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11->''"When I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally."''
12-->-- '''UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln''', Statement to an Indiana Regiment passing through Washington (17 March 1865)
13
14A situation in which a character promotes an action, revolution or social system that harms or will harm other people, under the assumption that it will not harm ''them''. They will invariably discover that they were wrong, with the double whammy of knowing they supported the measure that caused their suffering when they thought it would happen to 'somebody else'.
15
16Imagine that Bob attends a banquet for 200 people at the mayor's house. When he arrives, he is informed that they made an error when ordering the food: there is enough steak for the first 100 guests, but everyone else will have to make do with vegetables. Bob, looking around and seeing the room less than half full, says he thinks this is fair. Only afterward does he see the ''second'' dining room, filled up with people who arrived earlier, and realize that he isn't going to be in the group that gets a full dinner.
17
18Poor Bob. He would have been wiser to remember the thought experiment from which this trope takes its name: John Rawls' [[Analysis/OriginalPositionFallacy "original position"]], which says that the only fair laws are those passed from behind the hypothetical "veil of ignorance" (i.e. you don't know whether you'll benefit or suffer from the change). If he had realized he could be in the group that wouldn't get a steak, he might have suggested serving half portions so everyone could have some meat. Instead, he refused to share 'his' steak, and that was his [[{{Pun}} missed steak]].
19
20The main use of this trope is to show that blind self-interest is a bad thing — Bob shouldn't have been so quick to give "someone else" a steak-less dinner when he thought ''his'' meal would be fine. If he is fortunate, the plot will hand him a second chance to approach the question — presumably with a bit more compassion this time. But in many cases it's too late for regrets: Bob has his vegetables, and now he must eat them.
21
22Of course, it is also possible that the mayor — who ''did'' know the outcome and ''could'' assign the menu options — steered Bob into making a choice that was worse for him, perhaps to damn him by his own words. Call it an "Original Position Gambit" if you will. This trope is also one of the places where OffTheTable doesn't shift sympathy away from the person who refuses to re-extend the offer. ("Oh, Bob wants everyone to share their steak ''now''? Too bad.")
23
24A character whose thinking falls into the Original Position Fallacy may start out as a HellSeeker, end up as a BoomerangBigot, DirtyCoward, or any combination thereof. One category of person particularly vulnerable to this thinking is the SubParSupremacist. If someone pulled the gambit version on Bob, it was probably a MagnificentBastard skilled in GambitSpeedChess. See also TheWindowOrTheStairs, which weaponizes this trope by disguising the worse option as the better one.
25
26This fallacy also drives a ProphecyTwist or two - someone hearing a prophecy thinks it'll come true on terms that'll be favourable to them, or that they'll [[NoManOfWomanBorn never be in a situation where the prophecy might screw them over]]. May result in a KarmicTransformation or a ColorMeBlack situation; sometimes forms the 'twist' of a KarmicTwistEnding. Contrast WhoWillBellTheCat, where a change that would benefit most at the cost of a few never gets implemented because no one wants to be "the few." And contrast NoPlaceForMeThere who are happy with the situation, ''even if'' they become the victim.
27
28Closely related to MoralMyopia, ProtagonistCenteredMorality and ExcuseBoomerang. Compare ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine, where one receives the same poor treatment they inflicted on others as a form of revenge. The InvertedTrope is of course TheGoldenRule: Only do things unto others that you can agree would be fair if done unto you.
29----
30!!Examples:
31[[foldercontrol]]
32
33[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
34* ''Anime/CrossAnge'': Humans exile Norma ([[UnSorcerer humans who cannot use Mana and negate Mana that comes into contact with them]]) to an island in the middle of nowhere to act as SlaveMooks to protect their CrapsaccharineWorld, making them UnPerson. Princess Angelise of the Mitsurugi Empire considers this entirely appropriate... until it turns out in the first episode that she's a Norma herself and her royal parents had covered it up. The fallacy is pointed out to her face in episode three.
35* In ''Manga/DeathNote'', Light Yagami spends much of the series as TheSocialDarwinist, believing that anyone he assassinated with the Death Note deserved it. Naturally he doesn't believe the same of himself. [[spoiler:In the manga, at least, he screams and pleads with anyone to try to extend his own life once Ryuk writes Light's name into his own Death Note. In other versions, once he's been identified as the wielder of the Death Note, Light makes a run for it.]]
36* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', both the Emperor of Xerxes and the military leadership of Amestris fall victim to this. They both conspire with Father, the original Homunculus, to commit mass human sacrifice in order to achieve immortality; none of them realize that their immortality [[AndIMustScream will consist of having their souls transmuted into a Philosopher's Stone]].
37* ''Anime/MonsterRancher'': [[TheQuisling Allan]] wants to join Moo, assuming that he'll get to be in charge because he's human. He fails to consider that Moo might not ''want'' human followers, or that many of the monsters working for Moo want {{Revenge}} on abusive trainers like him. He's shocked beyond belief when the Seed Sisters [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves immediately betray him]] and offer Worm the chance to do the same.
38* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Danzo was all in favor of instructing his ninjas to sacrifice themselves if need be, in part because his own high rank made his chances of doing so himself extremely low. In a rare variation of this trope, [[HypocrisyNod he was aware of this hypocrisy and hated himself for it]]. Even more so because when he was younger, he hesitated at a crucial moment and instead it was his master the Second Hokage who [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificed himself for the sake of the village]]. [[spoiler:Ultimately he does end up making one to stop Tobi from getting Shishui's eye.]]
39[[/folder]]
40
41[[folder:Comic Books]]
42* ''ComicBook/BatmanYearOne'': At a dinner party at Carmine Falcone's mansion, [[CorruptCop Commissioner Loeb]] assures Falcone and a group of Gotham's elites that Batman is actually good for them in the long run: a vigilante beating up a few street-level thugs and drug dealers helps the city's inhabitants to feel safe, ''"and the safer they feel, the fewer questions they ask"''. Then Batman crashes the party and tells the assembled elites that he holds '''all''' of them accountable for Gotham's misery, and ''"none of you are safe."'' First thing the next morning, Loeb is bellowing at Lt. Gordon:
43-->'''Loeb''': No excuses! That vigilante bastard goes down instantly, or it's your job!
44* In ''ComicBook/ChickTracts'', one of the most common types of StrawLoser is the guy who isn't afraid of {{Hell}}. One variant of this is that he believes that hell exists and that it is a horrible place for the damned, but also believes that [[DemonOfHumanOrigin he'll be one of Satan's demons reigning in hell]]. His fate invariably turns out to be much crueler. (The two other main variants are [[HollywoodAtheist those who don't believe that hell exists]] and those who think that it's [[AHellOfATime not such a bad place]].)
45* One pre-Comics Code horror story ("The Pit of Horror!", ''Adventures into Weird Worlds'' #10, September 1952) features the Devil noticing that hell isn't much of a scary place anymore, so he abducts and hires a human efficiency expert to whip the place into shape. After a few months, the demons are sadistic torturers and hell is once again filled with the screams of the damned, so the Devil pays the expert with a chest of jewels -- and informs him he had only a few minutes left to live on Earth, so not much point in going back! The expert's soul is judged and sent to hell... where his former students (who resent him for [[TyrantTakesTheHelm making them work hard]] when they'd gotten used to slacking off) are very eager to show off their progress. Read it [[http://thehorrorsofitall.blogspot.com/2016/01/satan-is-waitin-pit-of-horror.html here.]]
46* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': The worldwide nuclear war behind most of the setting's problems was started by the American president, certain as he was that the US's radiation shields would prevent fallout from affecting them. He was disbelievingly disabused of this notion ''after'' the nukes started flying.
47* ''ComicBook/Prez2015'': Boss Smiley and his fellow corporate cads scheme to get a bill passed that will enable them to copyright the DNA of living things, but are coerced into reversing this when Beth retaliates by having trillionaire Fred Wayne acquire the rights to their DNA and demand they either pay him royalties whenever they take action or die.
48* ''ComicBook/TheWalkingDead'': From the fall of the prison safe zone onwards, Rick and Abraham stress that survival is the most important thing and that morals simply hold people back. They end up profoundly shaken when they meet those who take such ideas to their natural conclusion; Gabriel, who abandoned his congregation to hide in his church, The Hunters, who cannibalized survivors, and Eugene, [[spoiler:who lied about being able to cure the zombie virus to save his own skin]]. In the end, they conclude that they have to set better examples and that the zombie apocalypse can’t be an excuse to do otherwise.
49* ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' by Creator/AlanMoore tackles this with his superheroes Rorscharch and the Comedian.
50** Both of them are {{Sociopathic Hero}}es who take on positions of StrawNihilist and TheAntinihilist respectively. They keep telling people that SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids, that they alone know "the truth" about the absurdity and harshness of the world. Then they come face to face with someone who internalizes their sayings and decides to do something about it, and their facade of cynicism cracks.
51** Rorschach earlier espoused support of UsefulNotes/HarryTruman using the atomic bombs to end UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, saying it was a terrible act that saved millions. [[spoiler:When he comes across Ozymandias who uses a similar justification to unleash an attack on UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity (as a GenghisGambit to end the UsefulNotes/ColdWar and avert an incipient nuclear war), he denounces this action and states that he will expose the truth instead, only for him to be killed by Dr. Manhattan, one more sacrifice for the greater good. It's implied that this is sort of SuicideByCop due to Rorshach being unable to reconcile the outcome of Ozymandias's actions with his own BlackAndWhiteMorality.]]
52[[/folder]]
53
54[[folder:Comic Strips]]
55* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'':
56** In one strip Calvin complains to Hobbes that the ends should justify the means: you shouldn't get in trouble if you get what you want. Hobbes promptly pushes Calvin into the mud, saying that Calvin was in his way but now he's not, so the ends justify the means. An irate Calvin shouts that [[MoralMyopia he only meant for him, not for everybody]].
57** Another strip has Calvin decide to become a fatalist. That way, if bad things happen he's not responsible for them. [[TheGadfly Cue Hobbes tripping him into the mud puddle again.]]
58--->'''Hobbes:''' Too bad you were fated to do that.\
59'''Calvin:''' THAT WASN'T FATE!
60* In one ''ComicStrip/{{Foxtrot}}'' story arc, Jason is afflicted with poison oak and torments his older sister Paige by telling her that he touched all her stuff. Her mother Andy tells her she's being ridiculous, because the odds of poison oak being spread that way are virtually nil.
61-->'''Paige''': I don't care! Will you tell him to stop?!\
62'''Andy''': If you want me to humor you, fine. Where is he?\
63'''Paige''': He's using your computer.\
64'''Andy''': [[SuddenlyShouting Not without]] '''[[SuddenlyShouting gloves]]''', [[SuddenlyShouting he's not]]!
65* There's one ''ComicStrip/NonSequitur'' arc wherein Danae visits an alternate reality where every person on earth had one wish come true. She and her alternate come across a mockable politician, and the alternate Danae explains that he'd wished that slavery would become legal again. Danae then asks "And what about the guy who owns him?" The alternate says that he made the same wish.
66* Humorously averted in a Dutch ''Sjors & Sjimmie'' comic. Their guardian [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep the Colonel]] is outraged when hearing the news that [[TheNewRockAndRoll a Disco has opened]] in their town, while in another town's disco a man causing a violent disturbance was given a mere slap on the wrist. But as part of his attempts [[MoralGuardian to get the title characters to not go to their town's disco]], he's arrested for causing a violent disturbance in that disco. The comic ends with The Colonel on a [[DisproportionateRetribution medieval execution platform, complete with an axewielding headsmen]]... and him being happy that at least in their town they don't just give violent offenders a slap on the wrist.
67[[/folder]]
68
69[[folder:Fairy Tales]]
70* Happens quite a lot in fairy tales. The usual scenario is that at the wedding of the long-suffering female protagonist, the king will ask whoever tormented her what the proper punishment should be for a series of crimes (these crimes inevitably being the ones they did to her). The evil characters grab the IdiotBall and callously suggest something horrible (e.g. "They should be put into red hot iron shoes and forced to dance until dead"), which [[HoistByHisOwnPetard is promptly done to them]].
71** "Literature/TheThreeLittleMenInTheWood": After his son's baptism, the king asks his mother-in-law what should be done to someone who drags another person out of their bed and throws them in the water. The old woman answers, "The wretch deserves nothing better than to be taken and put in a barrel stuck full of nails, and rolled downhill into the water." And so it is done.
72** Creator/TheBrothersGrimm's ''Literature/TheGooseGirl'': The chambermaid impersonating a princess is asked how to punish a servant who deceived her master -- not realising that her deception is already known. She vindictively calls for the false servant to be dragged around in a barrel studded with nails until death, and so she meets her end.
73** Giambattista Basile's ''[[https://web.archive.org/web/20200130182233/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/pentamerone/2myrtle1911.html The Myrtle]]'' ends with six jealous murderesses BuriedAlive, just as they suggested should be done to anyone who dared harm the prince's lovely bride (she came BackFromTheDead).
74* There is a fairy tale where a LazyBum hears about an island of one-eyed men, so he decides to go there, kidnap one, and make a living from TheFreakshow. He didn't even consider the fact that two-eyed man is quite the freak show for the one-eyed...
75* One Eastern European folktale features a married couple who become upset when the wife's aged father comes to live with them. When the old man drops and breaks a ceramic bowl, they angrily scold him, give him a wooden bowl to use, and banish him from the table to eat alone. Later, the husband sees their young son playing with some scraps of wood and ask what he's doing; the boy [[ObliviousGuiltSlinging innocently replies]] "I'm making a wooden bowl, so that when you and Mama are old, I can feed you from it!" The husband and wife have a quick HeelRealization, apologize to the grandfather, and welcome him back to the table without another word of complaint.
76** A variant of this story is also told in Japan: this time, the patriarch of a large family becomes upset with his aged father's feebleness and tells his children to bring him a large basket so he can take the old man to the river and drown him. The man's youngest daughter promptly replies "When you have finished, bring back the basket -- we will need it for you someday."
77[[/folder]]
78
79[[folder:Fan Works]]
80* ''Fanfic/{{Ancienverse}}'': As part of DARC, Michael sets out to activate the Ultimate Weapon and turn its power against the world... without ever considering that ''he'' might end up on the wrong end of that power. Something that leads to [[spoiler:his demise when it fires upon him]].
81* ''Fanfic/{{Cain}}'': Bakugo's outlook in life is, to put it simply, "Heroes are winners, villains are losers". Since he's always been protected and privileged by everyone around himself, he thinks himself a winner, and thus, a hero, while Izuku (whom he has bullied for a decade because he is [[FantasticAbleism Quirkless]]) is a loser, and thus, a villain. But the moment Bakugo "loses" (as in, not getting everything he wants in the exact way he wants it) he decides that the person who beat him (by getting something he can't have) is a cheater, a manipulator, and (of course) a villain.
82* [=NeutralMime's=] ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/38447836/chapters/112727180 Chameleon: alternate ending]]'' uses this in its 'Adrien version'. Even after Marinette reveals how Lila threatened her in the bathroom and nearly got her akumatized, he [[DramaticallyMissingThePoint focuses on how]] she managed to ''avoid'' the butterfly, declaring that's proof they don't ''NEED'' to expose Lila since [[BecauseYouCanCope she can just keep dodging akuma]]. Then Marinette reveals how Lila had stolen his father's book and nearly gotten him yanked out of school... and Adrien promptly turns around and cheerfully informs their classmates of Lila's true nature. The abrupt about-face leaves Marinette stunned by the realization that he was fine with leaving Lila alone so long as ''he'' wasn't the one being hurt.
83* ''Fanfic/HarryIsADragonAndThatsOk'': Professor Umbridge puts up a number of blatantly and aggressively pro-human and authoritarian posters around Hogwarts -- without putting her name on them, so even Hermione feels no qualms about pulling them down. When Professor Umbridge complains to the Headmaster about it, he agrees that letting people put up anonymous posters might be worth a try -- so he announces that ''anyone'' can put up posters, and that people should please not take them down. Umbridge soon has reason to regret her request, as large numbers of much more creative and impressive posters appear in support of the "unusually shaped" students, including many that express thanks to them for how helpful they've been, along with some that poke fun at Umbridge herself.
84-->Then there was one which asked if anyone had seen an escaped toad, adding that the toad in question had a Dreadful on its Defence course and seemed to think it could teach the subject anyway.
85* ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality'': This is the one thing that pragmatic and bitterly cynical Professor Quirrell actually likes about democracy, that it brings LaserGuidedKarma to people who don't think it through.
86-->'''Quirrell ''': You see, Mr. Potter, no one ever quite believes that ''they'' will go to Azkaban, so they see no harm in it for themselves. As for what they inflict on others... I suppose you were once told that people care about that sort of thing? It is a lie, Mr. Potter, people don't care in the slightest, and if you had not led a vastly sheltered childhood you would have noticed that long ago. Console yourself with this: those now prisoner in Azkaban voted for the same Ministers of Magic who pledged to move their cells closer to the Dementors.
87* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/30374208 He Can Only Blame Himself]]'': Since Adrien already knew Lila was a ManipulativeBitch [[BitchInSheepsClothing in Sheep's Clothing]], he assumed that she'd never be able to trick him. As adults, Lila drives a wedge between him and Marinette by claiming his overworked girlfriend is ''intentionally'' [[CareerVersusMan choosing her career over their relationship]], seducing him into cheating on Marinette with her.
88* ''Fanfic/TheKarmaOfLies'': Adrien presumes that Lila's scheming and scamming doesn't ''really'' matter because he's already aware of her [[BitchInSheepsClothing true nature]]; thus, nothing she does can really impact ''HIM''. The fact that she's conning his classmates isn't a big deal since he's not personally affected (and he's [[RichInDollarsPoorInSense too rich to understand how much they're losing]]). Naturally, Lila exploits his MoralMyopia to string him along, luring him into [[TheFarmerAndTheViper helping her out despite knowing what she's like]], then stabs him in the back for a major payday. Then and ''only'' then is he willing to tell the others that she's a ConArtist, with his classmates abandoning him when they learn that he's known from the start and happily watched her grift them of their most prized belongings.
89** ''Fanfic/TwoLetters'', a SpiritualSuccessor story by the same author, also invokes this trope with Mayor Bourgeois. He wanted a Ladybug who could be bribed into supporting his corrupt activities, but he forgot that he's not the only person around who wants Ladybug's endorsement, and that the original Ladybug's honesty was the only thing stopping her from being paid by those other people to destroy him. So, when Marinette retires and her SketchySuccessor [[spoiler:also known as Lila Rossi]] takes over and begins accepting bribes, Bourgeois finds himself going broke making bigger and bigger payments just to keep her from being bought by someone else who wants her to denounce him.
90* ''Fanfic/KnightOfSalem'': Vernal gets incredibly tired with Tyrian's threats to fight her to the death whenever she doesn't do something he wants, and as such calls him out on it. His retort? He's merely following the Branwen Tribe's own rules, and rightfully points out she's upset because she's on the losing end of the argument.
91-->'''Tyrian''': Make a society where I can win arguments by stabbing people to death and I'm going to start stabbing.
92* In ''Fanfic/MutantStorm'', Pansy Parkinson spends a lot of time claiming that other girls should be happy and pleased with their place in life once Voldemort takes over. Then, Bellatrix Lestrange gets killed, and Pansy gets a letter demanding she take her place as the Dark Lord's concubine without anyone caring about her opinion. The next day, she's groveling at the feet of the other side.
93* ''Fanfic/OneForAllAndEightForTheNinth'': Many of the grunt level members of the Meta Liberation Army support the group's quirk supremacy views because it lets them feel special despite their own weak quirks. Re-Destro lampshades that none of them consider that once there are no more Quirkless people, they'll be the ones on the bottom of the totem pole. Furthermore, because the MLA believes a person's value is based on the strength of their Quirk, they have no problem sacrificing hundreds of {{mooks}} to benefit their cause.
94* ''Fanfic/TheRigelBlackChronicles'': Daphne Greengrass [[spoiler:is a proud pureblood -- until an ancestry potion reveals that her mother had an affair with a muggle-born wizard and she's actually a half-blood, causing her to be expelled from Hogwarts]]. Harry calls for compassion and understanding from her friends (some of whom are rather scathing of Daphne), pointing out that it could in theory happen to them too.
95-->'''Harry:''' What if it had been you? How would you feel if [[spoiler:you found out tomorrow that you were a halfblood and your family lied to you? Would you feel like you didn't deserve to be here? Like it was okay to rip four years of hard work out from under you for something that wasn't your fault]]? Would you feel like a monster? Or would you feel exactly the same as you do today, and the world would seem monstrous instead?
96* ''Fanfic/TruthAndConsequences'': Marinette accepted Master Fu's insistence upon protecting their identities and the secrets of the Miraculouses as much as possible, even when that meant Chat Noir was LockedOutOfTheLoop. After all, it was "safer that way", right...? When the other Miraculous Masters are forced to reveal more details during the heroes' DarkestHour, however, she's taken aback to learn that Master Fu was lying to ''her'' as well, and that the backstory he'd shared with her was only MetaphoricallyTrue at best.
97* ''Fanfic/WhiteSheepRWBY'': Most of the people who oppose making peace with the Grimm have never been directly involved with fighting them off themselves, and have no concept of just how bad the conflict is. Nor do they intend to change that; they're operating off the presumption that the Hunters will ensure their continued safety. Meanwhile, many of said Huntsmen and Huntresses are the most willing to broker a potential treaty in order to bring the HopelessWar to an end.
98[[/folder]]
99
100[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
101* ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisney'': Claude Frollo, who is a KnightTemplar CompleteMonster, says [[TemptingFate "and He shall smite the wicked and send them into the fiery pit"]] as he prepares to kill the heroes.[[note]]Frollo "sees corruption everywhere except within", and is [[ObliviouslyEvil delusional enough to think himself the righteous one]] while pegging the gypsy Esmerelda and the misshapen Quasimodo as wicked.[[/note]] God apparently obliges, sending the wicked Frollo [[DisneyVillainDeath falling into the molten lava far below.]]
102* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanVsTheElite'': Manchester and his team operate under a philosophy of MightMakesRight and consider it the best response to kill anyone who's threatening violence against others. They're horrified when Superman (who's stronger than all of them) responds to ''their'' violence in kind [[spoiler:or so it seems]].
103[[/folder]]
104
105[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
106* In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''. ComicBook/{{Thanos}} plans to kill half the universe to prevent an OverpopulationCrisis. When ComicBook/DoctorStrange asks how he'll ensure that ''he'' doesn't die, Thanos bluntly responds that he ''won't''; the deaths will be entirely random.[[note]]To a point: he appears to halve the population of each world individually, rather than have the deaths be randomly distributed across the universe as a whole. His plan also doesn't take collateral damage into consideration, as shown in TheStinger and ''Film/AvengersEndgame''.[[/note]] However, at another point, Thanos states he will gaze upon a grateful universe, suggesting he ''knows'' he'll be around after killing half of the universe. ''Endgame'' drives this hypocrisy further, as [[spoiler:Thanos succeeds at his plan, but his alternate timeline counterpart is disgusted to learn that the remaining population of the universe does not appreciate the "genius" of his scheme. As such he pledges to wipe out ''the entire universe'' and replace it with one that will worship him as their savior forever.]]
107* The "I was a celebrity in a past life" variant is humorously {{discussed}} in ''Film/BullDurham''.
108-->'''Annie:''' I think probably with my love of four-legged creatures and hooves and everything, that in another lifetime I was probably Catherine the Great, or Francis of Assisi. I'm not sure which one. What do you think?\
109'''Crash:''' How come in former lifetimes, everybody is someone famous? ''({{beat}}, then they both bust out laughing)'' I mean, how come nobody ever says they were Joe Schmoe?\
110'''Annie:''' Because it doesn't work that way, you fool!
111* In ''Film/HEDoubleHockeySticks'', a hockey player obsessed with winning the Stanley Cup makes a DealWithTheDevil so that his team wins the cup. Yay, right? Nope. The demon's boss then has him traded to the worst team in the NHL. So now, [[JackassGenie not only will he not get the trophy, he's also sold his soul for nothing]]. Luckily, said demon has a change of heart and points out [[LoopholeAbuse a loophole]] - if another team wins the cup, the contract is null and void. So the player has to beat his team of losers into shape in order to win the cup and regain his soul.
112* Played for laughs in ''Film/LAStory''. Harris starts a casual relationship with ditzy clothing store clerk [=SanDeE*=], who explains that her boyfriend pushed for them to be in an open relationship so that even though they're together, they can still date other people. "But it backfires on him sometimes," she adds, and points him out by the bar. Late in the film, she tells Harris that said boyfriend now wants to go exclusive, she suspects because he couldn't get any other dates.
113* In the first ''Film/XMen1'' film, [[WellIntentionedExtremist Magneto]] attempts to [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this trope with a machine that can turn humans into mutants; the idea is to use it on a gathering of world leaders, many of whom have anti-mutant sentiment, to show them what it's like to be persecuted and feared. However, the machine only works using Magneto's own mutant gift, and the process [[CastFromHitPoints nearly kills him]], so he kidnaps the [[MegaManning power-copying]] Rogue to forcibly transfer his ability into her body and use ''her'' as the fuel source. Wolverine calls Magneto out for falling into the same line of thinking he claims he's trying to avoid: if he ''really'' cared about mutant rights, he would willingly sacrifice himself in the machine.
114[[/folder]]
115
116[[folder:Jokes]]
117* A common joke involving MamasBabyPapasMaybe runs thus: On his deathbed, a man remarks to his wife that he has one son who is large and strong, a second who is quick and clever, and a third who is a moron and a weakling. He begs her to answer honestly -- is the third son truly his? She reassures him that he is, and the man dies in peace. "Thank God he didn't ask about the other two," she then mutters.
118* A man goes to Hell. TheDevil greets him and says to pick his torture. "You have to pick wisely because this will be your torture for eternity."\
119The man goes through hundreds of rooms but can't decide, until he sees a room where a man is sitting on a couch, watching sports, and getting a blowjob from a cheerleader. The man says, "This is what I want to do for eternity!" The Devil asks him if he's sure, and the man screams, "Hell, yes!"\
120The Devil goes over to the cheerleader and says, "You can stop now: I found someone to replace you."
121* A joke common in historical FourX gaming communities:
122-->My girlfriend told me I should treat her like a princess.\
123[[ArrangedMarriage So I married her off to a total stranger]] to [[AltarDiplomacy strengthen my alliance with France]].
124* A wife comes home to find her husband packing a suitcase.
125-->"What ''are'' you doing."\
126"Packing! There's this tropical island where they had a plague, and now they have so little men the women pay men $20 to have sex with them!"
127::The wife pull out her suitcase and starts packing as well.
128-->"Uh... what are ''you'' doing?"\
129"Packing, I want to see how you manage to get by on $20 a month."
130[[/folder]]
131
132[[folder:Literature]]
133!!By Author
134* Creator/IsaacAsimov was acutely aware of this phenomenon, both when [[NostalgiaAintLikeItUsedToBe selectively]] pining for the Good Old Days and when imagining the societies of the future.
135** A dinner conversation with his wife about the time "when it was easy to get servants", in which Asimov claimed that they ''themselves'' would be the servants, was later incorporated into one of Asimov's essays as an example.
136** The short story "The Winnowing" describes a global food shortage which the World Food Council intends to remedy by poisoning the most famine-struck areas — all of them comfortably distant from their own homes — with a biological agent that would kill 70% of the population at random. Their high-minded platitudes about "[[TheScourgeOfGod the finger of God]]" selecting the victims [[OhCrap evaporate]] when the scientist they coerced into assisting reveals that he added the agent to the sandwiches they've just eaten.[[note]]And when someone on the Council points out that he also ate some of the same sandwiches, he (effectively) replies "Yes - and the agent was matched to my DNA, so I'll almost certainly die. Everyone else will be random." He was willing to die to prove his point.[[/note]]
137* In Creator/CSLewis's commentary on the Literature/BookOfPsalms, Lewis points out that the Psalmists [[PrayerOfMalice asking God to strike down the wicked]] rarely think that they themselves could be wicked (though in other Psalms the tone is more humble), and that in real life, some people's reaction to discovering a system to be unjust and exploitative is to work towards being on top of the heap so they can take advantage of it.
138* In a short story by Creator/RobertSheckley, in an anthology compiled by Creator/IsaacAsimov, a young man, obsessed with sex, finds a magical text that will allow him to assume the job of feeding griffins, aware that griffins' favorite food is young virgins (thinking he might have some fun with offering a girl the obvious way out). It turns out that [[UnexpectedVirgin the young man is actually a virgin]], and that he is not serving food for the griffin, he ''is'' the food.
139* In one of the stories of Ooka Tadasuke, a famous Japanese judge of the 18th century, he has to divide a father's estate between twin sons. One is known as greedy and selfish; the other is known as having helped the father and for being honorable. No one can tell which son is which. Ooka picks one son at random and tells him to divide the estate using tokens representing the various assets. The chosen son starts giving himself all the money and property, and gives his brother merely the good will of the neighbors. The crowd thinks Ooka made a huge mistake [[spoiler:until Ooka announces that he told the son to divide the estate, but that only Ooka has the power to '''award''' the items. Ooka gives the money to the honorable son and tells the greedy son that he needs the neighbors' good will more]].
140
141!!By Work
142* ''Literature/AscendanceOfABookworm'':
143** The series' basic concept plays with the trope. Our heroine is reincarnated into a MedievalEuropeanFantasy world, But unlike many other Light Novel protagonists, ends up born to a family of commoners.
144** A knight named Shikza finds himself needing to guard a person of lower status than himself, whom he happens to resent. The only other two people present are of lower status than him, as well. Because of this, Shikza assumes he can do as he pleases with the person he's meant to guard and attacks her. Tables are turned on Shikza when he's reminded that the person who asked him to stand guard is of higher status than ''him''.
145* {{Averted}} in ''Literature/AtlasShrugged''. The population of Galt's Gulch consists entirely of people who were either wealthy in the outside world or aspired to be. Clearly, a functioning society requires menial laborers, and some people will be at the bottom of the heap. But because Galt's Gulch is part of Creator/AynRand's {{utopia}}n AuthorFilibuster, everyone's presented as very happy with this system: former [=CEOs=] who end up as underlings claim to be completely satisfied, as long as their boss is more skilled and qualified than they are.
146* ''Literature/TheBeastArises'': After the Astra Militarum, Mechanicus, and every Imperial Fists successor chapter join forces to defeat the ork invasion of Terra, they mount a MilitaryCoup against the High Lords of Terra with the help of the Inquisition and the Adeptus Arbites and appoint Captain Koorland, the SoleSurvivor of the Imperial Fists, as Lord Commander of the Imperium. The High Lords are understandably miffed at this, so when Vulkan, Primarch of the Salamanders, is discovered, they try to get him to take over, hoping he will give them their power back. Vulkan agrees to accept the Lord Commandership... and then immediately orders the High Lords to obey Koorland's orders as if they were his own and goes into seclusion.
147* ''Literature/CiaphasCain'': In one book, the Imperial Guard command is hampered by the local aristocracy because the death of the governor left no central authority (but plenty of semi-legitimate heirs) and any single one taking charge would be called usurpation by the others, preventing any cooperation. Lord General Zyvan accepts the offer from one of them (who has no claim to the throne) to install martial law, which is accepted... and his first order is for the civilians to kindly leave the war room.
148* Discussed in ''Colonel Butler's Wolf'' by Creator/AnthonyPrice. Butler compares himself to one of his more liberal-minded colleagues, noting that the colleague assumes he'd have been one of the masters in the old days but prefers modern society anyway, while Butler himself thinks the old ways were better even though he knows perfectly well he'd have been one of the servants.
149* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
150** Inverted for (pre-Ridcully) wizards and Assassins, who view their respective hierarchies as stifling and extremely unfair, but are very happy with it once they become high rankers themselves. Those who ''don't'' achieve high ranks... [[KlingonPromotion let's just say their complaints are unlikely to matter.]]
151** ''Literature/GuardsGuards'': The Brotherhood of Ebon Night enthusiastically agree with their master's wish for a return to the "good old days" when Ankh-Morpork was ruled by a king, who enforced "justice" that rewarded the deserving and punished the undeserving, taking for granted that in any such regime they themselves would be sorted into the first group; they thus embrace their Supreme Grand Master's plan to magically summon a dragon to wreak a little havoc in the city and pave the way for the return of their PuppetKing. They regret the lives lost, but tell themselves that it is in service to the greater good, [[spoiler:until the dragon incinerates their puppet king, their headquarters, and almost the entirety of their order inside it.]]
152** In ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'', the lords and guild heads of Ankh-Morpork are agitating for war against Klatch, and outraged to hear that (since the City has no standing army), the treasury is bankrupt and can't afford to hire a mercenary force. The Patrician, Lord Vetinari, says the main cause of this is tax evasion by the wealthy; the lords and guild heads demand that this be addressed immediately, and Lord Vetinari says he already has a list of the worst offenders and offers to deputize the City Watch to collect from them - at which point the lords and guild heads sit down and mumble that some other solution must be found.
153** In ''Literature/TheLastContinent'', the Chair of Indefinite Studies darkly mutters that in "the old days" they used to kill wizards like Ridcully. The Dean points out that they also used to kill wizards like ''them''. This is also a bit inaccurate. Ridcully was originally recruited as a [[SimpleCountryLawyer useful hick]] who could take the job and not make waves but be easily assassinated if he was a problem. Turns out that, as a country wizard, [[GoneHorriblyRight he's in alarmingly good shape and a crack shot with a crossbow.]]
154* ''The Freedom Maze'' by Delia Sherman tackles this head-on. Sophie -- a girl from 1960 -- gets to travel back in time to 1860 and visit her ancestors' plantation. She assumes they'll recognize her as part of the family. They ''do'', but her tan skin, frizzy hair, and lack of 19th-century manners mean they figure her mother must have been black, and so she winds up as a slave by the one-drop rule.
155* In the novelization of ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'', the main human antagonist [[Characters/MonsterVerseEcoTerrorists Alan Jonah]] genuinely doesn't realize once he decides to let [[OmnicidalManiac King Ghidorah]] destroy the world that he and his men will surely die with everyone else in that scenario regardless of how well they hide themselves underground. He says that he and his men will live like kings once Ghidorah's apocalypse has finished, and Madison mentally calls out the absurdity of such a notion.
156* In one of the books of ''Literature/GuardiansOfGaHoole'', the main character Nyroc is born to [[EvilMatriarch Nyra]], head of the "Pure Ones", an organization of owls made up of the family Tytonidae (the barn owls) whose goal is to eliminate the Guardians of Ga'hoole and [[ANaziByAnyOtherName purify the owl kingdoms]]. One of Nyroc's friends is Phillip, a member of species of Tytonidae called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_sooty_owl greater sooty owls]]. When he and his father were starving, they decided to join the organization as new recruits in hopes of a better life. Unfortunately, as Phillip discovers, not only are the Pure Ones racist towards other owls, but discriminate among their own kind based on feather color, with the white ''Tyto albas'' at the top of the hierarchy. Phillip (or Dustytuft as the other owls called him) ended up on the lower ranks of the social ladder, just above [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesser_sooty_owl lesser sooty owls]], forced to do the most menial and worst of jobs.
157* In ''Literature/TheHandmaidsTale'', some women advocated for Gilead before it became a reality: Offred lives with a man whose wife, Serena Joy, had a career telling women that they would be happiest as wives. Needless to say, she isn't happy after her career is forcibly ended and she becomes just another wife.
158* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
159** Many people who joined the Death Eaters were merely in it ForTheEvulz, or the chance to get ahead in wizarding society, or because Voldemort's victory seemed certain (and many were half-bloods masquerading as pureblood). Some found out that his evil was far beyond the bullying and Muggle-baiting they were used to, some tried to claim they'd been mind-controlled the entire time, and others still [[TigerByTheTail found themselves too deeply compromised to do anything but keep serving him.]]
160** In the backstory, Severus Snape turned on the Death Eaters and became a DoubleAgent for Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix after Voldemort targeted Lily Potter (nee Evans), with whom he had been in a LoveTriangle with James Potter when they were all students at Hogwarts. Meaning that he was all on board with Voldemort's plans until they affected somebody he actually cared about. Worse yet, he openly begged Voldemort to let her live after killing her husband and son, which best case scenario would've left her to live in grief. He only turned to Dumbledore for help when Voldemort refused to do even ''that,'' causing Dumbledore to call him out for his immense selfishness.
161** The goblins welcomed Voldemort's upheaval of the wizarding world at first, thinking it the end of [[FantasticRacism wizardkind's casual contempt on nonhuman magic beings]]. Instead, they seemed to have been reduced to menial work (quoth Griphook, who escaped: "I am no house-elf."). You'd think going with [[ANaziByAnyOtherName an organization that prides itself on purity of wizarding lineage]] would have set off more warning bells.
162** ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'': Draco Malfoy catches Harry, Ron, and Hermione out of bed after curfew to visit Hagrid and reports them to get them in trouble. While they are punished more severely by Professor [=McGonagall=], who deducts fifty House points each, Draco is shocked when [=McGonagall=] orders ''him'' to also serve detention, since he was ''also'' out of bed after curfew.
163* Discussed in the ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' novels, where "May you get exactly what you deserve" is considered a curse. The implication is that the target might initially accept it, thinking they deserve better than what they have, but will shortly discover that they deserve worse.
164* Robertson Davies once wrote a short story (collected in the anthology ''Literature/HighSpirits'') in which a group of academics, after being bored to tears listening to a newly minted literature graduate student gush about how cool it would be to go live in the past, proceeded to summon the minds of their ancestors to inhabit their present bodies. And it turns out none of them had a particularly interesting past.
165* ''Literature/HowARealistHeroRebuiltTheKingdom'':
166** Amidonia's Prince Gaius VIII attempts some LoopholeAbuse of the [[FictionalGenevaConventions Mankind Declaration]]'s ban on military conquest for the duration of the conflict with the Demon Lord: he argues that since Elfrieden is not a signatory, then trying to reconquer some of the territory Amidonia lost in their last war is not illegal. [[TheHero King Souma Kazuya]] soundly defeats Amidonia, killing Gaius in action and occupying his capital, so his heir Julius goes running to the Gran Chaos Empire (the western superpower that backs the Declaration). The Imperial heir apparent agrees to negotiate on their behalf to end Souma's occupation [[{{Realpolitik}} to save the credibility of her sister's treaty]]... and then, after negotiating with Souma, informs Julius he can either accept Souma's perfectly reasonable demand for war reparations and handover of war criminals for prosecution, or else be kicked out of the treaty entirely and have to risk other neighboring countries making the same LoopholeAbuse argument to prey on a now much-weaker Amidonia. [[KnowWhenToFoldEm Julius takes the deal.]]
167** In a scene reminiscent of ''Theatre/HenryV'' Act II, Scene 2, while deciding the sentences of convicted traitors Castor and Carla Vargas, [[SecretTestOfCharacter Souma asks the jury of nobles what should be done with them]]. Two of them suggest clemency and are escorted out of the room. The others call for the Vargas' heads--and are promptly decapitated for their own treasonous activities by Souma's Black Cat {{ninja}}s who had infiltrated the room. Souma then sentences the Vargases to enslavement, while the two nobles who called for clemency are [[MercyRewarded given jobs in Souma's administration]].
168* One ''Literature/JudgeDee'' story has the judge attend a play, in which two brothers are complaining about their inheritance, each claiming they got shafted while waving the paper that lists their share. The judge of the play tells the brothers to exchange lists.
169* PlayedForLaughs at the start of ''Literature/KonoSuba''. After dying in a freak accident, Kazuma is offered the option to ReincarnateInAnotherWorld by the goddess Aqua, and told he can pick any item or power as his NewLifeInAnotherWorldBonus. Annoyed at her flippant attitude towards his circumstances, Kazuma picks Aqua herself out of spite, and Heaven ratifies the LoopholeAbuse, much to Aqua's dismay.
170* Shirley Jackson's townspeople in "Literature/TheLottery" are perfectly fine with the annual LotteryOfDoom that will end in a HumanSacrifice ([[AppealToTradition it's traditional!]]). Only the victim protests, and only when it becomes clear that ''her'' life is at stake.
171* In the ''Literature/NemesisSeries'', man-hating female mage Graywytch casts a spell to [[{{Gendercide}} kill off all men]], defined for the purposes of the spell as having a Y chromosome. She nearly dies herself, which Danny (a trans-girl and target of Graywytch’s transphobic tendencies) theorizes that she's actually intersex, i.e. genetically XY male with androgen insensitivity. Though Graywytch refuses to accept this explanation, insisting she accidentally CastFromHitpoints instead. It's never explicitly confirmed which is true, but the book seems to lean to Danny's explanation.
172* ''Literature/TheOtherBoleynGirl'': Anne Boleyn assumed that she would be able to maintain her role as the triumphant queen once Henry VIII divorced Catherine of Aragon and married her. In reality, as soon as she ascends the throne, every noble family in England makes note that replacing a queen can be done and starts trying it themselves with their own daughters. Since Anne’s tactics to keep Henry's attention involved [[ForbiddenFruit being flirtatious while limiting actual physical contact to the minimum,]] she finds it difficult to maintain his interest [[WantingIsBetterThanHaving once he has her]] and various ladies proceed to copy her approach of playing hard to get. In addition, Anne ''also'' made the age-old error of believing the man who'd kept several mistresses throughout his first marriage would remain faithful to her, and she's enraged when Henry starts getting up to his old tricks with the ladies of her chamber.
173* ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'': Slavers launch a raid on title character Naofumi's feudal holding because his protecting the demihumans there has increased the price in regions opposed to the Shield Hero. After the surviving raiders try to pull ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections to keep him from summarily executing them all, he sells ''them'' into slavery in a region that ''worships'' the Shield Hero. [[OhCrap They are not best pleased by this outcome.]]
174* ''Literature/SlaveWorld'':
175** In the first novel, the heroine is horrified with how naively her colleagues embrace the AlternateTimeline world they have found. The scientists join the society, believing that they will get to be part of the aristocracy and thus accept the social order where the aristocrats have absolute power over everyone else. [[spoiler:And yes, they do end up enslaved.]]
176** [[ZigZaggingTrope Zigzagged]] in the third novel, as Sarah seems to be falling in the same trap as her predecessors. [[spoiler:She's actually setting herself up for permanent enslavement, although her plan is to belong to the woman she loves... who then gives her the basic "thanks but no thanks" and auctions her off to a random aristocrat... a young lady who grows to become the true love of her life.]]
177* In ''Literature/TheseWordsAreTrueAndFaithful'', Cassilda advocates for government to constrain others' lives, assuming that she and people like her will be the beneficiaries. Her opponents invoke the same government powers whose expansion she advocates to shut down her pet project.
178* In the ''Literature/ThursdayNext'' novel ''One of Our Thursdays Is Missing'', Thursday is trapped in the Oral Tradition aboard the ship ''Ethical Dilemma'', which is the setting of an ethics lecture about the morality of killing or torturing one person to save a larger group. Thursday chooses to give the lecturer an aneurysm in order to save the ship.
179* ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' was partially written as a critique of SocialDarwinism. Many people who believed that superior people should be in power would be extremely unhappy if a superior race of alien invaders took over.
180* "The Destiny of Milton Gomrath" by Creator/AlexeiPanshin has a garbage collector being convinced all his life that there's something wrong with the world and his position in it. One day he's visited by a being who says there's been a mistake and he actually belongs in an AlternateUniverse, a MedievalEuropeanFantasy world of brave knights, beautiful princesses, and heroic deeds. The garbageman eagerly agrees to go there instead, where it turns out his job is to clean the manure out of the castle stables, and his home is a pile of straw in the corner.
181* In ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' series, women who can Channel are captured by the Seanchan, who use magical collars called a'dam to break them to slavery. The thing is, it takes a certain amount of magical potential to hold the leash on a Channeler; at one point, when the main characters free Egwene from her captor, they leave her torturer in an a'dam, possibly to be made a slave herself.
182* ''Literature/XWingSeries'':
183** PlayedForLaughs in ''Rogue Squadron''. At Bror Jace's instigation, the unit holds a mock CourtMartial of EnsignNewbie Gavin Darklighter, Jace arguing that he should be "apprenticed" to the highest-scoring pilot (currently himself) on the grounds that he has, as yet, scored only one kill in three engagements. Nawara, a former defense attorney, defends Gavin to Wedge, Tycho, and a bit character, and reaches a "plea deal" where Corran agrees to split his nine kills with Gavin and judge the best and worst pilot by percentages. Wedge then wryly points out that, having been awarded four additional kills in the plea deal, Gavin is no longer the worst pilot in the squadron: [[HoistByTheirOwnPetard Nawara himself, with one kill, is]].
184--->'''Nawara:''' No appeal?\
185'''Wedge:''' To you there probably is not, but [[EvilLawyerJoke the idea of a lawyer getting the sentence instead of his client]] has some ''appeal'' to me.\
186'''Nawara:''' Perhaps it ''is'' true that [[AFoolForAClient a lawyer who has himself as a client is a fool]].
187** ''Wraith Squadron'': After ambushing the Wraiths, resulting in [[spoiler:Jesmin Ackbar dying and Myn Donos having a PTSD break]], the leader of a gang of SpacePirates tries to argue to Wedge Antilles that the battle had taken place in an unclaimed star system, and so there were no laws there and they had the right to defend themselves. Wedge sarcastically agrees and says in that case they were free to go--but if there were no laws, that also meant [[AppealToForce there were no laws against the Wraiths killing all the pirates and looting their supplies]]. The pirate leader quickly changes his mind about whether there are any laws in the star system.
188---> '''Pirate''': You can't do that!\
189'''Wedge''': Of course we can. [[IronicEcho There's no law here]].
190[[/folder]]
191
192[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
193* The ''Series/AdventuresInWonderland'' episode "I Am the Walrus" has the Queen of Hearts [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this trope after the other Wonderlandians shun the Walrus, who recently moved into the neighborhood, because of FantasticRacism. She throws the Walrus a welcome party and puts up signs declaring that no one else is allowed in. When the other subjects complain, the Queen of Hearts and Alice (who was the OnlySaneMan in the situation) point out that they're now feeling just as bad as the Walrus did when they rejected ''him'', as they never considered that they might be the ones judged and treated poorly.
194* ''Series/{{Angel}}'': Wolfram and Hart, with Holland Manners at the helm, resurrect Darla and have Drusilla turn her back into a vampire. In "Reunion", he encourages them to commit "a massacre", promising to support them in it; and when Angel tersely tells him people will die, causally replies "And yet, I just can't seem to care". This lasts right up until Darla and Drusilla decide to [[EvilIsNotAToy massacre him and his team]], then he begs Angel to save them.
195-->'''Holland:''' ''People'' are going to ''die''.\
196'''Angel:''' [[IronicEcho And yet, somehow, I just can't seem to care.]]
197* ''Series/Babylon5'':
198** "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS01E04Infection Infection]]": An archaeologist recovers a BioAugmentation module for {{Super Soldier}}s from an AdvancedAncientAcropolis. The weapon was designed for use against an AlienInvasion, but its target selection programming was done by ideological zealots who also wanted to "purify" their own race. As it turned out, [[GoneHorriblyRight none of their own species]], ideologues included, could meet the high standard of purity that was set.
199** "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS01E12ByAnyMeansNecessary By Any Means Necessary]]" centers on a union dispute after a fatal accident in the docks. The negotiator sent by the government leans heavily on the legal authority he has, refusing to negotiate or discuss the grievances from the union representative. The negotiator grants Commander Sinclair authority to resolve the dispute by any means necessary, assuming the commander will arrest and replace the striking dockworkers. Instead, the commander uses his new authority to reallocate money from the military budget to meet the union’s demands, upsetting the negotiator who is now the one being overridden by legal authority. (The government was reportedly furious, but public opinion was on the side of the union so they let it slide.)
200--->'''Orin Zento:''' You can't do this!\
201'''Sinclair:''' You're right, I ''couldn't'', until ''you'' convinced the Senate to invoke the Rush Act. You should never hand someone a gun unless you're sure where they'll point it. Your mistake.
202** "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS03E13ALateDeliveryFromAvalon A Late Delivery from Avalon]]": Marcus Cole has a brief monologue on the subject.
203--->"You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life ''were'' fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? ''({{beat}})'' So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe."
204* ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'': An offscreen version in "[[Recap/BlackadderS1E3TheArchbishop The Archbishop]]", where Edmund, now the Archbishop of Canterbury, must convince a dying nobleman with no heirs to leave his lands to the Crown rather than the Church (which, according to the Church, will send him to hell). Edmund (who was appointed archbishop after his father [[AlternateHistory King Richard IV]] had his predecessor murdered when he convinced another dying nobleman to leave his lands to the Church) points out that heaven is exceedingly boring, while hell is filled with the kind of people who appreciated the finer things in life, such as pillage, adultery and torture. The nobleman enthusiastically declares he wants to go to hell and bequeaths his lands to the Crown, with no word on whether he ended up among the torturers or the tortured.
205* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "[[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor The Day of the Doctor]]": The Doctor (three of them, actually — the War Doctor, Ten, and Eleven, to be exact) activate a memory-erasure device on the heads of UNIT and the shape-shifting Zygons to negotiate a peace treaty to make everyone forget who's a human and who's an alien, forcing them to consider this trope's effects, [[spoiler:since the head of UNIT activated a bomb that would set off a nuclear warhead, resulting in the destruction of them and the Zygons, along with the collection of dangerous alien artifacts and all of London]].
206--> '''Eleven:''' You're going to negotiate the most perfect treaty of all time...\
207'''Ten:''' Safeguards all 'round, completely fair on both sides...\
208'''Eleven:''' And the key to perfect negotiation...\
209'''Ten:''' Not knowing what side you're on.
210* {{Discussed}} in ''Series/TheHandmaidsTale''. When the Mexican ambassador makes a state visit to Gilead in one episode, she notes that before the revolution Serena Joy Waterford wrote many books defending Gilead's brand of far-right extremist Christianity. Gilead forbade women's education and literacy on religious grounds, which means there's no one to read Serena Joy's books anymore and Serena Joy herself is mostly stuck at home bored out of her skull. She initially dismisses this, [[spoiler:but it eats at her and leads to her having a nasty falling-out with her husband that carries into season 2]].
211* ''Series/NightGallery'': In "[[Recap/NightGalleryS2E19 Deliveries in the Back]]", Victorian professor Dr. Fletcher needs corpses for his anatomy classes, and he doesn't really care how his providers get them, even after his future father-in-law questions him about it. He argues that the knowledge is more important, and that one life isn't too big a sacrifice if it saves many others. The segment ends with his horrified discovery that the providers killed his fiancée when he tasked them with getting a female cadaver in a hurry.
212* ''Series/TheOddCouple1970'': In "[[Recap/TheOddCouple1970S2E9TheOddCoupleMeetTheirHost The Odd Couple Meet Their Host]]", Felix tries to push Oscar into doing a show about his own messiness, assuring him that people will think it's funny despite Oscar's fear of looking foolish. When Oscar ends up talking about his roommate's neurotic habits, Felix is furious at being humiliated.
213* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'': In [[Recap/PersonOfInterestS03E02 "Nothing to Hide"]], tech CEO Wayne Kruger defends "Big Data" with the argument that if you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear from your personal information being available on the Internet. During a presentation on the subject, the radical libertarian group Vigilance hacks the projector and publicly exposes Kruger's ''own'' secrets, including that he was cheating on his wife, which sends him into a VillainousBreakdown.
214* In ''Series/RedDwarf: Back to Earth'', a hologram of Science Officer Katerina Bartikovsky appears and says she's the new ship's hologram and Rimmer has to be deactivated. When Rimmer refuses to be deactivated, and flees to 21st century Earth with the others, she pursues him. He asks if killing him wouldn't be murder, and she replies that holograms are already dead, so there is no ethical, moral or legal obstacle to destroying one. So he pushes her into traffic.
215* In an episode of ''Series/SavedByTheBell'', Zack winds up learning a lesson this way. He's allowed to choose the teams for an athletic competition and is told to make them balanced, so he puts all the jock-types on one team, assuming he'll be the captain of that team, and all the nerd-types on the other. The teacher, then explicitly asks him again if he is sure that the teams are balanced, appoints him as the captain of the nerd team when he said yes, saying something to the effect of "Yes, I let you pick the teams, but I pick the captains."
216* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'': Terra Prime in the two-parter "[[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS04E19Demons Demons]]" and "[[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS04E20TerraPrime Terra Prime]]" is a human-supremacist group whose leader John Paxton idolizes Colonel Green, a 21st century tyrant who exterminated irradiated victims of WorldWarIII. T'Pol discovers that not only does Paxton secretly have a genetic disorder that would have marked him for death under Green's regime, but he's been treating it with imported Rigelian medicine. T'Pol tries to {{blackmail}} him into standing down over this, but [[BlackmailBackfire Paxton claims his followers wouldn't believe it coming from a Vulcan]]. ([[DebateAndSwitch Events move too fast after this to actually test his opinion.]])
217* ''Series/SueThomasFBEye'': In "Secret Agent Man", Myles takes steps to get a height limit in his neighborhood repealed because it will allow him to keep his new flagpole and get one over on his SitcomArchNemesis, Webber, who challenged him about it. The rule is lifted...only for Myles to get a basketball in his flowers. Webber put up a basketball hoop which previously would have been outlawed by the height limit.
218* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': The episode "Four O'Clock" stars Oliver, who resolves to shrink all the evil people in the world to two feet tall. He never considers that he might be considered an evil person and thus shrunk himself. Thus when the appointed time comes out, he's horrified to see himself subjected to his own process.
219* Discussed in ''Series/TheWestWing''. After a motion to strengthen the Estate Tax / Death Tax is defeated in Congress, President Bartlett muses that the problem with UsefulNotes/TheAmericanDream is that it makes everyone worry about how they'll protect their assets once they become rich.
220[[/folder]]
221
222[[folder:Music]]
223* Music/SteveTaylor crossed this trope with HoistByHisOwnPetard in "Lifeboat". Mrs. Aryan gives her students a "values clarification" scenario, asking them [[ColdEquation who should get thrown out of an overloaded lifeboat]]. To her gratification, the class quickly agrees the [[TheSocialDarwinist old, disabled]], and [[KillThePoor others who don't contribute to society should go]]. However, in the middle of a lesson on gravity, the class tosses her out the window, reasoning that she told them people only deserve to exist if they're perfect, and she's growing old.
224-->'''Kids:''' Throw over teacher and we'll see if she can bounce\
225[[GoneHorriblyRight We've learned our lesson]]; teacher says perfection's what counts.\
226She's getting old and gray and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking wears an ugly coat]]\
227Throw over teacher and we'll play another game of Lifeboat!
228* The chorus of Music/TheyMightBeGiants’ song “Shoehorn With Teeth” includes the line “people should get beat up for stating their beliefs”. This itself is a statement of belief, meaning the narrator is unwittingly inviting a beating upon himself by saying it.
229[[/folder]]
230
231[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
232* In ''Literature/TheBible'':
233** In the Literature/BookOfEsther, King Ahasuerus asks his advisor Haman what a good reward would be for someone who had done the king a great service. Haman assumes it's for him and suggests an elaborate display, with the honored person riding the king's horse, wearing the king's robe, and being led by a noble shouting "See what is done for the man the king wishes to honor!" Ahasuerus thinks it's a great idea -- and then tells him to go do just that for Mordecai, Haman's hated rival who had foiled a coup attempt against Ahasuerus but was never rewarded properly. [[HumiliationConga And it just gets worse for Haman after that.]]
234** In [[Literature/BooksOfSamuel 2 Samuel chapter 12]], the prophet Nathan invokes this to guilt-trip King David after learning that David [[UriahGambit had Uriah killed]] and took Uriah's wife Bathsheba for himself in the previous chapter. Nathan tells a story about a rich man with many sheep, whose neighbor is a poor man with only one lamb, and the rich man steals his neighbor's lamb and slaughters it for his dinner. David angrily says that such a man deserves to be put to death. Nathan replies "You are such a man!" David isn't killed, but he is [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone horrified at what he's done]] and immediately sets about trying to repent, and the Kingdom of Israel is cursed to fall as a consequence of his misdeed (first by the split between Israel and Judah in the reign of his grandson Rehoboam, then by the Babylonian conquest).
235* ''Literature/TheBookOfMormon'': When Laman asks his relative Laban to give him the brass plates containing their genealogy and scriptures, Laban angrily accuses him of being a robber and tries to have him killed on the spot. However, when Laman flees, returns with his brothers, and offers all their family's wealth in exchange for the plates, Laban gets greedy and takes all their valuables by force without handing the plates over, making ''him'' a robber. God later arranges for the youngest brother, Nephi, to come across Laban passed out drunk, and tells Nephi that it's acceptable to kill Laban.
236[[/folder]]
237
238[[folder:Stand-Up Comedy]]
239* Brent Butt (of ''Series/CornerGas'' fame) had a bit where he recalled encountering an extremely scrawny guy wearing a shirt bearing the anarchy symbol, and naturally mocked how unlikely he'd be to survive if he ever got his wish.
240-->'''Butt:''' You think he's thought this through? You think he wants to live in a world without rules? All 74 pounds of him? Think he's gonna do well in a ''Film/MadMax'' society? They're gonna give ''him'' the Grand Poobah horns and let him call the shots, you figure? Or is he gonna be the hood ornament on a dune buggy around Day 2? Some 300-pound biker eatin' soup out of his skull, that's what's gonna happen.
241[[/folder]]
242
243[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
244* ''TabletopGame/ArsMagica'': Some [[DealWithTheDevil diabolists]] are {{Hell Seeker}}s in the belief that their loyalty to Satan will get them [[DemonOfHumanOrigin promoted to devilhood]] when they die, so they can be the torturers instead of the tormented. Hell offers no such accommodations.
245* In ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'', Brett Andrews, Khan of Clan Steel Viper, was elected ilKhan of the Clans and declared his intent to purge them of the "taint" of the Inner Sphere. This led to the Wars of Reaving, which saw the destruction of many of the Clans and several others being forced to flee to the Inner Sphere. Finally, he declared that all the tainted Clans had been destroyed, only for Khan Stanislov [=N’Buta=] of Clan Star Adder to remind him that there was one Clan that had been tainted by its time in the Inner Sphere left: Clan Steel Viper. Andrews challenged him to an unarmed duel, then killed him with a laser pistol, violating both the prohibition of carrying weapons into the Clan Council and the honor of the duel, which the other assembled Khans used as evidence that [=N'Buta=] was right. The Steel Vipers promptly became the final Clan to be destroyed for being tainted by the Inner Sphere; Andrews himself, meanwhile, was beaten to death by Star Adder [[NumberTwo saKhan]] Hannibal Banacek. For added irony, the Steel Vipers were the only Clan that had actually occupied a part of the Inner Sphere that were wiped out in the Wars of Reaving, as all the other Clans that invaded the Inner Sphere either survived (Clan Jade Falcon, Clan Wolf, Clan Ghost Bear, Clan Snow Raven, Clan Diamond Shark, Clan Nova Cat) or were destroyed prior to the Wars of Reaving (Clan Smoke Jaguar, Clan Ice Hellion). The other Clans that were destroyed were ones that had never gone to the Inner Sphere.
246* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
247** This is a common ploy of the LawfulEvil alignment, inviting people to join a system that benefit the strong at the expense of the weak. The regular adherent is an AssholeVictim who overestimated his strength and is really unhappy with finding himself as one of the despised and exploited weaklings. Similarly, ''Fiendish Codex II'' explains this is why someone would willingly sell their soul in a DealWithTheDevil -- they expect their natural ability or special relationship with their fiendish patron will lead them to swiftly take positions of power and prestige in the diabolic hierarchy after their deaths, allowing them to pursue their mortal ambitions as a mighty pit fiend. Unfortunately for them, as soon as mortal souls arrive in Baator they're tortured until they suffer a DeathOfPersonality and have been twisted into the very least of devils.
248---> ''"No tyrant looks upon a wretched [[CannonFodder lemure]] and thinks that this will be their afterlife."''
249** In the ''TabletopGame/DarkSun'' setting's history, the Companions helped the insane AbsoluteXenophobe Rajaat execute his genocide of all the "impure" sapient races of Athas, right up until they realized that he wasn't actually human and counted humans among the impure races. Cue a collective OhCrap and hasty ploy to [[SealedEvilInACan seal his evil in a can]].
250* In the ''TabletopGame/MutantChronicles'' book ''Ilian'', there are two short-stories on this theme. Humans who joined [[ReligionOfEvil the cult of Ilian]] because they wanted to become the exploiters rather than the exploited. And their futures are ''so'' bright, since Ilian will smile upon them forever... until they fail or get backstabbed by each other, that is. Suckers.
251* In ''Book of the Dead'', a book for the ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'' (mostly ''TabletopGame/GeistTheSinEaters'' and ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening''), all the underworld realms presented are designed so the gamemaster can play them this way. It's outright encouraged in general, and one of the realms is designed so it's hard to NOT play it this way. This realm is called Oppia, and is a place of abundant soul-energy in the form of delicious food. The rulers are very generous and hospitable, and their rules seem simple enough. Sure, the system runs on enslavement of souls, but those idiots are bad guests who broke the rules. Seems easy enough to accept... until you realize how ''very'' easy it actually is to break the rules. Including by accident.
252* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': {{Defied}} by the Gray Gardeners, the secretive order of executioners that maintains the Final Blades of Galt--the magical guillotines upon which accused enemies of the Red Revolution are beheaded.[[note]]Galt is a FantasyCounterpartCulture for France at the height of the Reign of Terror.[[/note]] As the only lasting power center amidst the Red Revolution, the Gray Gardeners keep their own identities secret to lessen the risk that the mob might turn on them as well.
253* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' and ''[[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}} Warhammer Fantasy Battles]]'':
254** Many who devote themselves to the Gods of Chaos do so for personal gain, with the most ambitious hoping to be rewarded with immortality as [[DemonOfHumanOrigin daemon princes]]. Unfortunately for them, their [[EldritchAbomination patrons]] are just as likely to ignore them, drive them insane, give them what they want [[JerkassGenie in a cruelly ironic way]], or subject them to awful transformations. Many instances of [[ShapeshifterMashUp Chaos Spawn]] were once up-and-coming champions of Chaos until they washed out and mutated beyond control, becoming little more than feral attack-animals herded into battle by their former subordinates.
255** In ''40K'', the fall of the Eldar was brought about by the psychic SpaceElves' continuous hedonism creating a new Chaos god/dess in the Warp. Some pleasure cults actually did their best to accelerate this process, believing they'd be rewarded with an eternity of new sensations. The Dark Eldar are now a race of KlingonPromotion-enforcing {{combat sadomasochist}}s who need to hide in the Webway lest the Chaos god Slaanesh devour their souls, and can emerge into realspace only long enough to conduct quick raids for slaves.
256** In ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplay'', {{mutants}} are hated and feared for their obvious taint of Chaos; but one book points out that, while many denizens of the Empire have little problem condemning mutants if they're someone they don't know (or like), attitudes change fairly quickly once they or their loved ones experience mutation themselves. In particular, families that experience the birth of mutant children usually decide to either hide the baby or abandon them in the woods, rather than kill them or consign them to the witch hunters as is their duty.
257[[/folder]]
258
259[[folder:Theatre]]
260* ''Theatre/SeventeenSeventySix'':
261** Benjamin Franlkin snarks at one point that rebellions are only illegal when other people are doing them.
262** During the ''But, Mr. Adams'' number, Thomas Jefferson happily sings along with the other committee members' excuses to not write the Declaration of Independence... until he realizes that that leaves only ''him'' without an excuse, and so he'll be stuck in Philadelphia writing the thing and won't be able to go home to see his wife.
263* In Act II of Creator/WilliamShakespeare's ''Theatre/HenryV'', a trio of nobles are secretly plotting against Henry. In Scene 2, Henry mentions he plans to forgive a man who spoke against him in public, attributing it to drunkenness. The three nobles say the man should be punished, at which time Henry reveals that he knows about their treachery. They beg for mercy, and Henry says they'll get the mercy they wanted for the drunk and sentences them all to death.
264* In ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice'', when the time comes for Antonio to finally pay his debt to Shylock, Shylock rejects an offer to pay back triple the money owed in favor of insisting that the ExactWords of the contract, that he take a pound of flesh from Antonio, be followed in the hopes of getting rid of someone he hates. Portia, disguised as a lawyer, asks him to choose mercy, but all in vain. After the judgment, she springs the trap -- he can carve a pound of flesh from Antonio, but he can't take any ''blood'', or he'll be executed for murder. Shylock, understandably, tries to either accept a different offer or drop the suit, but both of those options are now OffTheTable.
265* In Creator/GilbertAndSullivan's ''Theatre/TheMikado'', the Emperor of Japan visits the town of Titipu and, believing that his son (traveling incognito) was inadvertently executed, demands that someone die for it. The aria "See How the Fates Their Gifts Allot" consists of him and several other characters agreeing that execution is a fair and just punishment for the crime that has occurred, always assuming that ''someone else'' will be the one executed.
266[[/folder]]
267
268[[folder:Video Games]]
269* ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'': Castor takes up on assisting C's EvilPlan to retrieve [[ArtifactOfDoom The Dypheus' Breath]] once he's convinced obtaining it will grant him a new position within The Consortium and restore his family's status. As Castor later finds out, C never intended on fulfilling the deal, which leads to him and Melissa both getting stranded out in the desert.
270* ''VideoGame/BioShock'':
271** ''VideoGame/BioShock1'': This was a big problem in Rapture. The city's premise is a HiddenElfVillage of pure capitalism, created because Andrew Ryan had a grand image of talented people being able to accomplish things without "parasites" forcing them to give up their stuff to normal people. The only one to spot the obvious problem with this was Frank Fontaine. He notes in an [[ApocalypticLog audio diary]] that the sort of people who would move to Rapture would be people who were already captains of their industry; they hoped that they would be able to resume their regular lifestyle without being hampered by things like taxes and regulations. Only to find out that, as Frank put it, "someone's gotta clean the toilets," and since all the other residents of the city were in the same position they were, that meant most of them were now the ordinary people who had to live pay check to pay check in order to survive. Except now, the regulations that exist to help normal workers weren't there to protect them. The only person who seems to have escaped this entirely was Fontaine himself; not because he didn't exploit others, but because he was ''already'' a criminal and just found Rapture an easier target. He wasn't actually in Ryan's target audience, he just found out about Rapture by chance and impersonated someone who did have an invite.
272** The above is also the ultimate reason why Ryan ultimately [[BecameTheirOwnAntithesis became his own antithesis]]. He had genuinely never thought that someone could gain power by courting the working class. He never realized that people who came to Rapture to break the rules would be perfectly fine breaking ''his'' rules. And he never considered that someone might outcompete ''him''. When Frank Fontaine gains success by doing all these things, he has a VillainousBreakdown and refuses to accept that, by his own Objectivist principles, Fontaine deserves to rule Rapture more than Andrew does. He then proceeds to use what governmental authority he has against Fontaine, which ends up causing the city to slide into civil war as they realize that Ryan has no compunctions about using his power to bully them and doesn't want a free market but an Andrew Ryan market.
273** This is also discussed in ''VideoGame/BioShock2'' where you find out the backstory of the railroad that connects the various parts of the city. Ryan and his supporters invested heavily in the railroad, but it was quickly upstaged by the invention of the bathysphere and the railroad went bankrupt. Ryan's followers never considered that their own investments could go sour and were confronted by the fact that they were about to find themselves broke and on the bottom of the economic and social system of Rapture. Faced with losing his power base, Ryan forced a bank bailout for the railroad, which saved the investors' fortunes but destroyed the savings of everyone else. Rapture's economy went into a downward spiral, which resulted in the civil war that wrecked the city.
274** While not as prevalent, the fallacy is also reflected in ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'' regarding Comstock's flying paradise for the American People. Fink realized that none of the white, wealthy, religious patrons who'd flock to Comstock's city as "God's Kingdom" would be eager to do manual labor or menial tasks to maintain the 'heavenly' city, so he brought in "Cherubs for every chore", i.e. a massive foreign labor force that would eventually revolt and become the Vox Populi. This didn't end well for anybody.
275* ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault'': The Evil One, [[spoiler:who is revealed to be the TreacherousQuestGiver [[FairyCompanion Airy]]]], looks down on humans and mocks them for being blindly obedient, comparing them to livestock to be slaughtered. She is shocked however when her master, [[spoiler:[[GreaterScopeVillain Ouroboros]]]], [[YouHaveFailedMe decides to eat her after she fails to kill the heroes too many times]], with her [[IronicEcho master even justifying it with the same logic]].
276* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'': It eventually turns out the Mastermind had an accomplice but had said accomplice betrayed and killed [[ForTheEvulz because despair]], and the accomplice never saw it coming.[[spoiler: Mukuro Ikusaba was completely loyal to her sister Junko even knowing that Junko was a crazed murderer and helped her set up the killing game so she could betray and murder her classmates, even pretending to be Junko for it to work properly. Junko promptly had Mukuro executed while disguised so she could fake her own death. Just to rub things in, it's noted that Mukuro had SuperReflexes and could dodge any attack but couldn't get out of her execution because she never thought Junko would kill her, and her last words are "this wasn't supposed to happen."]]
277* The plot of ''Videogame/DevilMayCry5'' is kicked off by [[spoiler:Vergil]]'s decision to split himself into his human and demon halves. He discovers seconds later that he is not TheUnfettered demon Urizen but the helpless human V and spends most of the rest of the game trying to find someone powerful enough to defeat Urizen so they can reunite.
278* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'':
279** One of your mage companions, Vivienne, is strongly in favor of reinstating [[MutantDraftBoard the Circle of Magi]], under the reasoning that mages ''must'' be imprisoned and controlled by Templars for their own safety and the safety of the general public, and that so long as the mages behave themselves they'll be allowed to live. However, she submits to none of those restrictions, being the CourtMage to the Orlesian court and essentially living the free life of a noble while claiming every other mage should be contained for their own good.
280** Toyed with regarding the Venatori, one of the main antagonist factions. Their leader the Elder One wants to [[AGodAmI enter the Fade and claim the power of a god]] and use it to reshape the world and restore [[VestigialEmpire the Tevinter Imperium]] to its glory days. [[spoiler: The BadFuture you see in one quest line is not hospitable to human life, let alone Tevinter's restoration]], and several of the Venatori seem to think they'll be made the sole ruler of the world for their service while the Elder One takes up the position of deity, rather than simply another slave. However, it's unclear how much they know of his plans and their actual effects. The Venatori leader Calpernia, for example, is genuinely unaware that [[spoiler:Corypheus plans to put her in a FateWorseThanDeath situation to make use of the Well of Sorrows without suffering its side-effects himself]], and when informed of this she immediately stops fighting and leaves to confront him.
281** In the ''Jaws of Hakkon'' DLC, the First Inquisitor Ameridan [[spoiler:who was an [[EnslavedElves elven]] [[AntiMagicFaction mage]] was fine with his close personal friend Emperor Drakon leading [[TheFundamentalist religiously-motivated]] imperial expansionist campaigns against neighboring human kingdoms because Drakon assured him he and his descendants would always honor Dales ''elven'' sovereignty. When Ameridan learns that Drakon's ''own son'' annexed the Dales one short generation after he disappeared]] he's horrified, as he'd assumed that [[spoiler:''his'' people would be exempt from Drakon's imperial expansionism- albeit that this was because shortly after he disappeared, a series of tragic misunderstandings led to a severe and immediate deterioration in human/elf relationships that in turn provoked the war; Drakon's son probably would've kept his promise otherwise]].
282* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVI'': One optional area in the dreamworld is a GroundhogDayLoop of a king who decided to deal with the threat of the Archfiend by [[SummonBiggerFish summoning an even bigger demon to kill it]]. The idea that they wouldn't remain in control past the first five seconds of the ritual didn't occur to them at all. [[spoiler:If you actually fight and defeat this demon quickly enough, it turns out the plan wasn't as stupid as it seems: the demon cheerfully destroys the BigBad in a humiliating CurbStompBattle without taking any damage. The problem being that the demon will only respect anybody strong enough to beat him, and if you're strong enough to beat him that means you're also strong enough to CurbStomp the BigBad even without his help.]]
283* ''VideoGame/DyztopiaPostHumanRPG'': Detritus-12 is programmed to believe that non-humans are inferior in order to make her more compliant with President Zazz's plan to create a human supremacist society. However, Akari points out that androids like Detritus-12 will be considered a second class citizen who can be disposed of at any time.
284* Several of the debates in ''VisualNovel/ExileElection'' involve this. For instance, Miori's debate revolves around the concept of a world where [[StatOVision everyone's abilities are translated into stats]], with this information being widely known. Most of her supporters naturally believe that their stats would be high enough that they'll be recognized as special and be treated accordingly. [[spoiler:Ironically, Miori believes the exact opposite. She thinks ''her'' stats would be low enough that she'd be dismissed as worthless, and everyone would leave her alone and stop expecting anything from her.]]
285* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'': [[ElaborateUndergroundBase Vault 11]]'s [[ForScience sadistic social experiment]], revealed by their Overseer after they permanently sealed the exit, was to force the citizens into sacrificing one person a year or the vault would self-destruct. They unanimously decided to sacrifice their Overseer.\
286\
287This turned into a tradition of sacrificing their elected overseer at the end of every year, under the premise that the one with all the power is / will become an asshole and should pay the price. Which turned corrupt as the majority formed voting blocs to target minorities and annoyances, and the Justice Bloc's leader took full advantage of their influence to bully anyone into submission with threats of getting them or their loved ones elected, [[ILied then get them elected anyway]]. Except one pissed-off victim [[ZeroApprovalGambit intentionally got herself elected in a landslide with a string of bloc serial killings]], and used her overseer powers to make all future sacrifices selected at random, screwing the blocs over with their own voting power and belief in electing a StrawmanPolitical to blame.\
288\
289Which went horribly wrong as the formerly smug, untouchable Justice Bloc [[VillainousBreakdown went berserk]] and launched an armed coup to reinstate their voting entitlements, sparking a bloody {{civil war}} that ended with the decimation of the vault. When the vault sang its final insult - unlocking the vault doors and praising the citizens for not sacrificing anyone that year (because they were too busy shooting each other) - four of the five survivors committed suicide from the realization that they only passed the SecretTestOfCharacter [[{{Irony}} by failing every other test of basic human decency]]. The sole survivor begged them to listen to the announcement that they could just leave, even after he personally insulted the Vault's AI and demanded it do their worst to try to make them listen to it (and oh, it did).
290* ''VideoGame/KnightEternal'': The people of Zamaste worship Zamas in the hopes that he'll spare them, but it's clear that Zamas has no intention of doing so and that he hates all mortals equally.
291* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks'': Chancellor Cole's plan rests on finding a suitable host for his master Malladus, but he breaks down in fear [[spoiler:once Malladus chooses ''him'' after losing Zelda]].
292* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'': The Faceless Man, BigBad of the ''Mask Of The Betrayer'' expansion, [[WasOnceAMan was once]] [[spoiler:Akachi, the high priest of the [[GodIsDead dead god]] Myrkul, until he renounced his devotion to Myrkul and tried to [[RageAgainstTheHeavens storm the afterlife]] to liberate his wife's soul from [[FateWorseThanDeath the Wall of the Faithless]].]] It sounds noble, and to an extent it was, but it is pointed out that [[spoiler:Akachi had been gleefully condemning souls to the Wall for decades before his wife ended up there.]] He knew full well what Myrkul was doing (and what he was doing in Myrkul's service), as well as how corrupt the whole system was; he just didn't care until that corrupt system affected ''him'' and someone he cared about.
293* In ''VideoGame/OctopathTravelerII'', Mugen is a very firm believer of Ku's MightMakesRight mentality and intends to conquer Solistia through military strength. He constantly talks about how the weak exist to either serve or get cut down by the strong. Once Hikari beats him in combat, however, Mugen refuses to accept his defeat or acknowledge that he's now one of the "weaklings" he looked down upon.
294* In ''VideoGame/Persona5'', many members of the Conspiracy are like this. They're fine with [[spoiler: Shido]] causing people to have mental breakdowns as long as those breakdowns are people who are their rivals and enemies. However, few stop to think about the fact that his targets tend to be people who are dangerous to him. Such as [[HeKnowsTooMuch people who know he's the one causing the breakdowns]]. They're far less happy when they realize (as they die) that they're on the chopping block as well.
295* This tends to be a problem with online trading in the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games. Players will often put up a freshly-caught and untrained Mon for offer while demanding you give them legendaries or max-levels in return, a trade they would've never accepted if made by someone else (a problem exacerbated in early iterations by a search UI that wasn't designed well enough to let players screen out bad offers properly). The addition of Wonder Trading, in which you trade Pokémon with a random player without knowing what you're going to get, has only made this worse, [[https://dewtacular.tumblr.com/post/64846265560/i-think-this-sums-up-wondertrade-pretty-well with everyone assuming THEY will be the one of the lucky ones]].
296* ''VideoGame/RiseOfTheThirdPower'': Prince Gage initially bought into Emperor Noraskov's rhetoric of how some people are chosen as fate and others are disfavored by fate, and that the former group is morally superior to the latter regardless of circumstances. [[spoiler:As a result, he's complicit in Noraskov's purge of dissenters and undesirables. He is eventually labeled a traitor for stopping the assassination of his fiancée, Princess Arielle, making him disfavored by fate according to this ideology.]]
297* The premise of ''VideoGame/SeaSalt''. A seaside town has prospered by making a [[DealWithTheDevil deal with]] [[EldritchAbomination Dagon]]. The game opens with the [[SinisterMinister Archbishop]] praying to Dagon to find out which [[HumanSacrifice people need to be sacrificed]] [[PoweredByAForsakenChild for continued blessing]]. As soon as his own name is mentioned, he goes from happy obedience to [[DirtyCoward stammering excuses about how he's too important]]. It's up to the player to command Dagon's minions and collect the payment the hard way.
298* Most representatives of the Chaos alignment in ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' support the creation of a world where MightMakesRight because they believe they're strong enough to end up on top in such a world. Many don't take it well when the protagonist defeats them in battle, thus proving themselves stronger.
299** Accentuated in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney''. The Chaos ending is the typical scenario, transforming Earth into a world of survival of the fittest, though Humanity fails to take into account that demons are inherently stronger than them, so they're quickly wiped off the face of the earth. You're urged to take a plan B to do something similar, but by taking demons out of the equation.
300* ''VideoGame/SilentHill3'': There's a notebook in the hospital that envisions the writer (most likely [[TheFundamentalist Leonard Wolf]]), as some [[KnightTemplar righteous crusader]] defending the world from all the "unnecessary people" in it. As Heather reads the journal, she scornfully notes that she'd like to meet the lunatic who wrote it and ask if they think they're "one of the necessary ones".
301* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'': Flowey spends most of the game tempting the player character into killing everyone they meet and turning them into an unrepentant murderer, so they can destroy the world, due to his nihilistic SocialDarwinist beliefs. If the player actually does so, he'll be much nicer towards them, praise their actions, and consider the two of them kindred spirits, up until [[OhCrap he realizes]] an unrepentant murderer who kills everyone they meet won't exclude ''him'' from that.
302* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'': Consul N is hit with this ''hard''. [[spoiler:After he imprisons Ouroborus and [[ForcedToWatch forces them to wait out the last month of Mio's life]] before [[DeaderThanDead Homecoming]] in an effort to break his reincarnation/clone Noah, it's revealed that his wife, Consul M, used her powers to [[FreakyFridayFlip swap bodies]] with Mio to both save her doppleganger's life and end her own. This leads N to have a complete mental breakdown as he realises that the woman he loved died and starts ranting how Noah couldn't save her despite that being his entire plan to torture Noah in the first place, and leaves him in a catatonic state while Noah's resolve is stronger than ever]].
303[[/folder]]
304
305[[folder:Web Comics]]
306* ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'':
307** Several times, including with the final boss, Black Mage has attempted to cozy up to whatever force of evil is attempting to destroy the world under the belief that they'll team up and get to do it together. Then said evil force makes it clear that this is not a case of EvilIsOneBigHappyFamily and Black Mage will get destroyed along with everything else, forcing Black Mage to go back to the heroes.
308** At the end of the comic with it looking like the end is imminent, Thief attempts to back out thinking his wealth will allow him to live the good life in whatever's left. Black Mage and Red Mage have to point out to him that MoneyIsNotPower if there's no economy to support it. Thief is quick to return to world-saving as a result.
309* ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'':
310** A man [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02462.htm discusses this]] when he [[ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules refuses to attack someone for a large bribe]]: "TheNeedsOfTheMany" sounds good until you're designated one of the few.
311** A space station manager tries to replace the human maintenance workers with unpaid robots as a cost-saving measure, only to discover an appreciation for labour protections when he's told that an AI could easily do his job.
312* ''Webcomic/ModernMoGal'' has [[https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/modern-mogal/ponytail-graffiti-004/viewer?title_no=228972&episode_no=52 this light-hearted example]] in which a woman's question of what hairstyle her husband likes has his response followed by the woman and their daughter applying the suggested hairstyle to ''his'' long hair instead of the woman's shorter hair.
313* ''Webcomic/QuentynQuinnSpaceRanger'': Referenced when a group of SpacePirates who were fighting Quentyn find themselves helpless against a [[OneManArmy single Kvrk-Chk]] until Quentyn saves them.
314-->'''Quentyn:''' [[RobotBuddy Omnibus,]] pirates and gangsters and other "outlaws" are nothing but arrogant children. They think that the rules are just there to spoil their fun, and that only wimps and losers live by them. And so they figure that being an outlaw makes them the biggest, baddest predators in the universe. '''They're dead wrong.''' What it makes them is rightful prey. Of the civilization they spurned, and of the things their civilization protected them from without their ever knowing. [[AlwaysABiggerFish There are powers and principalities out there that pick their teeth with the bones of "big, bad outlaws" that wander out past the fence.]] Our three eyed buccaneers just learned that their worst nightmare is true: The bars on the cage aren't there to protect the ''tiger''... and the tiger ''isn't them''.
315* ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'' has someone [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/karma try to reincarnate as a northern elephant seal]] to have up to 100 mates in his harem each mating season. Cue reincarnating ''as one of the mates''.
316* ''Webcomic/SomethingPositive'' has an [[https://somethingpositive.net/comic/before-we-part-ways-pt-3/ already-frustrated Davan]] makes a goth clubber [[StopHittingYourself start hitting himself]] for his desire for "divine Anarchy", giving an object lesson in this trope in the process.
317-->'''Davan''': Bullshit! You want Anarchy?! ''This'' is Anarchy! [[MightMakesRight Where the stronger rule the weak]], and guess where your place is, [[Franchise/TheAddamsFamily Pugsley]]? Anarchy is your sixth grade gym class for all eternity!
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320[[folder:Web Original]]
321* PlayedWith in [[https://www.theonion.com/stop-making-delicious-food-i-cant-stop-eating-and-go-ba-1819584685 this article]] for ''Website/TheOnion'', where a man expresses his desire to see all Mexicans deported from the United States, despite his love of Mexican food and being on good terms with all of the Mexicans that he knows.
322-->"But the rest of you, the ones I don't know personally, I won't miss you at all."
323* From Website/{{Reddit}}'s [=r/MaliciousCompliance=], an expectant mother's mother-in-law decided "grandparents deserve a vote" on the names of the grandkids. [[https://www.reddit.com/r/MaliciousCompliance/comments/uwwd8u/deleted_by_user/i9um348?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3 OP agreed...]] and invited the ''other'' grandparents to the vote as well. Mother-in-law lost 4 to 2.
324* A thread on Website/StarDestroyerDotNet's forum concluded that of various fictional worlds, ''Franchise/StarTrek'''s United Federation of Planets is probably the best one to live in, on grounds that, since you're far more likely to be some random average guy than one of the heroes of TheVerse, the Federation's standard of living has a lot to recommend it.
325** Ironically, despite this, the site has sharply criticized Trekkies who [[IWishItWereReal wish the real future turns out like Star Trek]], since the backstory makes it very clear that the 21st century is a time of complete societal collapse, with constant world wars and tyranny, and conditions reverting, all over the planet, to those of the worst of the worst Third World countries. ''Trek'' is one of those settings where things get much worse before they get better, and the fans forget that the only reason the 21st century doesn’t lead to a millennium-long dark age is because Zefram Cochrane makes contact with Vulcan, [[BenevolentAlienInvasion who restore Earth back to its prosperous state]], but not before the viewers LongingForFictionland would have suffered and likely died through [[TraumaCongaLine many catastrophes in a row]].
326* Lampooned in a widely-shared [[Website/{{Twitter}} tweet]] by [[https://twitter.com/cavalorn/status/654934442549620736?lang=en Adrian Bott]]:
327-->"I never thought leopards would eat MY face," sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party.
328:: This quote serves as the inspiration for the [[Website/{{Reddit}} subreddit]] [[https://www.reddit.com/r/LeopardsAteMyFace/ r/LeopardsAteMyFace]], which documents several posts about this occurring in real life, as well as the [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/leopards-eating-peoples-faces-party "Leopards Eating People's Faces" Party]] [[MemeticMutation meme]].
329* There's a tiktok that presents the point of view of an ObnoxiousEntitledHousewife who has spent her life supporting conservatives value and opposing feminism making a scene in a supermarket because "don't these people know - exceptions are supposed to made for ''you.''"
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332[[folder:Western Animation]]
333* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': In "Toad to Redemption", Toadie was really eager for Toadstool to get the new job at Toad Tower, even complaining directly on why he would choose not to do it. But then he was told that he will have a new assistant once he was in charge of Toad Tower and Toadie will not come along, something Toadie didn't seem to have considered, after that, he was happy that Toadstool had decided to stay.
334* ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince'': When King Harrow was crowned, he told his wife about a dream he had where Lady Justice came to him and offered him a gift. He took her blindfold, and she explained how he should try to imagine he was not born with the wealth or position he has, or even the culture or skin color. Later in the episode, he tries to make good on this promise by offering supplies to a nearby kingdom suffering a famine -- they don't have much to spare, so the same amount of people will starve, but half of them will be from his kingdom instead of all from his ally. However, he stumbles a bit when his court wizard offers him an alternative; kill a powerful magical creature and use its heart to bring fertility to the land. His wife points out that they don't even know if the creature is intelligent. They ultimately go through with it and it works, but it kicks off a CycleOfRevenge that results in Harrow's wife dead, the queens of the allied kingdom dead, himself dead years later, and brings the land within inches of war.
335* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "Padre de Familia", Peter, driven by PatrioticFervor, demands that his company institute a policy of only hiring American citizens in order to weed out illegal immigrant workers. When the policy is passed, he approaches his mother to ask for a copy of his birth certificate, only for her to reveal that she was across the border at the time of his birth, and he was born in Mexico... and since he can't provide a birth certificate that demonstrates his citizenship of the USA, he gets fired as a result of the policy he helped implement.
336* In ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'', this is why several characters - including [[spoiler:Odalia Blight and most of the nine Coven Heads]] - support Emperor Belos' plans for the Day of Unity despite knowing of its true purpose as [[spoiler:a means of committing genocide]]. They naively assume that Belos will allow them to join him in the "paradise" that the Day of Unity will supposedly create, not realising that [[spoiler:Belos fully intends to kill every single witch and demon on the Boiling Isles, without exception]].
337* ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom'': In the episode "Mister Eggman", Eggman signs up for the class of the SadistTeacher Professor Kingsford and is eager to see who the "goat" - the student turned into the professor's ButtMonkey - will be, not realizing that as one of his students, he's just as vulnerable to getting that position himself. Sure enough, it's Eggman who ends up being the goat.
338* Many ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' shorts have Jerry seeming to favor having an AngryGuardDog around since it usually gets Tom off his back and often getting kicks from watching a cat getting chased and tormented by the larger beast. Though, there are a few shorts where "said dog" doesn't just settle on the ''cat'' but then shows every bit of animosity on wanting to do the same to the ''mouse''. Thus, Jerry then finds himself teaming up with Tom, with the two of them having to work together in order to deal with an aggressive and large canine bent on chomping them both.
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