History Main / VerbalJudo

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** Vetinari, of course, has been known to defuse ''wars'' with Verbal Judo.

* One of [[Literature/JeevesAndWooster Jeeves]]' many superpowers. Just when things look blackest, he'll often settle everything by coming out of nowhere and politely making a brilliant suggestion or giving everyone the wrong impression.

* Creator/TimAllen claims to have gotten into comedy because of this. [[ItMakesSenseInContext When he was in prison for drug dealing]], he ended up running afoul of a big angry guy who was just shy of beating the snot out of Tim. Tim's reaction? He started doing P-P-P-Porky Pig impersonations, causing the guy to drop him and start laughing. He figured out that being the guy who could make people laugh went far for making his stay in prison better than it could have been.

** However, this anecdote's purpose is actually to ''{{deconstruct|ion}}'' Verbal Judo -- the passage was under the heading "The False Choice of Pacifism". Harris goes on to say that far from being wisdom, as many would be inclined to call it, he considers what he did "an example of moral failure":
--->"My ethical failure, as I see it, is that I never actually ''opposed'' their actions -- hence they never received any correction from the world. They were merely diverted for a time, and to only a single woman's advantage. The next woman who became the object of their predations will have little cause to thank me. Even if a frank intercession on the woman's behalf would have guaranteed my own injury, a clear message would have been sent: not all strangers will stand idly by as you beat and abduct a woman in the street. The action I took sent no such message."
** The basic idea is that certain kinds of Verbal Judo don't always address the root of the problem, thus it may only serve as a superficial band-aid with no lasting effects; on the other hand, a proper confrontation, while risky and probably unpleasant, may actually be of greater benefit in the long run.

* At the climax of ''Literature/AmericanGods'', [[spoiler:Shadow diffuses an imminent war between the old and new gods with a short but effective speech laying out how it was all part of Odin's conspiracy to get themselves to kill each other in his name.]]

* As narrated [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NW3RLnXmTY here]], Reverend Wade Watts dealt with being repeatedly hassled by the UsefulNotes/KuKluxKlan by responding with unflappable good cheer and humour. This culminated when a group of them accosted him at a restaurant and told him they'd do to him everything he did to the chicken on his plate. He carefully picked up the chicken and kissed it, causing ''everyone'' there to laugh, [[ActuallyPreytyFunny even the people trying to harass him]]. They gave up trying after that, and the guy in the video eventually switched to his side to oppose the KKK.

* As narrated [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NW3RLnXmTY here]], Reverend Wade Watts dealt with being repeatedly hassled by the UsefulNotes/KuKluxKlan by responding with unflappable good cheer and humour. This culminated when a group of them accosted him at a restaurant and told him they'd do to him everything he did to the chicken on his plate. He carefully picked up the chicken and kissed it, causing ''everyone'' there to laugh, even the people trying to harass him. They gave up trying after that, and the guy in the video eventually switched to his side to oppose the KKK.

** At the beginning, when Cain has been assigned to a regiment with considerable internal tension, he soon finds himself facing a violent fight bordering on riot among the soldiers. He's about to sneak out, but someone shouts out to him and attracts everyone's attention to him. Knowing trying to flee now would only get him killed, he suddenly starts giving orders for the troopers to clean the mess, making them pause in surprise and realise how out of hand the situation has got, and giving a perfect example of the confusion strategy. A ThatsAnOrder later, Cain having successfully asserted authority, the situation becomes easy to deal with.

** At the beginning, when Cain has been assigned to a regiment with considerable internal tension, he soon finds himself facing a violent fight bordering on riot among the soldiers. When they start fighting the provosts sent to quell the fight as well, he's about to sneak out, but someone shouts out to him and attracts everyone's attention to him. Knowing trying to flee now would only get him killed, he suddenly starts giving orders for the troopers to clean the mess, making them pause in surprise and realise how out of hand the situation has got, and giving a perfect example of the confusion strategy. A ThatsAnOrder later, Cain having successfully asserted authority, the situation becomes easy to deal with.

** In ''Discworld/NightWatch'', Vimes finds himself in Ankh-Morpork of the past and commanding a Watch house at a time when there's widespread dissent and angry mobs are starting to coalesce around all Watch houses. Knowing a riot is just waiting to happen, he tells his men to not carry weapons but instead visibly do ordinary harmless things in the yard to avoid their looking to the surrounding people like FacelessGoons. When he himself confronts the mob, it's calmly and while lighting a smoke, and he makes sure that when a drunken troublemaker tries to break a bottle in his hand and only ends up hurting himself, the scene everyone sees is Vimes harmlessly standing at a distance with his hands occupied, with no possibility for even a mob to mistake him as having attacked. Then he takes the man in to be treated for the wound, leaving the doors open. His Watch house ends up being the only one that isn't targeted that night.
** In ''Discworld/{{Snuff}}'', Vimes does this ''after'' deliberately accepting the challenge to a fight from an aggressive local blacksmith in the countryside who's taking issue with his noble status. Even before the fight starts, he makes the man uncertain about whether he's getting in over his head, and once it does start, he only needs to show his street fighting skills with a few moves before quietly suggesting they stop the fight there before it gets real so that the other can at least save his face... both socially and literally.

** In ''Discworld/NightWatch'', Vimes finds himself in Ankh-Morpork of the past and commanding a Watch house at a time when there's widespread dissent and angry mobs are starting to coalesce around all Watch houses. Knowing a riot is just waiting to happen, he tells his men to not carry weapons but instead visibly do ordinary harmless things in the yard to avoid their looking to the surrounding people like FacelessGoons. When he himself confronts the mob, it's calmly and while lighting a smoke, and he makes sure that when a drunken troublemaker tries to break a bottle in his hand and only ends up hurting himself, the scene everyone sees is Vimes harmlessly standing at a distance with his hands occupied, with no possibility for even a mob to mistake him as having attacked. Then he takes the man in to be treated for the wound. His Watch house ends up being the only one that doesn't suffer a riot that night.

* ''Series/Ransom'' has this trope in its DNA. The show is about crisis negotiators and many episodes feature them talking down someone holding hostages.

** Vetinari, of course, has been known to defuse ''wars'' with VerbalJudo.

* In ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'', if you pick the right options you can use VerbalJudo to defuse fights or stop them from turning physical, whether the conflict is between two other characters or between [[PlayerCharacter Lee]] and another character.

** However, this anecdote's purpose is actually to ''{{deconstruct|ion}}'' VerbalJudo -- the passage was under the heading "The False Choice of Pacifism". Harris goes on to say that far from being wisdom, as many would be inclined to call it, he considers what he did "an example of moral failure":

** The basic idea is that certain kinds of VerbalJudo don't always address the root of the problem, thus it may only serve as a superficial band-aid with no lasting effects; on the other hand, a proper confrontation, while risky and probably unpleasant, may actually be of greater benefit in the long run.

* In {{Kim}}, Kim defends himself and the Red Lama by making fun of potential aggressors.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* In an episode of ''NewTricks'', Sandra Pullman is faced with a biker gang member in the back seat of her car threatening to shoot her in retaliation for what his gang did to him for talking to the police. Spurred by something he says, she starts thinking out loud about the current case. After buying some time that way, she comes to some conclusions that cause the other to break down and lower the gun -- as the case was his father's murder -- and then punches him out irritably [[OffhandBackhand in passing]] while he's angsting.

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* In ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'' the princesses are RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething. As a result, they are good at verbal judo. When Princess Ren hears that the Whistler family, who saved her little sister, has been found to be armed up to the teeth (though they ''did'' turn in all of their weapons), she tells a servant to make sure her mothers know that Jerin was in incredible danger just a short time ago, to make them look like innocent victims, anxious for the safety of their brother, instead of the BadassFamily they are.

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** However, this anecdote's purpose is actually to ''{{deconstruct|ion}}'' VerbalJudo — the passage was under the heading "The False Choice of Pacifism". Harris goes on to say that far from being wisdom, as many would be inclined to call it, he considers what he did "an example of moral failure":
--->"My ethical failure, as I see it, is that I never actually ''opposed'' their actions — hence they never received any correction from the world. They were merely diverted for a time, and to only a single woman's advantage. The next woman who became the object of their predations will have little cause to thank me. Even if a frank intercession on the woman's behalf would have guaranteed my own injury, a clear message would have been sent: not all strangers will stand idly by as you beat and abduct a woman in the street. The action I took sent no such message."

** An [[BadAss almost completely different]] example in "Dragonshy": Rainbow Dash pulls a LeeroyJenkins on the giant dragon and provokes him to attack the ponies. [[CowardlyLion Fluttershy]], finally forgetting her own fear of dragons when she sees her friends being attacked, flies right up to his face and starts telling him off for it, instantly changing the anger to shocked surprise. Combining the surprise effect with that of her DeathGlare and absolutely steely assertiveness, she eventually has him crying and then leaving peacefully.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft: Walords of Draenor'', there's a scene in which Chieftain Durotan's hot-headed brother Ga'nar comes to him enraged that he refused to take part in his campaign of revenge and challenges him to a duel for the leadership of the clan. Durotan asks him whether he thinks this is what their father would have wanted, and throws down his weapon and tells Ga'nar to go ahead and kill him. That's enough to make Ga'nar stand down and accept his leadership again.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft: Walords of Draenor'', there's a scene in which Chieftain Durotan's hot-headed brother Ga'nar comes to him enraged that he refused to take part in his campaign of revenge and challenges him to a duel for the leadership of the clan. Durotan asks him whether he thinks this is what their father would have wanted, and throws down his weapon and tells Ga'nar to go ahead and kill him. That's enough to make Ga'nar stand down.

-->'''Reid:''' [[CrowningMomentOfFunny I dunno,]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome maybe.]]