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Confound Them With Kindness

Smile. It confuses people.

—Various t-shirts and bumper stickers.

Bob just asked to borrow one of Alice's favorite records. Unfortunately, due to an accident involving a microwave, a packet of pop-rocks, and his Volvo, Bob brings back the album shattered into pieces. He returns to Alice, expecting towering rage, an Armor-Piercing Slap or Megaton Punch, or worse. Instead, Alice takes back the pieces, thanks him for returning the album, and offers him a stick of gum before he heads out. He leaves in a suspicious, bemused daze. Charlene, Alice's roommate, asks if Alice has forgiven Bob.

"No way," Alice says. "I just wanted to throw him off balance before I made him squirm!"

This trope represents instances in which a character acts with politeness, kindness, or courtesy toward an enemy - not out of true well-meaning, but out of a desire to confuse, disturb, disorient, or lull the enemy into a false sense of security.

On occasion, the character will make an Unsmile, Slasher Smile, or something similar while doing this - especially when the intention is to disturb or frighten the victim rather than just to confuse them.

Compare Paranoia Gambit.

Examples

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Anime & Manga

In the manga adaptation of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Shinji refuses to punch Touji back for the decking he got earlier, saying that he preferred Touji to owe him one.

Literature

In The Dresden Files book White Night, Harry Dresden goes to visit a ~~brothel~~ Health Club owned by ~~mobster~~ Legitimate Businessman "Gentleman" Johnny Marcone, expecting to have to bully, intimidate, and possibly blast his way into the building to ask the questions he needs answered. Instead he's greeted warmly by the receptionist, offered a luxurious and expensive membership package, and is politely ushered into the office of the character he'd hoped to speak with. When Marcone appears, he reveals that he's instructed all his businesses to treat Dresden like royalty, as a form of damage control.
John Marcone: In my judgment, my buildings are less likely to burn to the ground during one of your visits if you are disoriented from being treated like a sultan.

Live Action TV

One of the Rules of Acquisition as stated by Quark in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: "Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies."

Western Animation

A Rocky and Bullwinkle story arc has the duo dealing with an infestation of man-eating plants called Pottsylvania Creepers. After every attempt to stop them fails, Bullwinkle says "We've tried everything except being nice to them!" And sure enough, that turns out to be the answer. The Creepers are so used to people being understandably hostile to them that they don't know how to react to kindness, so they wither and die from it.

Commerce Pimp

Tropes Needing Examples

Cult Of Personality