The Social Darwinist/Playing With

Basic Trope: A villain who believes in Survival of the Fittest.

• Straight: Bob, an ambitious and selfish Capitalist, believes that natural selection means the strong should rule and profit at the expense of the weak.
• Exaggerated: Bob, a racist tyrannical Evilutionary Biologist, desires to wipe out those with even the slightest sign of weakness and become the "Übermensch" through any means, even if it means causing the Apocalypse.
• Downplayed: Bob isn't a sociopath who takes matters into his own hands, but supports legalizing Euthanasia and promotes birth control not out of compassion but because of "population control" and "for the good of society as a whole".
• Justified: Bob lived (or grew up) in a dog-eat-dog environment which warped his philosophy.
• Inverted: A villain wants to preserve the poor and the weak while it is the heroes who subscribe to Survival of the Fittest.
• Subverted: Bob constantly talks about how stronger groups survive and weaker groups dissolve, but reveals that he isn't talking about warmongering dog-eat-dog-ism, but the benefits of friendship and mutual cooperation.
  • Bob looks like a Social Darwinist on the outside, but is revealed to have an Ill Girl sister who is valued by Bob even more than his very own life.
• Double Subverted: But he still acts like a Social Darwinist around people because he's a bit of a jerk, and he can.
  • Bob eventually dominates and tortures said Ill Girl because she's weak and he can.
• Parodied: Bob brings up a lengthy Hannibal Lecture about Survival of the Fittest, even giving the equivalent of an entire class in Biology, only to justify stealing candies from babies.
• Deconstructed: After losing many battles, Bob begins to see himself as inherently pathetic, weak and unworthy to his tastes, and is Driven to Suicide.
  • Bob's repulsive Social Darwinist behaviour drives away everyone, and thus is even more prone to being wiped out of the gene pool, since in Real Life cooperation is more advantageous for long-term survival than individual strength.
• Reconstructed: After losing many battles, Bob begins to see himself as inherently pathetic, weak and unworthy to his tastes, but instead of being Driven to Suicide, he responds with "I should improve myself anyway."
  • Bob does realize that in real life cooperation is more important than individual strength, making him decide that being a Manipulative Bastard would have greater benefits.
• Zig Zagged: Bob knows natural selection is a fact, but is repulsed by it, but then recommends that we should gain more power and the weak should be "euthanized".....
• Averted: There are no references to evolution around.
• Enforced: Author includes Darwin only to prove or disprove his points.
• Lampshaded: "Survival of the fittest, really? You Fail Darwin Forever!"
• Invoked: A religious conspiracy sets up a Social Darwinist extremist to discredit natural selection through Guilt By Association.
  • God or a group of Abusive Precursors made nature such a strength-favouring Crapsack World as an experiment.
• Exploited: A Manipulative Bastard uses the Social Darwinist fad to recruit henchmen (particularly the fit and confident ones) for his purposes.
• Defied: Bob, an evolutionary biologist who continuously writes about natural selection and survival of the fittest, gets accused as a Social Darwinist, but rejects the implication and encourages altruism.
• Discussed: "Why does it have to be that the strong should dominate the weak?"
• Conversed: "Social Darwinists. I hate these guys." "Why?" "First and foremost: Darwin does not work that way. They just give him a bad name."

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