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->'''Butch:''' Alright. I'll jump first.\\
'''Sundance:''' No.\\
'''Butch:''' Then ''you'' jump first.\\
'''Sundance:''' No, I said.\\
'''Butch:''' What's the matter with you?!\\
'''Sundance:''' ''I can't swim!''\\
''(Butch starts laughing hysterically)''\\
'''Butch:''' Are you crazy?! The ''fall'' will probably kill you!
-->-- ''Film/ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKid''

One character expresses some concern about a situation. Another character corrects them, telling them what they should ''really'' be worried about. Not to be confused with SkewedPriorities, which is about being disproportionately concerned over something comparatively trivial, or with ItsAllAboutMe, which is about putting one's own interests ahead of everyone else's. This trope is about a character who has a legitimate fear that is then replaced with ''another'', legitimate fear.

A subtrope of RightForTheWrongReasons, and related to FalseReassurance. See also MortonsFork and AssuranceBackfire.

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!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Advertising]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc3TGbZmMfU This]] Castlemaine XXXX advert.
-->'''First fisherman:''' There aren't any sharks in here, are there?\\
'''Second fisherman:''' Nah. Crocodiles ate all the sharks.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke'' ends with the Joker telling Franchise/{{Batman}} a joke based around this trope: [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Two crazy guys]] break out of a BedlamHouse and plan to escape by jumping to the roof a nearby building. One makes the jump, but the other fears that he'll fall. The first man tries to help by shining a flashlight across the gap and [[InsaneTrollLogic telling his friend use the beam of light as a bridge]]. The second man responds "What do think I am? Crazy? [[RightForTheWrongReasons You'd turn it off when I was halfway across!]]". The entire joke is clearly [[RuleOfSymbolism a metaphor]] on Joker's part for his relationship with Batman; Batman is insane but somewhat functional and tries futilely to help people like Joker who cannot safely function in society.
* ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'': The Chitauri have decided that there is no more time to try to assimilate earth: it has to be destroyed in a single explosion instead. Herr Kleiser is sad about the loss... he was about to consume and replace the Wasp, but now he will never be able to experience the female human form.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In ''Fanfic/TheOutside'', an agoraphobic Satsuki does have reasons to think that the world outside of her house is dangerous but she doesn't consider ''what'' can make outside world dangerous (to list a few, car accidents[[note]]Soichiro's death[[/note]], disease[[note]]Ryuuko getting sick in Ch. 25[[/note]] or people[[note]]The "Nasty Dude" in Ch. 23[[/note]]), let alone, that being confined indoors has its own dangers.
* After [[Franchise/StargateVerse Apophis']] throne world is attacked in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10917821/19/The-questionable-burdens-of-leadership-of-a-troll-Emperor The (Questionable) Burdens of Leadership of a Troll Emperor]]'', his son Klorel is warned by the Jaffa that he has to leave immediately as he's in danger. Klorel believes it's because his father is finished politically after the attack, his failure to destroy Earth, and the failed invasion of the Celestial Empire. The real danger is that the millions of human slaves on the planet witnessed thousands of Goa'uld deaths and realized they're not gods, inciting them to rebel en masse.
* [[Film/JurassicWorld Owen Grady]] gets sick of hearing calls for his raptors to wear muzzles in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/3381008/chapters/7495037 Tainted]]'', citing that their claws are more dangerous and a muzzle just means they can't eat you after killing you.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheCareBearsMovie'', a couple of kids and a couple of Care Bears are stuck in a tree and afraid of falling when Friend points out that they should be more afraid of the lion that's climbing up for them. (Fortunately, the lion turns out to be friendly and just wanted to help.)
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=24p16EEfdg8 The most famous scene]] in ''Film/ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKid'' is built around an instance of this trope (and an aversion of SoftWater), as seen in the page quote.
* ''Film/DungeonsAndDragonsHonorAmongThieves'': Forge assures Edgin that he does not, in fact, have any wish to see him die... [[NoExceptYes So he's going to leave the room and let him die in private.]]
* A close variant in ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban''. Hermione's SkewedPriorities are a RunningGag in the film series.
-->'''Harry:''' I didn't mean to blow [Marge Dursley] up. I just... I lost control.\\
'''Ron:''' Brilliant!\\
'''Hermione:''' Honestly, Ron, it's not funny. Harry was lucky not to be expelled.\\
'''Harry:''' ''(dryly)'' I think I was I was lucky not to be ''arrested'', actually.\\
'''Ron:''' I still think it was brilliant.
* In the movie of ''Film/JamesAndTheGiantPeach'', after the giant peach has fallen into the ocean:
-->'''Earthworm:''' Great! We're stuck here until we shrivel up and die.\\
'''Grasshopper:''' Highly improbable.\\
'''Ladybug:''' That's a relief...\\
'''Grasshopper:''' We're far more likely to ''drown.''
* In ''Film/MuppetTreasureIsland'', Captain Smolett starts worrying about the voyage because the crew was hired by "a cook... and a guy who lives in a bear's finger." Not because said cook is a MagnificentBastard...
* The film ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'' has Augustus Gloop getting stuck in a pipe. His panicky mother shrieks that he'll be "made into marshmallows," to which Wonka responds that the very idea is patently absurd.
-->Because that pipe doesn't go to the marshmallow room; it goes to the fudge room!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* When the Literature/{{Animorphs}} find themselves on a cliff on the meteor-wrecked Hork-Bajir planet, they notice the planet's molten core far below them. One character worries about the possibility of falling into the magma. Ax says that this won't happen -- if they fell, they'd [[ConvectionSchmonvection be vaporized by the heat long before they reached it]]. Similarly, when Ax tells the group about how their [[ShapeshifterBaggage excess mass]] is extruded out into Zero-Space when they morph something small, they begin to worry about the possibility that a ship passing through Z-Space might splatter their mass across its hull. Ax reassures them that such a thing would be impossible- their mass would be disintegrated by the ship's shields first.
* ''Literature/BelisariusSeries'': Belisarius' popularity made Justinian so nervous that Irene hinted that Belisarius would actually be safer on a long and dangerous fact-finding trip to India. He didn't notice the Malwa conspiracy.
* ''Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'', when Augustus Gloop falls into the chocolate river and gets sucked up a giant pipe, his parents express fear that he'll be made into marshmallows, and Mr. Wonka tells them not to worry... because that pipe goes to the fudge room, not the marshmallow room.
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** In ''Literature/TheLastContinent'', there are very few poisonous snakes in [[LandDownUnder XXXX]]... because most of them have been eaten by the spiders.
** In ''Literature/GoingPostal'', Moist is relieved to hear that a dangerous pass has very little bandit activity nowadays. Then he's told that isn't good news because "We still don't know what killed them".
** ''Literature/MakingMoney'' introduces the drink Splot, a sort of KlatchianCoffee. People are often reassured when they hear Splot is nonalchoholic...until they're told it's because "alcohol wouldn't survive."
* ''Literature/TheMoteInGodsEye'': As ''[=MacArthur=]'' travels through the outer layers of a red supergiant star, Dr. Buckman comments that if the [[DeflectorShield Langston Field]] collapses, "it'll ruin everything" -- referring to the loss of his data, not the destruction of the ship and the deaths of all aboard including himself.
* ''Literature/NewJediOrder'': In ''Traitor'' Nom Anor panics about the possibility [[YouHaveFailedMe being executed by Warmaster Lah if Jacen manages to destroy their worldship]] after he escapes confinement and goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge. Vergere wryly calls Nom an optimist for assuming that they'll survive Jacen's rampage itself.
* Deliberately invoked by the supervillain Phanthro in ''Literature/{{Relativity}}'' to taunt the heroes: He has them trapped in an abandoned coal mine, with a (sort of) nuclear reactor in an adjacent room which will eventually explode and destroy the city. But they don't need to worry about that -- the reactor is generating intense heat and they'll burn to death ''long'' before the explosion.
* ''[[Literature/MichaelVey Rise of the Elgen]]'': During the trip to infiltrate the Peruvian compound, [[ShockAndAwe Zeus]] refuses to get on a boat, telling their guide that if he fell into the water, his electrical powers would kill him. The man starts laughing, making Zeus angry, but then explains his outburst: he's not making light of what Zeus said, but this is the Amazon. If he fell in the water, [[NeverSmileAtACrocodile caimans]], [[SnakesAreSinister anacondas]], or [[PiranhaProblem piranhas]] would kill him even if the electricity didn't.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* On the episode of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E8Pangs "Pangs"]], Xander is in a panic because he has been cursed with a host of diseases. He's most stressed about the syphilis. Anya says comfortingly:
-->'''Anya:''' It'll make you blind and insane, but it won't kill you. The smallpox will.
* ''Series/CriminalMinds'' "The Bunker": JJ and Reid are searching a doomsday bunker when they get sealed in a corridor by doors Reid quickly identifies as airtight. JJ asks if they're going to run out of air:
-->'''Reid:''' No high carbon dioxide levels are going to kill us before low levels of oxygen do.
* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': When Serenity's engine breaks down, shutting down life-support, the crew worries that they'll suffocate. River informs them that they don't have to worry about that; they'll freeze to death long before the air runs out.
* ''Series/ThePractice'': One of the clients of the week was a thief that had accidentally committed a murder while mugging someone. That "someone" happened to be a Jewish rabbi, and the comedic RunningGag of this plot (such as it was) was that the thief was much more concerned about being tried for a hate crime (and thus being labeled a racist by the media) than the actual "murder" part of the accusing.
* Played with in ''Series/RedDwarf'' when the captain of the ship charges the main character with crimes they are innocent of. In the process of clearing their names, they commit other crimes, the punishment for which works out to be exactly the same.
* One of these occurs in ''Series/TheWestWing'' in the episode [[Recap/TheWestWingS02E20TheFallsGonnaKillYou "The Fall's Gonna Kill You]]". It takes place during the arc about President Bartlett having to reveal to the public that he has MS, which the staff has been frantically preparing for. In order to gauge reaction, they put out a poll asking the people of Michigan how they would feel if they found out their governor had concealed a similar disease. The TitleDrop comes in when Josh mentions to C.J. that Bartlett and Leo are worried that if anyone learns about this, it'll look like Bartlett only told the truth because a poll told him to. C.J. finds this hilarious at the end of a long day.
-->'''CJ:''' You guys are like Butch and Sundance peering over the edge of a cliff to the boulder-filled rapids three hundred feet below, thinking you better not jump 'cause there's a chance you might drown! The President has this disease and he's been lying about it, and you guys are worried that the ''polling'' might make us look bad? It's the fall that's gonna kill you!"
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* Recurring joke in ''ComicStrip/BrewsterRockitSpaceGuy''. "[Planet Name Here]... Isn't that the planet with the giant poisonous snakes?" "Good heavens, no. Those were all wiped out by the giant poisonous tarantulas."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Roleplay]]
* In ''Roleplay/DawnOfANewAgeOldportBlues'', Zia starts to panic when her mother calls her while she's notably absent during a school evacuation. Ciro assumes that it's because her mother is angry, but Zia clarifies the real problem- her mother is ''[[AngerBornOfWorry worried]]''.
* ''Roleplay/PersonaRisingReverie'': Conrad Shepherd's personality in a sentence.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Stand-Up Comedy]]
* Creator/PeterKay's standup act relates the story of a meal interrupted by a cellphone call from a child who's scared to go to sleep because of monsters in his cupboards. Our hero tells him he needn't worry about monsters in his cupboard - it's burglars breaking into the house he should be worried about.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/DayOfTheTentacle'', Dr. Fred tries to send the main characters back in time using his... er... [[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong highly experimental]] time machine. Just before he turns it on, he and Bernard have the following exchange:
-->'''Bernard:''' Have any people ever been hurt in this?\\
'''Dr. Fred:''' Of course not!\\
''[grins all around]''\\
'''Dr. Fred:''' This is the first time I've ever tried it on ''people''!
* In ''VideoGame/TheLEGOMovieVideogame'', Vitruvius warns Emmet and Wyldstyle that they should get on another train in the mission "Escape From Flatbush".
-->'''Vitruvius:''' Hurry up! They haven't finished building the track this train is on!\\
'''Emmet:''' It's going to derail?!\\
'''Vitruvius:''' No!\\
'''Emmet:''' Oh, phew!\\
'''Vitruvius:''' It's going to fall off a cliff!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', the scary part about [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090304 being trapped in a room full of broken machinery within an insane castle]] is not that the castle will kill you if you're unable to fix it, but that ''[[MadScientist Gil's interest has been piqued]]''.
* In a [[http://humoncomics.com/mother-gaia one-off comic]] by Creator/{{Humon}}, we see a man tearfully apologizing to Mother Nature for messing everything up, causing her to hug her "beloved, self-centered human".
-->'''Gaia''': That wasn't what I meant by self-centered. Nature is adaptable. No matter what you do to it it will simply change and take on new forms. It has survived worse things than you. You are however in the process of changing it so much that you can't live in it. You're not killing nature, [[ApocalypseHow you're killing yourself]]. That's what I mean by self-centered. You think that just because ''you'' can't live, then nothing can.\\
'''Man''': What?\\
'''Gaia''': ''([[DissonantSerenity Still giving a loving hug]])'' You're fucking yourself over big time and won't be missed.
* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' has [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-04-30 this]].
-->'''Ennesby:''' Uh-oh. Those look like real police.\\
'''Tagon:''' Uh-oh. [[{{Tsundere}} Elf]] is ''smiling'' at them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'', Julie tells Ben that only 24% of the surveyed people think he is a threat to society. When Ben shows relief, she clarifies that the other 76% wants him dead.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'', Quack Quack [[MakesSenseInContext decides to leave Smileyland thanks to Kaeloo]]. After he leaves, Kaeloo starts to worry that he might not be safe. Stumpy tells her that the ''real'' reason they should be worried is that Mr. Cat seems to be going insane since [[NighInvulnerable Quack Quack]] isn't around to torture, and is now going to kill them.
* In the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/MiloMurphysLaw'', Milo and Zach end up in Coyote Woods, but Milo assures Zach there aren't any coyotes in it. It was actually named after actor Creator/PeterCoyote, who donated the property to the city... as a wolf preserve. Cue wolf howl.
-->'''Zach:''' You do get how that's not better, right?\\
(''SmashCut to Zach and Milo being chased by a pack of angry wolves'')
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In ''Dragonshy'', the citizens of Ponyville are panicking over the massive clouds of smoke on the horizon, assuming it's from a fire. Twilight tries to dispel those fears, but the truth doesn't help matters...
-->'''Twilight Sparkle:''' But don't worry, I've just received a letter from Princess Celestia informing me that it is not coming from a fire.\\
'''Fluttershy:''' Oh, thank goodness.\\
'''Twilight Sparkle:''' It's coming from a dragon.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* In his book ''Conceptual Physics'', Paul Hewitt explains (in one of the proposed exercises near the end of the chapter on gravitation) that the interior of a black hole has an extremely powerful gravitational force that is likely to tear apart anything and anyone unlucky enough to fall there. However, he remarks that there's no need to worry about that, as a person approaching a black hole would die ''long'' before crossing the event horizon due to the surrounding gravitational tides. He proposes the reader to explain why the tides are so deadly.
[[/folder]]
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