http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/YouCanNotKillAnIdea

John F. Kennedy "A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on. Ideas have endurance without death."

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What is the most resilient parasite? An idea. A single idea from the human mind can build cities, rewrite all the rules, and transform the world. Neither armies, nor dictators, nor even mortality have power over them; people die, but their ideas do not.

In fiction, we get heroes dying but hope passed onto the audience by knowing that somehow his idea has lived on. Sometimes the hero is a martyr and his death is a beginning as people use it for inspiration; they are throwing off some kind of mind-breaking torture attempt to show that the forces of fascism can't control them. A book of philosophy or some diary may have survived him, or one of his inner circle may tell his tale and so the story ends on a happy note, but not too happy. Our story is sad but the tide of inevitable revolution will come.

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The Trope Namer is WWII veteran and American civil rights activist Medgar Evers , who stated that "you can kill a man, but you can't kill an idea." He was later shot dead by a Klansman but the civil rights movement endured.

Super-Trope of Can't Stop the Signal. The characters who pass on the idea are likely Doomed Moral Victors. Likely to inspire an Innocent Bystander to make a Defiant Stone Throw. Compare We Are Everywhere for those bad ideas that can't be killed, As Long as There is Evil for evil in general that's can't be killed, and the "Neurovirus" or "Memetic Science" for bad ideas that deserve to die but are too sentient and/or too contagious to be killed by law of morality, man or god (and don't expect Time Travel or Villainous Rescue to fix it either). Compare the Streisand Effect. See also As Long as There Is One Man.

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Examples:

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Anime & Manga

One Piece: Both Gold Roger and Dr. Hiruluk died embracing this ideal. Gold Roger manages to start the Golden Age of Piracy. In the face of a Marine victory which could have snuffed out the Golden Age of Piracy, Whitebeard, with his last breath, proclaims that Roger's treasure does exist, thus reigniting the idea once more . The Marines were not happy with this. The villains of the Fishman Island arc attempt to invoke this, hoping to have their grudge against humans carry to the next generation by killing as many people as they can (humans and Fishman alike) when it looks like they're not going to win. As it turns out, you can kill an idea, if you do it with a contrary one. Luffy's human (though we use that loosely) crew fighting to protect Fishman Island causes that idea to blow up in their faces.

Happens in Code Geass. Lelouch's ideals were to fight against injustice and tyranny caused largely by the Britannian Empire. Later, he causes changes in the empire itself, and in the end helps make the world a better place for almost everyone, at the cost of his life and reputation, while passing on the torch of Zero to Suzaku. Earlier in the second season, Lelouch pulls off a Moment of Awesome by exploiting this trope. When cutting a deal with the Britannians, they want to know if he's the original and he gets them to agree that it doesn't matter, because anyone who wears the costume and espouses the beliefs is "Zero". Then when the Britannians announce that they're formally exiling Zero from Japan, a million of his supporters put on Zero costumes, meaning the Britannians are forced to exile all of them, giving him a million-strong army (the only reason why that same million isn't just exterminated on the spot on the off chance that the real Zero is among them and to give all other rebels a lesson (and they were seriously entertaining the idea) is because the one in charge (Suzaku) still held a degree of Honor Before Reason and had given his word that this agreement would be upheld no matter what).

After the formation of the team Dai Gurren in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Kamina dies in middle of the battle against every prediction. During the rest of the series, he is remembered constantly as a role model for the main cast, especially Simon... to the point that the new futuristic city is called Kamina City .

dies in middle of the battle against every prediction. During the rest of the series, he is remembered constantly as a role model for the main cast, especially Simon... to the point that the new futuristic city is called . In F-Zero GP Legend, before his base is destroyed, Black Shadow yells that he'll never die, nor will his dreams. Captain Falcon responds by Falcon Punching him.

In Dr. Stone, Tsukasa kills Senku after the latter refuses to give up science when they awaken after having turned to stone for the past 3700 years. Tsukasa fears that Senku's plans to use science to revive adults and bring back the corruption they inherently had would ruin the new stone world they found themselves in. However, Senku manages to survive the assassination attempt, and is amazed at a man named Chrome who had collected various items throughout his life, being fascinated by things and doing primitive experiments on them. Senku realizes that even had Tsukasa of killed him, he couldn't have been able to stop everyone who like Chrome, was innately curious about how the world worked. And sooner or later, humanity would rediscover much of the science and technology that had been lost from the old world.

Comic Books

Comic Strips

The Phantom: Go ahead, try to kill him. You might succeed, it won't help.

Fan Works

Films—Live-Action

Literature

Live-Action TV

Mythology and Religion

Rather epically summarized by Odin during Ragnarök: Old Norse: Deyr fé, deja frændr, deyr sjalfr it sama, en orðstírr deyr aldregi, hveim er sér góðan getr. Norwegian: Fe dør, frende dør, en sjøl dør på samme vis; men ordets glans skal aldri dø i ærefullt ettermæle English: Cattle die, kinsmen die, we ourselves also die; but the fair fame never dies of him who has earned it.

Music

Peter Gabriel invokes this trope in the song "Biko", a tribute to South African martyr Steven Biko, with following lyric: "You can blow out a candle, but you can't blow out a fire,

Once the flames begin to catch, the wind will blow it higher."

The point of the song "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night", as recorded by Paul Robeson, Joan Baez, and others.

German folk song "Die Gedanken sind frei" ("Thoughts are free") is all about this. Sophie Scholl, a member of the White Rose, famously played the song on her flute outside the walls of Ulm prison in 1942, where her father Robert had been detained for calling Hitler a scourge of God.

The Aviators song "Bulletproof" is all about this: "You can shoot me down, but you're never gonna hide the truth / 'Cause words are bulletproof."

The Abolitionist song "John Brown's Body" has this as it's central theme. John Brown was fed up with the movement's attempts to peacefully end slavery in the U.S. and tried to start a slave rebellion in Virginia, which ended in his arrest and eventual hanging for treason (the first person convicted of the crime in the U.S.). John Brown's raid of the federal armory in Harper's Ferry, Virginia (today West Virginia) occured less then two years before the start of the American Civil War. In fact, the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" was set to the tune of this song. Old John Brown's body lies moldering in the grave, While weep the sons of bondage whom he ventured all to save; But tho he lost his life while struggling for the slave, His soul is marching on.

Tabletop Games

One of the Madness talents in Don't Lose Your Mind grants you a knife that can cut, sever or kill anything, including ideas. There's always a ritual quality to such an act — dubbed memeticide — for instance, slitting Fidel Castro's throat would kill the idea of Communism in Cuba, meaning the idea not only gets forgotten but loses all momentum and will never be taken seriously anymore. That being said, the knife can also cut off flaws, sever abusive relationships, and kill personal demons.

— for instance, slitting Fidel Castro's throat would kill the idea of Communism in Cuba, meaning the idea not only gets forgotten but loses all momentum and will never be taken seriously anymore. That being said, the knife can also cut off flaws, sever abusive relationships, and kill personal demons. Mage: The Awakening: Inverted — you quite literally can go into the collective Dream Land of humanity's subconscious, find the embodiment of an idea, and kill it. The most powerful archmages can snuff out a concept from every mind on Earth in this way.

Mage: The Ascension inverts it too. This from the Revised Void Engineer splatbook: One Deviant told me that I could take his life, but I could never kill his dreams. This was incorrect. The standard protocol for killing an RDs dreams requires two sniper/spotter teams with Primium hypervelocity weapon loads, and an officer operating a hyperdimensional field generator. Lets practice now.

Theatre

The New Moon: In the Finale Act I, after the masks come off and Robert is captured: Ribaud: So, Monsieur Beaunoir, the sooner your ship can set sail, the sooner we can treat Paris to a most amusing execution.

Robert (as men sing "Stouthearted Men" offstage): All right, Ribaud, you have won, but long after my amusing execution something will live after me. Listen! You hear that—that song, that spirit will destroy you and your king, and all the cruelty you stand for!

Video Games

Webcomics

Remus Shepard had a go at this in Indefensible Positions, then deconstructed it in Genocide Man. In the former ideas are actually living creatures known as demons, but are dependent on belief from humans to survive. However, the protagonist of the latter argues that an idea can be killed and that some ideas ''should'' be killed —even if the only way to do so is to slaughter every single person who holds the idea.

Web Original

SCP Foundation: "Tell me, little girl, how does one kill an idea?" "With better ideas." Unfortunately for the good guys, they don't have one. The end.

Western Animation

Real Life