History Main / PlausibleDeniability

* A rare example of this being used for a morally positive reason is the tradition of secret ballots during elections. The idea being that if ballots cannot be tied to any individual voters, it would become much harder to bribe or threaten said voter into choosing a specific option, as no one could prove what they have voted. (it is not, as certain people believe, a prohibition against `saying` who/what you voted for; otherwise campaigning would be basically impossible)

* A rare example of this being used for a morally positive reason is the tradition of secret ballots during elections. The idea being that if ballots cannot be tied to any individual voters, it would become much harder to bribe or threaten said voter into choosing a specific option, as no one could prove what they have voted. (it is not, as certain people believe, a prohibition against *saying* who/what you voted for; otherwise campaigning would be basically impossible)

* A rare example of this being used for a morally positive reason is the tradition of secret ballots during elections. The idea being that if ballots cannot be tied to any individual voters, it would become much harder to bribe or threaten said voter into choosing a specific option, as no one could prove what they have voted.

Plausible Deniability is when a person's involvement or culpability in an event might be denied, or at least mitigated, by creating a situation where they act in an opposing manner if they knew or at least prevents a paper trail connecting them directly to that event. It doesn't matter if they are the King, President, Prime Minister or CEO, they had no idea what their own team was doing. SuspiciouslySpecificDenial is common, an analyst may not have given them a complete record or they used [[DeadlyEuphemism any random word]] other than "assassination," but FacialDialogue says otherwise and to everyone on the inside the scope of events is an OpenSecret.

Plausible Deniability is when a person's involvement or culpability in an event might be denied, or at least mitigated, by creating a situation that prevents a paper trail connecting them directly to that event. It doesn't matter if they are the King, President, Prime Minister or CEO, they had no idea what their own team was doing. SuspiciouslySpecificDenial is common, an analyst may not have given them a complete record or they used [[DeadlyEuphemism any random word]] other than "assassination," but FacialDialogue says otherwise and to everyone on the inside the scope of events is an OpenSecret.

Plausible deniability is when a person's involvement or culpability in an event might be denied, or at least mitigated, by creating a situation that prevents a paper trail connecting them directly to that event. SuspiciouslySpecificDenial is common, someone may not have given them a complete record or they used [[DeadlyEuphemism any random word]] other than "assassination," but FacialDialogue says otherwise and to everyone on the inside the scope of events is an OpenSecret.

Plausible deniability is when a person's involvement or culpability in an event might be denied, or at least mitigated, by creating a situation that prevents a paper trail connecting them directly to that event. SuspiciouslySpecificDenial is common, someone may not have given them a complete record or they used [[DeadlyEuphemism any random word]] other than "assassination," but typically to everyone on the inside the scope of events is an OpenSecret.

Plausible deniability is a condition under which a person or persons' culpability might be denied, or at least mitigated, by pointing to a situation that either leads them to take the action they took, or to deny that they were responsible in the first place.

While intended in the context of more serious affairs, the term can refer to any number of trivial matters. Speaking at San Diego Comic-Con, prolific comic book writer, Len Wein explained the lack of original films, and the large number of sequels, prequel and spin-offs as well as adaptations of novels, comics, TV shows, video games and older movies, is because Hollywood "runs on the principle of plausible deniability," and that if studio executives can point to a good reason why they green-lit a turkey, it would be more ''plausible'' to ''deny'' their bad judgement by pointing to the property's existing market.

* The movie ''Film/MenInBlack'' (and the later [[AnimatedAdaptation animated]] [[WesternAnimation/MenInBlack series]]) gives our heroes the neuralyzer, [[LaserGuidedAmnesia a device to clear peoples' memories of a given event that had transpired concerning aliens]]. Theoretically, this gives them the power of "plausible deniability" beyond belief, although their excuses aren't always so plausible.

** After Shepard becomes a Spectre, which allows them to serve as JudgeJuryAndExecutioner, [[BigGood Admiral Hackett]] will repeatedly contact them about helping the [[TheFederation Systems Alliance]] clean up things that that the Alliance have been involved with that aren't ''entirely'' legal. These things include: Supporting a drug lord with arms (Mission: TrojanHorse Assassination), sending reconnaissance probes that will detonate with nuclear force if found (Mission: Recover/Destroy probe), and doing illegal AI research (Mission: Destroy). Another mission (The Negociation) is only given if you are far enough into the "Renegade" (GoodIsNotNice HairTriggerTemper jerk) of the KarmaMeter and has Shepard asked to "negociate" with a [[{{Jerkass}} very unpleasant]] criminal. If the talk happens to fail and you ''happen'' to have to kill the criminal, well the Alliance never ''technically'' ordered an assassination.

** Though it went beyond what could be considered reasonable when he still didn't reveal it or the scout ship contained there when the aliens actually turned up publicly, when such information would have been very useful, but waited until the President had actually denied there was any previous alien contact. He ends up getting fired for being obstructive later on.

** After Shepard becomes a Spectre, which allows them to serve as JudgeJuryAndExecutioner, [[BigGood Admiral Hackett]] will repeatedly contact them about helping the [[TheFederation Systems Alliance]] clean up things that that the Alliance have been involved with that aren't ''entirely'' legal. These things include: Supporting a drug lord with arms (Mission: TrojanHorse Assassination), sending reconnaissance probes that will detonate with nuclear force if found (Mission: Recover/Destroy probe), and doing illegal AI research (Mission: Destroy).

* The trope is named in the ''Series/{{Castle}}'' episode "Still" after Castle saves Beckett from a bomb and Beckett fights the urge to kiss Castle in front of Captain Gates:

* Most mercenary units in ''TabletopGame/{{BattleTech}}'' are used this way in the lore, especially in the lulls between the major Succession Wars. While the biggest merc companies are too well-known to get away with this, smalltime operators usually get used for raids and deniable small-scale missions because anyone can hire them and it's really hard to prove they got hired by your arch-rival.

-> '''''Number four:''''' ''If they don't reach a peace, that's alright:\\

* The same thing also occurs in Literature/ArtemisFowl thanks to mindwiping.
* In the classic science fiction story "What's the Name of That Town?" by Creator/RALafferty, Chicago has been destroyed in an unspecified catastrophe. The event was so traumatic that the very existence of the city has been wiped from historical records and everyone's memory. A sentient computer figures out the truth from a collection of disconnected clues, but the moment it has finished telling the real story to its human companions, the facts instantly once again disappear from everybody's mind and the computer's database.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
** As TheSpymaster for [[spoiler:Heaven]], "Mr. Sunshine," aka [[spoiler:the ArchangelUriel]], is seldom seen operating openly, instead mostly using {{Batman Gambit}}s to counter the forces of evil, or else helping people on the sly.
** This is also how the {{Masquerade}} in general works- supernatural beings aren't really worried about individual humans, but [[MugglePower no one wants to mess with them]] ''en masse,'' especially since humans started working with ColdIron. Therefore, they generally make sure that any explicitly supernatural business takes place away from the public eye, and it helps that a) magic tends to mess up any electronics made after WWII, and b) people have an incredible capacity for self-deception.
** In ''Literature/PeaceTalks'', Queen Mab orders Harry to [[YouOweMe grant two favours]] to Lara Raith on her behalf, with the strong implication that any request that could reflect poorly on Mab should ''not'' be linked back to her. Harry {{exploit|edTrope}}s this, convincing Mab to cooperate with one of his schemes by warning her that it's in her best interest not to know what he's doing.
* ''Literature/AscendanceOfABookworm'': Because of getting a punishment for a semi-accidental act of betrayal on their former mayor's part, a town named Hasse keeps the "festival" part of its Harvest Festival on the down low the second time Rozemyne visits it to collect taxes. Rozemyne however realizes that ''not'' giving the hotter heads in the town an opportunity to blow off steam may cause another unfortunate incident over the following winter. Knowing that the town usually has a FictionalSport tournament that is among the things that were cancelled, she tells the new mayor that she needs to discuss official matters with him in his office for a few hours and might not notice anything going on outside during that time, no matter how loud it gets.

* As mentioned in the page quote from ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'', duels between gentlemen typically had a doctor in attendance to treat anyone who was shot -- however, since duels were also typically ''illegal,'' the doctor kept his back to the action until shots were fired, then he could claim he'd just been passing by and happened to stumble upon a poor gentlemen who appeared to have fallen on a bullet.

* Brought up in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' when [[ColdSniper Lieutenant Hawkeye]] and Sergeant Fuery are engaged on a covert and very unauthorized mission to investigate potential wrongdoing within their own military government. Their superior Colonel Mustang is blocks away in his office, but in contact with them by phone (covering by pretending to chat with his girlfriend) and consequently hears it when they're attacked by a powerful opponent. He immediately rushes out to help them and [[ColonelBadass ends up saving their lives]] -- which prompts Hawkeye to call him an idiot and berate him for destroying his deniability, as, even if they had died, he could have claimed no knowledge of their actions and led the military to believe they were acting on their own. This being [[AFatherToHisMen Mustang]], he doesn't particularly care, although he acknowledges his actions as objectively stupid in terms of personal risk.

** This is also how the {{Masquerade}} in general works-supernatural beings aren't really worried about individual humans, but [[MugglePower no one wants to mess with them]] ''en masse,'' especially since humans started working with ColdIron. Therefore, they generally make sure that any explicitly supernatural business takes place away from the public eye, and it helps that a) magic tends to mess up any electronics made after WWII, and b) people have an incredible capacity for self-deception.

* The logic of execution by firing squad, as opposed to one person putting a bullet in the prisoner's head, invoked this trope. It allowed the shooters to execute the prisoner with a clearer conscience because none of them could say with certainty that ''their'' bullet was the one that ended the prisoner's life, further driven home by the fact that, at least in the US, one gun at random would be full of blank rounds.

* The logic of execution by firing squad as opposed to one person putting a bullet in the prisoner's head invoked this trope. It allowed the shooters to execute the prisoner with a clearer conscience because none of them could say with certainty that ''their'' bullet was the one that ended the prisoner's life, further driven home by the fact that, at least in the US, one gun at random would be full of blank rounds.