjects have this mentality they will beg for your [[Big Brother Is Watching|protection]], thus a common theme in [[Dystopia
Note, this trope is not about whether any particular side is right or wrong, even
[[Truth in Television]], as anyone who has gone to a [[Flame War]] on a political or religious [[Message Board]] can attest. [[The Other Wiki]] [
See also [[Black and White Insanity]] and [[Activist Fundamentalist Antics]].
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==▼
▲== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[One Piece]]'', but not if you are a main character: your [[Badass]] status allows you to be supportive or enemy of the World Government with abandon. Neutral countries, on the other hand, have to accept Government leadership, or their whole population will be deported and enslaved. Because the alternative is pirates, so...
* The Atlantic Federation of ''[[Gundam Seed]]'' does this with regards to [[The Kingdom|Orb]]. Orb has a mass driver, which the Atlantic Federation needs, so they give them this trope as an ultimatum.<ref>Admittedly, this was done mainly by [[Villain
* In the ''[[Shaman King]]'' anime, this is the reason [[Knight Templar|the X-Laws]] hunt down Yoh and his friends. Like Marco said, they become "too powerful to let [them] be."
== [[Comic Books]] ==▼
* In [[Chick Tract
▲== Comic Books ==
▲* In [[Chick Tract|Chick Tracts]], anyone who does not agree with Jack Chick's particular breed of fundamentalist Protestant Christianity is doomed to burn in hell. Even other Christians who have ''slightly'' different views are completely evil.
* When [[Steve Ditko]] took a heavy turn into Objectivism, his heroes started to preach his viewpoint. That "Mr. A" [[Alan Moore]] sings about? That was one of Ditko's, who claimed that man can either be good or evil with no in-between.
* ''[[
== [[Fan Works]] ==
* This is an attitude frequently ascribed to Albus Dumbledore in ''[[Harry Potter]]'' fan fiction: in far too many fan stories he is firmly convinced that [[Black and White Morality|there is only the Light and the Dark]], and ''he'' is the one who decides which one you are. And far too often in these cases, the deciding factor is whether or not you follow ''him'' unquestioningly.
==
* Parodied in ''[[Monty
* The page quote is from ''[[Revenge of the Sith]]''.
** Obi-Wan's reply, incidentally, is, "Only a Sith deals in absolutes." While he did get a lot of flak from fans by replying with what is, in itself, an absolute statement, the point he makes is valid - such a black-and-white all-or-nothing manner of thinking is a dangerous path that only evil men would approve of.
* In ''[[Ben
* ''[[Avatar (
{{quote|
* The world in the ''[[
* In ''[[X-Men
{{quote|
* From ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]: On Stranger Tides'':
{{quote|
'''Philiip:''' [[Take a Third Option|I am neither with you, nor am I against you]]!
'''Pirate:''' Can he do that?
'''Jack:''' He's religious; I believe it's required. }}
* Gaston in ''[[Beauty and
== [[Literature]] ==▼
▲== Literature ==
* The concept of "War is Peace" in ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'' boils down to this trope.
* In the ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' series, one of the explicitly stated [[Aesop
** Similarly, the bad guys' whole belief system is based around the exact opposite idea, that your life should be spent only serving others, and if you are special in any way or, God forbid, try to enjoy life, you deserve everything the evil army is going to do to you. In fact, it's not so much "any other choice makes you wrong
** And any nations or cities that chose neutrality in this war get the worst fate. In short, the series, from the time the [[The Empire|Imperial Order]] shows up, is one long [[False Dichotomy]].
* In ''
* In ''[[
{{quote|
* In ''[[The Thrawn Trilogy]]'', Borsk Fey'lya sees his political rivals as his enemies. He's not above leaving them to die, and thinks that everyone else thinks in similar terms. Thrawn in fact counts on Fey'lya acting this way to paralyze the New Republic and dispose of the people who pose a real danger to him, like Admiral Ackbar.
** It's a trait that most Bothan share. [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Bothan Bothan society] is based around a system where the pursuit of power and influence were paramount, and it was quite normal to backstab, political maneuver and character assassinate others to gain influence. However, they usually only did it within their own society; Borsk was unable to see that other races didn't operate this way.
* Belgarath defines the battle at the core of the ''[[Belgariad|Malloreon]]'' as "them and us" at one point (as opposed to "good and evil", which he considers a dangerous game to start playing).
* In ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' Melisandre believes that people either are on the side of her god [[Light Is Not Good|R'hllor]] or to the [[Evil Is Deathly Cold|Great Other]]. She uses the analogy of a half-rotten onion to prove to Ser Davos that a man who is half-evil is still evil, not good.
* In the ''[[Left Behind]]'' books, during the Tribulation, it eventually comes down to joining God or joining the Global Community, as both sides end up squashing any sign of neutrality on the issue.
* The basis of the life philosophy of [[Stephen Colbert]]'s
▲== Live Action TV ==
* [[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
▲* The basis of [[Stephen Colbert]]'s life philosophy. "You're either with us or you're against us. It is either Coke or Pepsi. You're either gay or you fight it." Finally he states he divides the supermarket into "cheese" and "not cheese". He also tends to badger people, including guests, who do not fall into one of his two categories, with "Pick a side--we're at war."
▲* [[Deep Space Nine|''Commander'' Kira]], tells this lesson to the Cardassians when they've started a rebellion. She's reminded in the same episode that Odo (her lover) used to be against the Bajorans while the Cardassians were occupying her planet.
** Also, Kira to Odo: "We used to have a saying in the resistance, 'If you're not fighting them, you're helping them.'" Kira holds a very dichotomised view of "collaborators", particularly in the days immediately after the Cardassian Occupation, and one which is challenged on several occasions through the course of the series.
* Russel Hantz tried this phrase on Sandra during ''[[Survivor
== [[Music]] ==
*
{{quote|
''There are no neutrals there
''You'll either be a union man
''Or a thug for J. H. Claire }}
== [[Oral Tradition]], [[Folklore]], Myths and Legends ==
* [[The Bible]]: [[God]] Himself insists that You are are either With Him or Against Him.
** Example: Luke 11:23 ' "He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth." But in Luke 9:50 "Jesus said to him, "Do not hinder him; for he who is not against you is for you." Luke recounts both these which are attested in Mark and Matthew separately. One resolution of the problem is that Jesus thought anyone should be allowed to perform good work in his name so be inclusive, but on ideology you should be exclusive. Or the first is applied exclusively in "gathereth" vs. "scattereth" context.
== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==▼
* An unfortunate example happened with [[TNA]] Wrestling president Dixie Carter, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn13PwaRQ6s giving a big speech] to the wrestlers before an episode of iMPACT! in which she acknowledged the awful decisions being made by the company, and rather than do anything about it, told the wrestlers to shut up or leave. Either they were behind her, or they could leave the company. [https://web.archive.org/web/20100914095928/http://www.wrestlezone.com/editorials/article/it-just-keeps-getting-better-90269 This] [https://web.archive.org/web/20151011060434/http://www.vivekwwe.com/wwenews/1585-wwe-reacts-to-tna-president-dixie-carter-speech.html did] [http://www.prowrestling.net/artman/publish/powelleditorials/article1008702.shtml not] [https://web.archive.org/web/20100114025750/http://www.wrestling-edge.com/tna-news/tna-wrestler-reacts-to-dixie-carters-speech-details-on-the-black-machismo-invitational.html go] [http://www.wrestleview.com/news2009/1257714323.php over] [http://www.zimbio.com/TNA+Wrestling/articles/UVojvt1i_cO/Industry+Weighs+Dixie+Carter+Speech well]{{Dead link}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20140424001729/http://www.camelclutchblog.com/dixie-carter-paul-heyman/ with] [http://www.ukff.com/lofiversion/index.php/t116095.html anyone]{{Dead link}} at all.▼
▲== Professional Wrestling ==
▲* An unfortunate example happened with [[TNA]] Wrestling president Dixie Carter, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn13PwaRQ6s giving a big speech] to the wrestlers before an episode of iMPACT! in which she acknowledged the awful decisions being made by the company, and rather than do anything about it, told the wrestlers to shut up or leave. Either they were behind her, or they could leave the company. [http://www.wrestlezone.com/editorials/article/it-just-keeps-getting-better-90269 This] [http://www.vivekwwe.com/wwenews/1585-wwe-reacts-to-tna-president-dixie-carter-speech.html did] [http://www.prowrestling.net/artman/publish/powelleditorials/article1008702.shtml not] [http://www.wrestling-edge.com/tna-news/tna-wrestler-reacts-to-dixie-carters-speech-details-on-the-black-machismo-invitational.html go] [http://www.wrestleview.com/news2009/1257714323.php over] [http://www.zimbio.com/TNA+Wrestling/articles/UVojvt1i_cO/Industry+Weighs+Dixie+Carter+Speech well] [http://www.camelclutchblog.com/dixie-carter-paul-heyman/ with] [http://www.ukff.com/lofiversion/index.php/t116095.html anyone] at all.
* A [[Kayfabe]] example would be the [[Catch Phrase]] of [[The Nexus]]. You're either Nexus, or you're against us!
* ''[[Warhammer
* ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' has a [[Church Militant|paladin Order of Samular]]. Once they hunted a demon and an elven community that happened to be between
==
▲* ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' demonstrates what happens when you mix this trope into a setting that runs on [[Black and Grey Morality]]. The results, from the Imperium of Man and Tau Empire, are not pretty. And in the ''[[Horus Heresy]]'' novels, this kind of view is expressed by many who are joining the traitors.
▲{{quote| '''Tarik Torgaddon''': If those are my choices, then I am against you.}}
▲* ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' has a [[Church Militant|paladin Order of Samular]]. Once they hunted a demon and an elven community that happened to be between them -- surprise! -- didn't allow a little army of human heavy cavalry to crash through their territory just so... "thus allying themselves with the evil tanar'ri". More than a generation (human) later elves were still upset about the resulting bloodbath and paladins "wary of elves and their unknowable, inhuman ways".
* ''[[The Crucible]]'': "A person is either with this court or against it, there be no road between."
* In ''[[A Man for All Seasons]]'', Thomas More does not like King Henry VIII's actions, but rather than complain, he keeps his mouth shut and refuses to say anything one way or the other. Unfortunately, Sir Thomas is widely known as one of the wisest and most honest men in the kingdom, and his silence makes his position on the issue pretty obvious to everybody. King Henry then lays down the gauntlet, and makes everyone in England swear an oath affirming his support of the King's actions, prompting the film's main conflict.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* In ''[[Dragon Age II]]'', tensions between the mages and the templars in Kirkwall reach a peak when {{spoiler|Anders blows up the Chantry}} that Hawke is forced to either side with the mages and protect them from the templars or side with the templars and exterminate the mages.▼
** By Act III, Meredith is so paranoid that she believes that anyone who disagrees with her is a blood mage's slave. She refuses to acknowledge the possibility that her fellow Templars might disagree with her entirely of their own free will. You're either with her, or with the blood mages. {{spoiler|This gets even more pronounced when she whips out her lyrium idol sword, which was the cause of Bartrand's insanity and also what pushes her to the edge.}}▼
** {{spoiler|By the end of the game, Anders has deteriorated to the point that anybody who does not explicitly share his exact opinions on mage freedom fighting is just as bad as an enemy. It's difficult to say how much of this is from Anders himself and how much comes from [[Enemy Within|Vengeance]].}}▼
* The AI in the ''[[Civilization]]'' series often act like this: trade with them, or be considered an enemy, trade with their enemies and also be considered enemies. This is
* Ulfric Stormcloak of ''[[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim]]'' is like this. In the words of Jarl Balgruuf:▼
** Ulfric himself states at one point that any Jarl who is not his ally is his enemy.
** After a certain point in the main quest {{spoiler|the Blades discover that the Dragonborn has been working with Paarthurnax, who is a dragon and the former right hand of [[Big Bad|Alduin]], and they refuse to cooperate with him any further unless he kills Paarthurnax for his past crimes against mankind. The player doesn't have to do this to finish the main quest, but the Blades cannot be convinced to let their grudge go.}}▼
*** One of the most popular mods for the game is one that allows you to tell Delphine just to shut up and do what she's told.
* The Scarlet Crusade of ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' believes its holy purpose is to destroy the Scourge. However, they believe that anybody who has not joined the Crusade is likely a carrier of the plague and is thus their enemy as well. Only when preparing to face Kel'thuzad have they grudgingly worked alongside other groups.▼
==
* In [http://basicinstructions.net/basic-instructions/2011/4/5/how-to-explore-your-emotions.html this] ''[[Basic Instructions]]'':
{{quote|
'''Scott''': Really?! Just two?!
'''Rick''': Yes, "anger" and "not anger." It used to be three emotions, but I eliminated "less anger." }}
* ''Redpanels'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20170622185936/http://redpanels.com/338/ illustrates] how this works (not too well).
== [[Western Animation]] ==▼
▲== Western Animation ==
* A few of the more [[Anvilicious]] episodes of ''[[Captain Planet]]'' were like this.
▲* Gaston in ''[[Beauty and The Beast (Disney)|Beauty and The Beast]]'', when he's roused the villagers into a [[Torches and Pitchforks]] mob against the Beast while Belle is trying to talk some reason into them ("If you're not with us, you're against us!").
* Zapp Brannigan in ''[[Futurama]]'' views the Neutral Race this way. "With enemies you know where they stand, but with Neutrals, who knows?" Therefore he decides to crash the Planet Express ship into their capital. "Another heroic battle in the war between Good and Neutral!"
* Demona says this in the pilot of ''[[
▲== Video Games ==
▲* In ''[[Dragon Age II]]'', tensions between the mages and the templars in Kirkwall reach a peak when {{spoiler|Anders blows up the Chantry}} that Hawke is forced to either side with the mages and protect them from the templars or side with the templars and exterminate the mages.
▲** By Act III, Meredith is so paranoid that she believes that anyone who disagrees with her is a blood mage's slave. She refuses to acknowledge the possibility that her fellow Templars might disagree with her entirely of their own free will. You're either with her, or with the blood mages. {{spoiler|This gets even more pronounced when she whips out her lyrium idol sword, which was the cause of Bartrand's insanity and also what pushes her to the edge.}}
▲** {{spoiler|By the end of the game, Anders has deteriorated to the point that anybody who does not explicitly share his exact opinions on mage freedom fighting is just as bad as an enemy. It's difficult to say how much of this is from Anders himself and how much comes from [[Enemy Within|Vengeance]].}}
▲* The AI in the [[Civilization]] series often act like this: trade with them, or be considered enemy, trade with their enemies and also be considered enemies. This is particulary visible in IV there its near impossible to stay neutral unless you have the forces and tech advance so noone want to wage war against you anyway, except you have a different religion as [[Trigger Happy|Isabella]], who envokes the [[With Us or Against Us]] on your state religion.
▲* Ulfric Stormcloak of [[Skyrim]] is like this. In the words of Jarl Balgruuf:
▲{{quote| '''Balgruuf (paraphrased)''': To not fight with him is to side against him!}}
▲** After a certain point in the main quest {{spoiler|the Blades discover that the Dragonborn has been working with Paarthurnax, who is a dragon and the former right hand of [[Big Bad|Alduin]], and they refuse to cooperate with him any further unless he kills Paarthurnax for his past crimes against mankind. The player doesn't have to do this to finish the main quest, but the Blades cannot be convinced to let their grudge go.}}
▲{{quote| {{spoiler|Delphine}}: It's your choice Dragonborn: us or him.}}
▲* The Scarlet Crusade of ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' believes its holy purpose is to destroy the Scourge. However, they believe that anybody who has not joined the Crusade is likely a carrier of the plague and is thus their enemy as well. Only when preparing to face Kel'thuzad have they grudgingly worked alongside other groups.
== [[Real Life]] ==
* This is one of the central ideas of the Objectivism philosophy (upon which ''The Sword of Truth'', see above, draws heavily). "A is A" and all
* Some laws have it as a required concept that this is ''sometimes'' if not ''always'' the case. If you welcome a distressed family member into your home, feed them, try to help them calm down, and then later find out that they are on the run from the cops, you have two choices. Report them to the cops, or be legally considered an accessory after the fact to whatever crime they have committed. (However, some jurisdiction allow you to protect ''family members'' without punishment.)
** A very slight extension of this extends to states who harbor elements like Al Qaeda. President [[George W. Bush]] used the Trope name in a speech speaking to other nations, stating that if they willingly harbored the enemy, they would be considered the enemy. He hardly ''invented'' that line of reasoning:
* As noted above [[George W. Bush]] famously said, "Either you're with us, or you're with the enemy; either you're with those who love freedom, or you're with those who hate innocent life."
** ''[[Mallard Fillmore]]'' remarked on a Liberal Professor pulling a [[Godwin's Law|Godwin]] on Bush's remark by reminding him that [[Not So Different|his generation was the one that made "You're either part of the solution or you're part of the problem" a famous rallying cry.]]
** Note that when a head of state takes this tack it's actually prescriptive rather than descriptive -- that is, the act of declaring it publicly actually makes it come true. In this instance, since the head of government of a nation is the person who decides exactly who the enemies of his nation ''are'', if he says 'anyone who isn't with us is an enemy'... well, then they're his nation's enemy.
* As mentioned earlier, Message Boards. This mostly applies to religious and political boards, but can (and usually will) extend to everything else. Anyone who has spent enough time on boards will know that there's often topics where you either agree with a completely insane statement or you're branded as whatever is the opposite of the poster's ideology/beliefs/whatever (examples of popular insults: [[Dirty Communists|communist]]/[[Corrupt Corporate Executive|selfish capitalist]], [[Satan
* In Canada, the federal Public Safety minister{{who}}{{when}} tried to bully criticism about a pending online snooping act with the line "You either stand with us or the child pornographers" in the House of Commons. This statement caused howls noting that he is smearing every provincial Privacy Commissioner who expressed deep concerns about the bill and provoked online retaliation with many people twittering their minute personal details to the Minister while another threw all the court info of his messy divorce online.
* During the Rwanda genocide, moderate Hutus were targeted in addition to the Tutsis.
* Bernadine Dohrn, a prominent member of the [
* In 1956, Hungarians revolted against the harsh Communist dictatorship. The revolution was crushed by Soviet troops, but a much milder reigme was established under János Kádár. In 1961, he inverted this statement, saying that "whoever is not against the People's Republic of Hungary is for it."
* The fragmenting of politics in the 2010s and 2020s is based on "us versus them". No need to list specific examples; there have been plenty of cases in multiple countries where some legislators voted against popular or needed legislation simply because it was introduced by somebody in a different party.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Index of Exact Trope Titles]]
[[Category:The Only Righteous Index of Fanatics]]
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[[Category:Stock Aesops]]
[[Category:Politics Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Trope]]
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