Humans Are Morons: Difference between revisions

* In ''[[Men in Black (film)|Men in Black]]'' humans are the least technically advanced space faring race in the galaxy. Most of the better technology the MIBs have is acquired from elsewhere, and the greater human population cannot be allowed to know the truth. Also, aliens that come here seem to have a rather high mortality rate. An early scene in the film has Agent K noting that humans are immune to an alien brain scanner because, "Human thought is so primitive it's looked upon as an infectious disease in some of the better galaxies. That kind of makes you proud, doesn't it?"

** The Bug even dishes out the [[Fantastic Slur|Fantastic Slurs]], calling Agent K a "monkey-boy" and claiming that compared to us, he's "on the top of the evolutionary ladder!"

* In ''[[Star Trek: First Contact]]'', humans of the 21st Century live in a post-apocalyptic society with just barely enough infrastructure to continue research on warp drive, while the other races have already begun exploring the galaxy and view humanity as being "too primitive." However, this is ultimately [[Subverted Trope|subverted]] by the rest of ''[[Star Trek]]'' canon as we somehow nonetheless become one of the dominant space faring races.

** Primarily because First Contact finally inspired humans to work together. The more amazing part is how the Phoenix (first ship with warp drive) was built mainly from scrap and based on a decommissioned ICBM.

*** In the novel, it's established early on that Terl is an idiot. Scheming, devious, decently educated, but still an idiot.

* [[The Mothman Prophecies]]:

'''Leek:''' You're more advanced than a cockroach, have you ever tried explaining yourself to one of them? }}

* ''[[Planet of the Apes]]'', naturally, is the rare example of this in [[Speculative Fiction]] where humanity is ''less'' civilized than the apes, as opposed to usually being the ''slightly more'' civilized ones.

* ''[[Demolition Man]]'' provides the unique depiction of a [[The Future|Future]] where humanity has eradicated all the things that make humans [[Jerkass|bastards]] in the [[Present Day]] but has become more paranoid, inexperienced, and clueless as a trade-off.

* prot from ''[[K-PAX]]'' certainly has a few choice words for humans.

::And another...

* In ''[[Evil Dead|Army of Darkness]]'' Ash shows himself on many occasions to be no different than the [[Medieval Morons]]... except [[Post Mortem One Liner|he's the one with the gun]].

* Subtly subverted in [[Steven Spielberg]]'s remake of ''[[The War of the Worlds (film)|The War of the Worlds]]''. The aliens who explore the basement our human characters are hiding in show a lot of fascination in a bicycle tire, hinting that for all the greater technological advancements they have over humans, they never invented a tool as simple and practical as the wheel.

* The original adaptation of ''[[The War of the Worlds]]'' makes the subversion noted in Spielberg's film (mentioned above) a lot more apparent, with the main character explicitly pointing out the aliens' lack of wheels, speculating that they may have never invented them on their own.

* In ''[[Tales From the Mos Eisley Cantina]]'' this was a definite theme in The Devaronian's Tale.

'''Labria:''' Human. }}

* In the book ''The VMR Threory'', this is the view held by many races that first contact humans, given that the human individuals who are in charge of first contact situations are complete idiots to the point that other species think that humanity is [[Too Dumb to Live]]. This has sparked two theories of how it's possible for humanity to have been able to reach space and survive as a species. The first is that there's smart humans and dumb humans, and if they mess with the dumb humans, the smart humans will come and kick their asses. The second is that there is a specific race out there guiding humans that is infinitely more dangerous than all of humanity. The most popular theory of who this master race is happens to be [[Title Drop|The Vampire Master Race]].

* In ''[[Earth (The Book)]]'', anything that doesn't make us look [[Humanity Is Insane|crazy]] or [[Humans Are the Real Monsters|evil]] makes us look like complete idiots. For instance, "not masturbating on a mass-transit system" is the example used to explain the "harsh, at times maddeningly frustrating trade-offs" that served as the basis for a '''social contract'''.

** Another example comes at the end of the FAQ Section on Chapter 2: Life, revolving around the author refusing to explain to aliens what creationism is, despite "billions of people" believing in it as the origin of life up until the end.

A. ''[Covers eyes, shakes head]'' }}

* The ''[[My Teacher Is an Alien]]'' series plays with this a bit. The aliens are studying humans partially to figure out why it is we have the most powerful brains in the galaxy, but only use [[90% of Your Brain|ten percent]] of it.

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' has humanity constantly proving that we're idiots. First, there's Sunnydale. There's a reason the trope [[Weirdness Censor]] used to be called Sunnydale Syndrome. Secondly, Season 8 shows the rest of humanity isn't much better. Basically all of humanity (although, [[Stephen Colbert]] has been shown to be one of the few smart ones) has become vampire fanboys/fangirls after Harmony gets a TV show, with people willingly getting sucked on Riley-style. They also think the Slayer Organization is evil. Fucking idiots.

* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'':

'''O'Neill:''' You may have come to the right place. }}

* The ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' episode "Virtuoso" introduced us to the Qomar, a [[Rubber Forehead Aliens|Rubber Forehead Alien]] species highly dedicated to mathematics and sciences and far more advanced than the Federation, which the Qomar looks down upon in contempt. When the Doctor provides medical treatment for one of them, the Qomarian sarcastically asks if the process involves bloodletting. Even in an idealized future where humanity has overcome a good number of its flaws to become one of the most dominant space-fairing races, we're still finding aliens who think we're dumb and primitive.

** The Ninth Doctor was particularly fond of calling humans "stupid apes" whenever he was angry at us.

** This trait in humans is why the Tenth Doctor in particular finds the human race to be amazing. In the episode ''Utopia'', The Doctor visits a human refugee base in the year 100,000,000,000,000 AD, a time in which the Universe was ending and most races had gone extinct, and states his wonderment at how the human race is one of the few races to survive to the very end of existence.

* In ''[[Spaced]]'', Tim defends the Sci-Fi genre arguing that "the thoughts and speculations of our contemporary authors and thinkers have probably never been closer to the truth." [[Gilligan Cut|Cut to]] a group of aliens outside the comic book shop laughing at how ridiculous everything on display is.

* Played for laughs in the early episodes of ''[[Farscape]]''. D'Argo and Aeryn continually get frustrated at how slowly John learns new skills and generally view him as completely useless. However, his own ingenuity and pluckiness end up saving the day very frequently.

* A fantasy variation appears in [[True Blood]].

 

 

* Ever since [[GWAR]] was banished from their home planet for stinking up the place, they've been stuck here with what they often call "[[Puny Earthlings|human filth]]." In their eyes, humanity is ''far'' beneath them, and human life is practically worthless, existing only give them something to enslave and viciously exploit. The song "Slaughterama," for instance, is about a game show that's intentionally designed to "kill everyone that's worth killing."

* The [[XTC]] song "Across This Antheap."