| rdfs:comment | - For cynics, human history isn’t exactly all that wonderful and cheery. Throughout the ages, human civilizations have been primarily motivated by both viciousness and greed, having fought countless wars, colonized lands that were already inhabited by other people, treated those inhabitants as second-class citizens (at best), sold them into slavery or just slaughtered them (at worst), and stripped lands bare of their precious minerals and resources for their own wealth and benefit. This trope generally comes in two distinct varieties, but the basic point is the same.
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| abstract | - For cynics, human history isn’t exactly all that wonderful and cheery. Throughout the ages, human civilizations have been primarily motivated by both viciousness and greed, having fought countless wars, colonized lands that were already inhabited by other people, treated those inhabitants as second-class citizens (at best), sold them into slavery or just slaughtered them (at worst), and stripped lands bare of their precious minerals and resources for their own wealth and benefit. Now? Just wait until we get the hang of intergalactic space travel and discover other sentient races with land, natural resources, and technology of their very own! Humans Are the Real Monsters is a Speculative Fiction trope where humanity’s Hat is defined by, or viewed by extra-terrestrial races (or other Fantasy races) as humanity’s most violent characteristics and most nefarious motivations. "The Age of Imperialism IN SPACE with humanity as the Evil Empire." if you prefer. In a distinct contrast to humans, alien races which humans impose themselves onto are either sufficiently advanced enough that anything they could ever want or need is immediately made available to them (thus making greed and violence sound redundant to them) or have achieved a state of equilibrium with their surrounding environment which leaves them perfectly content. Either way, this generally gives an alien race a more empathic or more peaceful outlook and worldview than what humans understand and seek to attain. If these alien races ever attack humans, it will likely be either a reactionary measure to a previous transgression on the humans' part against them or a preemptive strike out of fear that humans will cause them harm at the first opportunity they get. In the event that enough of the galaxy is in a panic over humanity, they may even form an Anti-Human Alliance and possibly put Humanity on Trial. This trope generally comes in two distinct varieties, but the basic point is the same.
* Humanity in the future is an Evil Empire characterized by a vast military complex with goals typically involving colonizing planets where other sentient alien races are already residing with plans to subjugate and/or exterminate those who already call the place home and extract any minerals and resources present for all their worth, or…
* Sentient aliens come to Earth in peace, but humanity seeks to take advantage of them in an effort to acquire and learn more about their technology for humanity’s own gain. In all cases, humanity will definitely show characteristics of the Absolute Xenophobe to one degree or another; no matter how sincerely an alien race may state its intentions to do good or seek peace, human authority will treat the aliens as an enemy that is not worth our attention as being viewed as equals. On a lesser scale, human individuals, like Con Men, may try to swindle clueless aliens who don’t know much at all about Earth and take advantage of them. These steps usually involve the human fraudulently representing himself as a leader, dignitary, or benefactor from Earth before scamming any aliens who believe him for all they are worth. Any human characters who sympathize with the aliens and take their side are usually people who have been mistreated by or subjected to the abuses of humanity’s status quo in the past (Mutants are very a popular choice for this), or normal people who have been thrust into an un-ordinary situation that causes them to view things from a different perspective and challenge their originally held notions about the actions of their human comrades and superiors. Do note that any humans who are monsters are humans who commit evil willingly and knowingly. When humans are heavily blamed for doing bad things but are not aware of the full consequences of their actions, this is something that can be attributed to thoughtlessness, rather than maliciousness, and for that, see Hanlon's Razor. When aliens come to Earth and view humanity’s history of violence against one another as a matter of uncivilized, primal savagery, that’s Humans Are Morons. When a story is told from an animal's perspective as it watches humans abuse Earth's own environment and/or the animal kingdom, that’s Humans Are Cthulhu. When humans are doing anything else that is unfavored by sentient races, see Humans Are Flawed. In political works, this trope may be invoked to argue that Hobbes Was Right. Note: when a Villain holds a Humans Are The Real Monsters viewpoint, it's usually reserved for Nietzsche Wannabes, Well Intentioned Extremists and Knights Templar; it wouldn't really work if the villain in question is already a crazy maniac who just wants to kill people unless the point is to make them a Hypocrite. See Also: Humans Are Warriors, Humanity Is Superior, Humanity Is Insane, Humans Kill Wantonly, What Measure Is a Non-Human? and Humans Are Morons. Compare: Crapsack World, where the other species probably won't be any good either. Contrast: Humans Are Special, Humans Are Good, Aliens Are Bastards. Examples of Humans Are the Real Monsters include:
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