Talk:Ken Kaneki/@comment-128.239.208.159-20160303050623/@comment-25047329-20160304080352

He was always extremely uncomfortable with the idea of species turning against their own kind. Early on in the series, one of the things that disturbed Kaneki the most about ghouls is how they wouldn't hesitate to injure or outright kill each other. Seeing Nishiki kill a ghoul in cold blood, attack him for being in his territory, then Touka attack Nishiki very much solidifying the idea that the ghoul world was a dog eat dog world was one of the things that sent him into an emotional breakdown. The idea that a species would be so cruel towards their own kind was mind blowing for him at the time.

Kaneki is half ghoul, but was born and spent most of his life as a human. He was never really comfortable as a ghoul and deep down probably still considers himself more human. He's perfectly aware that the lives of humans and ghouls are equal, but he has a deep seated aversion to harming humans if only out of a broad sense of kinship.

Hypocritical? Yes. Understandable? Also yes. He didn't grow up in the ghoul world and was always taught that ghouls were monsters. Not killing humans if he could help it separated him from the "monsters", and for better or for worse, was one of the things that helped him keep his sanity and kept him grounded.