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alt title(s): Too Dumb Too Live
Natural selection in action.

"When your life has been directly threatened by your boss and there's already been one unsolved murder in your office building, always work late and alone!"
Noah "Spoony One" Antwiler, Let's Play Phantasmagoria 2

"I clean my knives in a cross—bow. Some people say it's foolish... I put them in the hoover and set it on blow and just shoot water at them around the kitchen, as I sit with a plug – bare—wired at my feet… PEEING ON IT! All to get a better clean."
Phil Jupitus on QI after hearing about the fatal accidents involving dishwasher users impaling themselves on the cutlery basket because they put all the knives in pointing up – all to get a better clean.

The character who drives the plot by doing things that no sane human being would do. Walking down the alley alone to tell her friend about the Serial Killer. Telling her best friend not to tell anybody, but she has a crush on somebody. Walking through the streets of Sunnydale after dark. Being Lana Lang. Splitting the party. Being curious. Searching the hero's room in such a manner that no one could miss that you did it. Visiting a known dangerous area. Not only possessing Genre Blindness, but putting Zaphod Beeblebrox's Peril-Sensitive Sunglasses on over it. Even close friends have to Face Palm upon hearing of their exploits. (Though it never penetrates their own heads.)

Closely related to Damsel Scrappy, but distinguished in that Too Dumb To Live is the cause of the main plot (see The Load), while the Damsel Scrappy's travails are a distracting subplot. A Too Dumb To Live character who has absolutely nothing to do with any of the plots is a Ralph Wiggum. If a character becomes Too Dumb To Live for just one event or episode, often at odds with their normal behaviour, the writers have passed them the Idiot Ball. Those who are competent, however, suffer from Death By Pragmatism. Compare Lets Get Dangerous, where when it's time to fight, the character suddenly doubles in IQ points. Contrast Too Dumb To Fool, where the character really is dumb. Related to Bullying A Dragon.


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