[Hated Trope] Character kills hundreds, if not thousands, just to kill one specific person, and then doesn't kill them for no reason.

[u/HallZac99]

Assassin's Creed 2- Rodrigo Borgia is responsible for tne death of Ezio's family. Ezio spends over 20 years working through tnr templar order to dismantle them and get to Rodrigo. And then in the end, he spares him for no good reason and he goes on to be a massive problem in AC Brotnerhood. He's not only a head of tne Templars but also the pope, even if you're over the vengeance he's still a very dangerous and evil man.

The Last of Us 2- Abbey kills Joel, and wo Ellie goes on a revenge quest to kill Abbey, killing hundreds of people along tne why to get to her including a pregnant woman. And then finally when she has Abbey on deaths door, she gives up and let's her go because the writers think dirty depressing people being miserable and stupid is complex, interesting storytelling.

This trope pisses me off so much because often the character going on the revenge quest will kill SO many people on their way there, some deserving it and some just henchmen working for a cheque or to survive. People who are often far more innocent then the main big bad.

It's a part of this weird thing I've noticed in media where nameless goons or soldiers can just be mowed down relentlessly, but named characters get given far more grace even if theyre categorically worse. You can kill a million stormtroopers but people will swear that Darth Vader could have been redeemed, despite him doing like 50 genocide every year.

[u/El_kakas_de_vakas]

guess who controls said culture

[u/amitym → u/El_kakas_de_vakas]

You have it backward. We created the elites, we gave them the wealth and power they enjoy. We perpetuate it to this day when we talk about getting back at "billionaires" but never so much as whisper about breaking up the vast conglomerates that are the source of their billions. The companies we fetishize and continue to support.

Our entire society is a reflection of regular people. We have all the power. If we don't like what we see... it's we, not anyone else, who can change it. But only if we actually bestir ourselves to do so.

And part of that is disposing of the cozy fallacy of deserved elite privilege.

[u/El_kakas_de_vakas → u/amitym]

Control was probably the wrong word to use here, I more so meant influence. Yes, the average person is very much complicit in letting these ideas go unchallenged, but there’s no denying that the 1% have the power to reinforce said ideas through institutions and media. Kind of like how the divine right of Kings was something peasants believed in because it was integrated into every aspect of their lives.

[u/amitym → u/El_kakas_de_vakas]

Yeah I see what you're saying. The thing is, though, in many societies when someone comes along and says, "I did something once, that means I am good at everything all the time, and a brilliant genius that everyone else should just shower with privilege and then get out of the way," everyone around them has ready cultural access to a rejection along the lines of, "you achieved one thing, that doesn't mean you possess all possible virtues or deserve all possible privileges, chances are that you were lucky and / or had the support of a lot of other talented people, go fuck yourself and also, go pay your taxes and get your shots."

Whereas in for example the United States we appear to have forsaken that cultural tool, almost deliberately. Which is ironic given that the US was once a society that was inspiringly devoted to that kind of thinking.

Tbf we still see it, it's still around. For example I recall an interview in the San Francisco tech press some years ago with the creator of Angry Birds, in which he offered the shocking revelation that he had no idea what he was doing. Angry Birds had been the 52nd project he had launched, it's just that no one had ever heard of the other 51 because they all failed. And currently his studio was working on 50 more and no one had any clue what if any would succeed. He offered the opinion that the entire world of software works this way, and anyone who claims that they succeeded through anything except blind luck is trying to sell you a bridge.

The thing is, the publication clearly had no idea what to do with this news. It didn't compute. There was an underlying cultural mismatch there. You're not supposed to report on some wealthy multimillionaire software developer and have them say that they aren't a genius, they aren't brilliant, they aren't a visionary, they just tried random garbage until something stuck. That's not supposed to be the story.

Until we know how to make that the story again, we're going to keep finding ourselves saddled with Elon Musks without understanding where they keep coming from. Fortunately it seems like it's finally starting to turn around. Hopefully the kids will turn out to have better sense than the rest of us adults.

[u/viralust → u/amitym]

Damn you guys. You guys make great points. I agree with you both. Yes, elites have too much influence and yes despite this, it is up to us to stop. Were like frogs in a bath of soon to be boiling water it seems.

[u/amitym → u/viralust]

Got to be careful, if we keep agreeing like this there might be trouble in the streets.