History Main / AccompliceByInaction

* ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' has this somewhat as the reason for [[spoiler:Harvey]]'s rampage, as he goes after everybody who had something to do with Rachel Dawes' death. He goes from blaming the man that had her strapped to a bomb, to blaming the people who originally hired him before he started acting out on his own, to blaming the people who were actively trying to save her, but had allowed corrupt cops to remain on the force.

* In ''Film/KillBill'', that's precisely why the Bride went after Sophie Fatale. Sophie didn't participate in the execution of the Bride, her husband-to-be, and her friends at the wedding in El Paso but she was present and watched it happen, even casually answering a professional phone call while the Deadly Vipers Assassination Squad was beating the Bride to a pulp before Bill shot her in the head. In the end, [[CruelMercy the Bride lets her live]], but not before [[AnArmAndALeg severing her arm]] as punishment for doing nothing about the whole ordeal, even seemingly approving of it.
* ''Film/LoneStar1996:'' A recurring motif in the flashbacks is how Hollis is present while Wade is killing or extorting people, not really helping him, but not doing anything to stop him either. [[spoiler:Eventually, he can't take any more of this and shoots Wade to keep him from killing again.]]

* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers'': Invoked when Squadron X were killed. The Decepticons were all arrested, but because it was on a neutral world they couldn't be held. Impactor took a gun, locked himself in and shot them all to death. All the Wreckers stood by except Springer(who tried to stop him, but couldn't as he was injured) and let him. Afterward they confessed to Springer that they were too stunned or scared to stop him, and had fallen under BystanderSyndrome. Springer, tired of all the death believed them and Impactor was jailed alone. Much later in life Roadbuster confessed to a comatose Springer that they did nothing because they agreed with Impactor and were unwilling to stop him, afterward they just wanted to avoid prison time.

* In ''Film/KillBill'', that's precisely why the Bride went after Sophie Fatale. Sophie didn't participate in the execution of the Bride, her husband-to-be and her friends at the wedding in El Paso but she was present and watched it happen, even casually answering a professional phone call while the Deadly Vipers Assassination Squad was beating the Bride to a pulp before Bill shot her in the head. In the end, [[CruelMercy the Bride lets her live]], but not before [[AnArmAndALeg severing her arm]] as punishment for doing nothing about the whole ordeal, even seemingly approving of it.

* In ''Film/NaturalBornKillers'', after Mickey kills Mallory's abusive father, Mallory kills her mother because she never did anything to try stopping her Dad.
* ''Film/NightWatch'': A cornered vampire girl blames the Night Watch (ostensibly the good guys) for her turning into a vampire and subsequent crimes, since the vampire who turned her was doing so legally under the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil treaty, so the Night Watch couldn't intervene.

* In ''Film/TalesFromTheHood2'', the Robo Patriot judges Mr. Beach's two aides to be just as guilty for their complicity in his crimes, as neither of them ever objected to his behavior. In the first movie, three white cops beat a black activist to death and frame him up as a heroine addict, while a black officer watches. 1 year later, the activist comes back as a zombie, and after killing the white cops, does the same to the black cop for doing nothing.

* [[Literature/TheOdyssey Ulysses]] is constantly blamed for the amount of mind-boggling STUPID his crew members wreak. They are always eager to disobey the orders of the superior forces, and when he tries to apologize for them, he is usually held responsible.

** In ''Literature/TheOnceAndFutureKing'', King Arthur and quite a few others are this in regards to the adulterous affair between Guinevere and Lancelot. The reason for it is because everyone knows that the sentence for adultery is burning at the stake, and no one, least of all Arthur, wants to see the two killed. As a result, the affair becomes something of an open secret, with everyone refraining from pressing the matter. When Mordred and Agravaine bring the matter to Arthur, not only are their brothers angry with them for drawing attention to the issue, but Arthur says that he won't help or hinder them in their efforts to prove the adultery (though he does openly admit he hopes Lancelot will kill all their witnesses).

* In ''[[WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017 Castlevania]]'', Dracula puts all of Wallachia to the slaughter for the murder of his wife, Lisa. It was the Bishop of a town that ordered Lisa burned at the stake for being a witch [[DeliberateValuesDissonance because she was a woman who wanted to study the sciences]], but the townspeople did nothing to stop it, even cheering when Lisa was burned. He argued with his son that this trope would have been avoided if any of the bystanders stopped the execution, or at least defended her. It's that moment that convinces Dracula that HumansAreTheRealMonsters, and they all deserve to die.

** Since most of the show focuses more on Beatrice's influence, we can see that [=BoJack's=] father, Butterscotch, was more hands-off with dealing with [=BoJack=], with the exception of slapping him on Father's Day when he answered the Panama Canal question wrong or being dismissive when he was there.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': In "Pre-School", we find out that the four main characters (Cartman, Stan, Kyle, & Kenny) were at fault for getting troublemaker Trent Boyett sent off to juvie in pre-school. Butters, who witnessed the whole thing, refused to defend Trent, being more concerned about possibly getting into trouble with [[AbusiveParents his parents.]] As a result, Butters is Trent's first victim when he's released, and is brutally assaulted into a coma.

* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fliw801iX84 "Srebrenica - A Cry from the Grave"]] (a documentary about The Bosnian Genocide), one woman whose son was killed in the Srebrenica massacre at one point says "We offer a prayer to those killed by our enemies; the Dutch enemies, and the Serb enemies". For those wondering why she considers the Dutch her enemies, it is because the (mostly Dutch) UN Peacekeepers tasked with protecting Srebrenica abandoned their checkpoints and allowed the Serbs to massacre the population.(To be fair to the Dutch, they were basically screwed over by the UN higher ups: they were sent in without sufficent equipment or manpower, their requests for air support were denied, and they faced a far larger and better armed Serb force.)

* One of UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat's generals was executed either for being part of a plot against him, or knowing about the plot but not reporting it.

* According to the Athenian laws, during internal disputes, any citizen had to either join a faction, or lose his rights.

* The famous ([[BeamMeUpScotty paraphrased]]) quote from Edmund Burke, "The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing", is often used to push this trope in conjunction of WithUsOrAgainstUs. In accordance of this quote/mindset, if you, as a 'good man', do nothing, that means you're guilty for letting evil triumph when you could have taken action and stop it. The depth of [[WhatIsEvil what constitutes as good or bad]] for different people [[ValuesDissonance depending on the culture they grow up with]] tends to get ignored.

* ''Film/LoneStar:'' A recurring motif in the flashbacks is how Hollis is present while Wade is killing or extorting people, not really helping him, but not doing anything to stop him either. [[spoiler:Eventually, he can't take any more of this and shoots Wade to keep him from killing again.]]

* "The Night Will Only Know" by Music/GarthBrooks has a pair of cheating lovers witnessing the murder of a woman. The [[KarmaHoudini killer goes free]] because the lovers don't want to confess to their adultery.

* ''WesternAnimation/FinalSpace'', [[CrusadingWidower Todd H. Watson]] devotes his life to getting revenge on Gary Goodspeed for failing to save the Earth, which cost him his wife and child. And while his grief is sympathetic, this is treated as clearly being a case of DisproportionateRetribution because Gary and the Team Squad were the only people actively trying to save the Earth. Todd simply latched onto Gary as the target for his revenge because he overheard his name in communications during the disaster, and Gary is somebody he can lash out at as opposed to the planet-sized hand that pulled Earth through a rift into Final Space.

* People who identify as 'apolitical' are often hit with this trope, because, as we all know, AllIssuesArePoliticalIssues.
** It's especially prevalent in elections where an unpopular candidate has a chance of winning. For example, during the highly contentious 2020 US Presidential election, it became common on social media for people to write (paraphrased) "a vote for no candidate is a vote for [[UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump Trump]]."

* Myth/KingArthur:

* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fliw801iX84 "Srebrenica - A Cry from the Grave"]] (a documentary about The Bosnian Genocide), one woman whose son was killed in the Srebrenica massacre at one point says "We offer a prayer to those killed by our enemies; the Dutch enemies, and the Serb enemies". For those wondering why she considers the Dutch her enemies, it is because the (mostly Dutch) UN Peacekeepers tasked with protecting Srebrenica abandoned their checkpoints and allowed the Serbs to massacre the population.

** Many times in this cases, the famous ([[BeamMeUpScotty paraphrased]]) quote from Edmund Burke is often used to push on this mindset: "The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." Therefore, in accordance of this quote/mindset, if you, as a 'good man', do nothing, that means you're guilty for letting evil triumph when you could have taken action and stop it. The depth of what constitutes as good or bad for different people depending on the culture they grow up with tends to get ignored.

** Many times in this cases, the famous quote from Edmund Burke is often used to push on this mindset: "The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." Therefore, in accordance of this quote/mindset, if you, as a 'good man', do nothing, that means you're guilty for letting evil triumph when you could have taken action and stop it. The depth of what constitutes as good or bad for different people depending on the culture they grow up with tends to get ignored.

* ''WebVideo/ScreenRantPitchMeetings''

-->'''Producer''': I mean, anyone who witnessed something like that would step in. That's horrible.\\
'''Screenwriter''': Actually, there's a big crowd of people watching.\\
'''Producer''': Oh, there is?\\
'''Screenwriter''': Yeah, they don't do anything, and Billy only steps in because the bullies make a joke about moms.\\

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Manga/SevenSeeds'':
** Ayu believes herself partly at fault for her bullies' deaths because she knew the branches they were using to make chopsticks out of were poisonous, but said nothing. She only explained when one of them accuses her of intentionally poisoning the food.
** Ban refused to stop the others from Team Summer A from fatally shooting [[AssholeVictim their teacher]] when they awoke in the future. It's unclear if he was [[BreakTheCutie so broken]] from the final test, where he was incapable of saving several people despite being TheMedic, that he honestly believed he was incapable of saving him through his medical knowledge... or showed [[WhatYouAreInTheDark a darker side]] by letting the others get away with it, and refusing to administer help to someone he thought didn't deserve it.
* In ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'', Floch, when criticizing Eren's decision to [[spoiler:use the Titan serum to save Armin's life rather than Erwin's]], a decision that Eren had convinced Levi to accept, also calls out the other Survey Corps members for not intervening to try to stop Eren.
* In ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', in ''Lost Children'' during the pseudo-elf attack on Jill's village, Guts stops them from killing a little boy named Thomas, and then uses the boy as live bait on the end of his sword to lure the elves into a fire trap. Thomas is traumatized, but his life is saved as a result. After the elves are gone the villagers come out of their houses and call Guts despicable for using a child like that, but he throws their hypocrisy back in their faces by saying, "You people make me laugh. [[ArmorPiercingQuestion When this kid ran out, did even one of you unlock your door]]?"
* Discussed in ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02''. While he didn't actively participate in Ken's campaign as the Digimon Emperor, and tried to serve as his MoralityPet, Wormmon still stood back and and did nothing while Ken enslaved and tortured countless innocent Digimon. In "United We Stand," he states outright that because of this, he's just as guilty for the Emperor fiasco as Ken himself.
* In ''Manga/EternalSabbath,'' the [[AbusiveParents abusive mother]] of the young girl Yuri was [[TroubledAbuser herself horrifically abused by her violent father as a child]]. However she eventually admits that, while she hated and feared her father, she hated her mother just as much if not more for being too cowardly to try protecting her beyond meekly asking him to stop. Whenever her father beat her, her mother would buy her candy to try apologizing to her, but she could never even taste it.
* ''Manga/FruitsBasket'': While he didn't directly abuse Yuki in his childhood, Ayame still did nothing to stop his parents and Akito from tormenting his younger brother to the point of trauma, going so far as to ignore Yuki and walk away while he was begging him for help. Yuki still holds a grudge against Ayame for his inaction, and it's one of Ayame's [[MyGreatestFailure greatest regrets]] in life.
* ''LightNovel/KinosJourney'':
** The citizens of the Coliseum country ultimately let their king do as he pleases because he gave them what he wanted. Possibly because of this, Kino doesn't have a problem with decreeing that the citizens must fight to choose a new king, resulting in the populace turning on and killing each other.
** Kino herself becomes this when she meets a man who agrees to travel with a woman in atonement for killing the latter's fiancee. The woman, unwilling to forgive the man, shoots him to death, then says Kino could have stopped her if she wanted to. Kino nonchalantly says she has no desire to play god.
* ''Manga/MakenKi'': During season 2's fifth episode, Aki tells her parents she's dating Takeru to avoid being [[IWantGrandkids pressured into marriage]]. So her parents have him kidnapped and stranded on an island with her in hopes they'd [[CoitusEnsues "make memories"]] together. When Haruko and Himgami find out, they race to the island under the assumption that Takeru has run off with Aki, who could have cleared up the confusion by explaining what really happened. Instead, Aki lets Takeru [[UnprovokedPervertPayback take a beating]] for a situation that wasn't his fault. At the end of the episode, she admits that she didn't say anything because seeing Haruko and Himegami jealous of her, made her [[ChristmasCake feel young]] again.
* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'':
** Following the Kamino Ward Incident, during which five of Class A's students provide a small, but critical moment of aid in the rescue of a kidnapped classmate, Class A's teacher Aizawa takes them to task afterward for going off on their own and against instructions. He berates not just the five who went out, but the rest of the class who were fully aware of what they were planning and did nothing to stop them beyond futile attempts at persuading them not to go. Aizawa goes on to declare that had the Kamino Inicdent not become such a GameChanger and that they would soon need every Hero they could get (due to All Might retiring), he would have expelled the entire class save the kidnapped classmate and two others who were, at the time, unconscious in the hospital from a prior attack and unable to intervene.
** In the same episode, Tsuyu had a lot of regret when realizing her usual BrutalHonesty about the situation (going so far as to compare the students on the mission to villains) was too harsh, and doing nothing at all hurt even worse. She avoids them until she finds the courage to tearfully apologize and set things straight.
** In the Internship arc, Midoriya and Mirio, while out on patrol, happen upon Eri, a young girl in bandages, at which point [[ArcVillain Overhaul, the Yakuza boss their hero agency is investigating]], comes to retrieve her, saying that she's his daughter. Midoriya realizes that something's up, as does Mirio, but they follow Sir Nighteye's orders not to interfere(albeit reluctantly in Midoriya's case), letting Overhaul leave with Eri. It later turns out that [[spoiler:Overhaul has been submitting Eri to horrific abuse, using her body to create bullets capable of destroying people's Quirks]]. Midoriya and Mirio are both horrified over what they allowed to happen, and swear to save Eri.
** Tenko Shimura ([[spoiler:also known as Tomura Shigaraki]]) grew up in an abusive household, with his father Kotaro locking him out of the house and even hitting him for being interested in heroes. While Kotaro's wife, daughter and in-laws didn't approve of his treatment, they also didn't stand up to him, either, and told Tenko to endure it. [[spoiler:Shortly after they finally put their foot down, Tenko's Decay Quirk activated, resulting in his family's deaths]].
** Rei Todoroki, Shoto's mother and Endeavor's estranged wife, [[LampshadeHanging acknowledges herself in the aftermath of the Paranormal War Arc that she herself is accountable for turning a blind eye to Enji's mistreatment of their kids]], and Toya [[spoiler: (alias Dabi)]] in particular. Toya himself lashes out at his mother when she tries to convince him to stop training, telling her that she also has a hand in his ordeal, mostly because she enabled it by choosing to do nothing, even though she could.
* In ''Manhwa/MyLoveTiger'', Aya is suffering from an illness. Rang-ii's saliva could cure her, but Aya seems to hold a grudge against her and refuses to receive treatment. As Sunghoon spends more time learning about Aya's past, it's [[spoiler: revealed that Aya's father actually sought for Rang-ii's help in the past, but as she was sleeping to regain her strength, her servant turned him away.]] Technically Rang-ii was sleeping at the time, and didn't know any of that happened. But as part of her growth, she learns to take responsibility anyway and apologize to Aya before pleading to let Rang-ii save her.
* In ''Anime/Persona5TheAnimation'', Ren happens upon Youji Isshiki being beaten up by loan sharks, and simply walks off, letting it happen. By this point, Ren's learned that Youji was abusive to his niece Futaba while caring for her, so it's clear that he has no intention of helping Youji.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In chapter 54 of ''Fanfic/AmbienceAFleetSymphony'', Damon executes a mook who, although not a direct perpetrator of a certain evil, did nothing to stop it from happening and can't offer a good reason why.
* ''FanFic/BurningBridgesBuildingConfidence'':
** Adrien is well aware that [[BitchInSheepsClothing Lila]] is a ConsummateLiar, but decides to stand by and let her turn the rest of the class against Marinette through MaliciousSlander. Even worse, he attempts to convince Marinette that it's ''her'' fault for standing up for herself rather than "taking the high road" like him. When Cole and the rest of her new GirlPosse find out, they're understandably ''furious'' and accuse him of this.
** Adelaide's thoughts in ''The Night After'' make clear that she sees Principal Damocles as one. While he ''does'' act after Alya assaulted her daughter and punishes Ms. Bustier for her attempt to victim-blame Cole for the attack, he's only doing so for fear of facing legal recourse (which ultimately doesn't work since Adelaide still ends up suing the school), since he allowed [[BullyingTheDisabled the ableist bullying against Cole]] to go on completely unaddressed until circumstances ensured he couldn't ignore it anymore.
* Deconstructed in ''Fanfic/HarryAndTheShipgirls'' when Oliver Wood and the Weasley Twins make comments about "That Time of the Month" when the Chasers get angry during a practice session. Because Harry didn't speak up at all in their defense, they took his silence as him agreeing with the other boys on the Quidditch team. They never considered that Harry might have thought that they had it well in hand, as Harry pointed out when they decided to get their revenge.
* In ''Fanfic/HarrysNewHome'', Snape and Harry start distrusting and in the latter case, outright fearing Dumbledore when they realize it was Dumbledore's fault that no one checked up on Harry and why Sirius never got a trial.
* This is why Marinette considers Adrien to be [[ThisIsUnforgivable completely unforgivable]] in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/23773411 i'll come back like a boomerang]]''. Unlike the rest of their class, he ''knew'' that Lila was lying and manipulating everyone, but despite claiming that he'd support Marinette, he proceeded to stand by and let her get bullied for [[CassandraTruth trying to warn everyone]]. Making matters worse, when the truth finally comes out, he arrogantly declares that there's nothing ''to'' forgive in his case: [[InsaneTrollLogic since he knew all along, she can't POSSIBLY be mad at him for being fooled, right]]?
* In ''[[Fanfic/ImHereToHelp I'm Here To Help]]'', [[spoiler:Pluto]] sets off the entire plot by [[spoiler:standing by and letting Emerald escape to the past]].
* ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainBlossomverse'':
** ''FanFic/InfinityTrainBlossomingTrail'':
*** When Miss April catches [[AlphaBitch Sara]] sneering about how Chloe doesn't ''deserve'' to have anyone searching for her, and that she hopes she's never found or returns home, she's deeply disappointed in her... and in the rest of her class. Not just for letting Sara's words go largely unchallenged, but for how they contributed to driving Chloe away in the first place.
*** Miss April herself is seen as one; while she did ''try'' to curtail the bullying, the Professor believes that she didn't try hard ''enough''. It doesn't help that she [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter misjudged one of their bullying tactics]]; in her eyes, Chloe's classmates talking to her about Pokémon was an improvement, as they were actually including her in conversations. She wasn't aware of how much Chloe ''hated'' Pokémon, or that the others were teasing her about this.
*** Professor Cerise regards his lab assistant Renji as one after learning that he was actually ''aware'' that Chloe was having issues, but chose not to say anything about it, mistakenly assuming that things would work themselves out without intervention.
*** Trip accuses Ash of being one as well. While he ''did'' attempt to invite Chloe to travel with them, he didn't make any effort to learn ''why'' she kept refusing, or try to connect with her in any other ways. Trip considers that lack of investment to be incredibly strange on Ash's part, and Ash himself struggles to figure out why he didn't try as hard with her as he has with other companions in the past.
*** In the anime, it's noted that Goh's parents were heavily concerned on Goh not having a social life because he spent all his time in front of his computer to search for Mew. This fanfic shows that they did ''nothing'' to help their son at all -- preferably to get his ass off his chair to go see Chloe -- that contributed to him having very little social skills, sympathy or emotional intelligence.
** ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainKnightOfTheOrangeLily'': Lillie sees her brother this way after realizing that [[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot much of the drama surrounding the Nihilego incident could have been avoided]] if Gladion had simply ''told someone'' what he witnessed that night. Instead, he took off with Type: Null to train, trying to keep her LockedOutOfTheLoop... effectively abandoning her for ''years'' in the process.
* ''FanFic/ItsOverIsntItItsOnlyJustBegun'': Kurogiri believes that he's left his criminal past behind him after All For One's demise, running a bar that he treats as a neutral space, only intervening when he [[EvenEvilHasStandards notices things he dislikes]], such as kicking bar brawlers out or ejecting [[SlippingAMickey anyone he catches tampering with drinks]]. Fiver, however, challenges his supposed neutrality, calling him out for everything he ''doesn't'' intervene with, such as Giran's shady dealings.
-->'''Fiver:''' "What the fuck are you actually doing, Kurogiri? You think you're staying out of it, when you let scum like Giran work your bar? Get bent. You’re not neutral, you just roll over for whoever's already winning."
* ''Fanfic/TheKarmaOfLies'': Adrien is fully aware of [[BitchInSheepsClothing Lila's true nature]]; however, he doesn't want to deal with the potential drama of being the one exposing her to everyone. So he sits back and lets her do as she pleases, manipulating his classmates and increasingly isolating Marinette. This causes the karmic backlash Lila's accumulating to splash onto ''him'' as well, considering him to be just as responsible for the harm she's caused.
** Lila also exploits this, knowing that contrary to what Adrien believes, the others ''won't'' easily forgive her for what she's done... and if they learn he knew all along and never warned them, they'll hold ''him'' responsible as well.
* This is also the treatment of Dumbledore in ''Fanfic/ALittleLightReading''.
* In ''Fanfic/AManOfIron'', Tyrion tears a new asshole into Cersei when she tries to defend herself by saying she did nothing, when it was precisely that - doing nothing to curb Joffrey's cruelty or work towards a peaceful resolution of the War of the Five Kings - that caused it to happen [[spoiler:and also Sansa Stark's death]].
* ''Fanfic/MidoriyaPlusThreeSixtyFive'': During their trip to the USJ, several of Izuku's classmates decide to play a cruel prank on him, luring him into an improvised and involuntary bungee diving session. Aizawa is ready to expel the whole class save for him in one fell swoop afterwards, since the majority stood by and allowed it to happen.
* In ''Fanfic/TemporalAnomaly'', One gets called out on this by Four. When confronted with the fact that was going to allow Zero to murder the other Intoners and hiding everything she knew about the Flower, One tries to justify herself by stating that they would have gotten in the way of her plan to save the world from the Flower due to them JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope as a whole, becoming unrealible as a result. Four ''furiously'' responds with the fact that One did ''nothing'' on her end to try and curb their increasely horrific behavior or actions, leaving them to rule their respective lands as they saw fit [[TheCaligula no matter how bad they have gotten]], while she herself stayed in Cathedral City the entire time without anything about it. [[JerkassRealization One recgonizes the truth in her words and apologizes.]]
* ''Fanfic/TheOneToMakeItStay'': Nino didn't help Alya film Chat's LoveConfession. Nor did he agree with her plan to [[ManipulativeEditing edit the footage]] to make it look like Ladybug reciprocated and post the results on her blog. In fact, he was made rather uncomfortable by the whole thing. But rather than sharing his concerns, he stayed silent, standing aside and letting her do it. As a result, when Ladybug sidelines Rena Rouge for the summer, she decides to bench Carapace as well. Notably, Nino takes the news better than Alya; while not ''happy'' about it, he recognizes the point Ladybug's making.
* ''Fanfic/SVWishes'': Shen Qingqiu is mistreated and neglected by servants despite serving as Yue Qingyuan's sole spouse for a decade and still high ranking as Second Husband. Does Yue Qingyuan actually intervene on his long-time spouse's behalf? Nope. Luo Binghe and Liu Qingge's opinions of the Lord of the Household sink once they realize this. Luo Binghe justifiably worries about Shen Qingqiu's condition when they are separated because he knows Yue Qingyuan won't think to help him.
* While only a handful of Marinette's classmates help Alya and Lila rip apart her sketchbook in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/21417982 to lose someone]]'', the rest of them stood aside and let it happen. Marinette also specifically calls out fellow artist Nathaniel not just for letting them ruin her work, but for never commenting on how none of them ever ''paid'' her for her efforts on their behalf.
* In ''Fanfic/WithThisRing'', Orange Lantern is infuriated that the Justice League lets Nabu possess Zatara without concern for Zatara himself or considering that Zatara's consent was meaningless due to being blackmailed by Nabu holding Zatanna hostage. Especially when Paul and Zatanna had to find out from the news [[spoiler:they let Nabu into the Justice League]].
* ''FanFic/WitnessGoodNeighbors'' has Mortar and other members of Endeavor's agency who are well aware of [[AbusiveParents how he treats his son]], but choose not to intervene. Shouto knows this, and his thoughts make clear that he resents their refusal to act.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'', the princesses' late father is mentioned to have been an ExtremeDoormat, who stood by and watched while his son-in-law emotionally abused the younger princesses, and one time even tortured and raped one of them in the room next door. Though it is not clear whether the latter is just an exaggerated accusation- he might not have been there at the time. There is also Eldest, the eldest princess, who could have divorced their husband. She was told about his crime afterwards, but did nothing, because the (very beautiful) husband had her wrapped around his little finger.
* In ''Literature/DragonBones'', Ward and his younger brother Tosten are bitter about their mother, Muellen never doing something against their abusive father. They refuse to acknowledge the fact that she was a rather weak woman, while her husband was unusually tall and stronger than most other ''men''. For some reason, they never accuse their uncle Duraugh or their aunt Stala, both of whom would have been much more capable of stopping the abuse, of the same. Oreg points out that Muellen wasn't even able to protect herself, but for Ward and Tosten, the trauma is too deeply ingrained; they probably think their mother should have protected them because, well, she's their ''parent''.
* In Samuel Richarson's ''Literature/{{Clarissa}}'' (1747-48), the longest book ever written in the English language, the heroine's mother and her aunt look like this from a modern reader's perspective because they never oppose the father when he does his best to force the heroine into an arranged marriage. Richardson seemed to partially agree, at least for the good aunt Hervey, whom he describes in the preface as "lacking the courage to go against so strong a steam, [and] sailing with it".
* [[Creator/CelineRaphael Céline Raphael]]'s ''[[Film/LaDemesure La Démesure]]'': This {{biopic}} is a testimony of her life as a child and young teenager with an unbelievably [[AbusiveParents physically and emotionally abusive]] StageDad.
** Céline's mother never confronted the father about the abuse in the first years, and the reader may assume that they didn't know. Then, halfway through the book, she writes about how unsettling it must have been for her mother and sister to hear all the abuse from behind the closed door of the room her father locked her in for practice. She never had a grudge against her mother.
** Céline's little sister, Marie, had a limp. When she was invited to walk with Céline and their father, she would be hit with a stick if she didn't follow quickly enough. Céline wasn't abused if Marie came on the walk, but was abused if she didn't, so she (and their mother) would [[TheScapegoat yell at her]] if she refused to go on a walk.
** Céline had a P.E. teacher who taunted her for failing to attend his classes (because her father forbade her to, for practice) out of pure anger towards her and her family enjoying superior social standing and being allegedly able to break rules. It is one of the rare persons she seems to still resent and look down upon.
* Found in Creator/JaneAusten's works and played differently:
** ''Literature/LoveAndFreindship'', this is used for comedic effect, when Laura and Sophia are furious with the latter's cousin, Mac Donald, because he didn't sigh nor weep when he heard that they had been abandoned by their grandfather. He just saved them, providing them with shelter, food and stability.
** PlayedForDrama in ''Literature/SenseAndSensibility'', since the eldest brother refuses to give anything to his sisters despite his father's unofficial will and his promise at his father's deathbed. They despise him for his neglect and for being a condescending, pitiless, InnocentlyInsensitive weakling.
** Mary Crawford of ''Literature/MansfieldPark'' doesn't seem like a malicious and unworthy woman for Edmund; she is lively and engaging and even saves Fanny from Mrs. Norris at one point. But she refuses to do or oppose anything if it would interfere with her own comfort, and barely protests her brother's plan to woo and then dump Fanny just to satisfy his ego.
** In ''The Watsons'' (unfinished novel), the heroine despises the brother who gained financial independence and could have helped her sister while she, despite being in a higher situation, couldn't do anything, but he chose not to do anything except invite his favorite sister occasionally.
* ''{{Literature/Demons}}'' by Creator/FyodorDostoevsky. "Fedka the convict" bugs Nikolai Stavrogin for some money, and Stavrogin eventually complies. Afterwards, Stavrogin realizes why Fedka was asking for the money--in a very indirect way, Fedka was offering to kill Stavrogin's wife and brother-in-law in exchange for cash. Realizing this Stavrogin leaps into action and... does nothing, until his wife and brother-in-law die at Fedka's hand. He outright says, the morning after, that even if he isn't legally guilty of the murders, he considers himself morally guilty.
* In ''Literature/TheFountainhead'', Gail Wynand was once nearly beaten to death as a youth by a drunken longshoreman. Wynand dragged himself to a saloon and asked for help for the first and last time in his life when the saloonkeeper found him. The saloonkeeper simply went back inside without a word. Years later, the now wealthy and powerful Wynand still remembered the longshoreman and the saloonkeeper. Wynand never did anything to the longshoreman. He utterly ruined the saloonkeeper's life, driving him to suicide.
* Those who let evil things happen because they just didn't care are left scrambling outside the ''[[Literature/TheDivineComedy Inferno]]'', unable to decide where to go as locusts and bees torture them. Dante specifically points out Pontius Pilate, who could have saved Jesus but chickened out.
* In ''LightNovel/TheIrregularAtMagicHighSchool'', the narration makes a point of telling us that, had Tatsuya known about the plot to bomb a stadium full of innocent people, he would have done nothing to stop it although he was fully capable of doing so.
* In the Discworld ''Literature/{{Night Watch|Discworld}}'', Vimes accuses the [[CorruptCop old, bad]] Watch when his squad says that they shouldn't be targeted by the mobs because they didn't do anything. Vimes agrees--they didn't do ''anything'' to try to protect innocent people from the StateSec or criminals alike, and that's why they're in trouble now.
* In ''{{Literature/Renegades}}'', this is the protagonist, Nova's, motivation.
* The {{Novelization}} of ''Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock'' has David committing this. Whereas the movie has David using [[AppliedPhlebotinum the highly unstable protomatter]] in the Genesis device, the book instead has the rest of the development team using it instead. While David did have misgivings and even verbally objected over the protomatter, Saavik [[WhatTheHellHero berates him]] as he ultimately did nothing to stop his colleagues.
* The ninth poem of ''Literature/VitaNuova'' accuses those who see the poet [[BrownNote struck to death by beauty]] of sinning if they do not comfort the poet in his weakness.
* In ''{{Literature/Worm}}'' Taylor says in a ReasonYouSuckSpeech that Charlotte is almost as guilty as the rest of the school for watching as Taylor was constantly bullied by Emma and Sophia.
* In ''Glorious Appearing'' from the Literature/LeftBehind series, during Jesus' judgment of the "sheep and goats", Jesus judges the "goats" (most likely Global Community and Nicolae Carpathia loyalists) for doing nothing good for "the least of My brethren" (contextually talking about the people of Israel), saying that what they didn't do for them, they also didn't do for Him. In other words, they're just as guilty as if they were actively coming against the Jews and Christians themselves, and doing that to the Jews means you're also doing that to Christ.
* ''Literature/AnimalFarm'''s Benjamin the donkey is this in a sense. He knows what the Pigs are up to and how downhill things'll go but we don't see him warn the other animals or do anything about it, allowing the revolution to go full circle. However, given that Napoleon responded to one of the few organised attempts to push back against his increasingly authoritarian leadership by ordering the ''mass execution'' of the animals concerned, choosing to keep his head down and his mouth shut is not an unreasonable reaction if the alternative is becoming a DoomedMoralVictor.
* ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'' The vestibule of Hell contains people who weren't actively evil, but were too cowardly or apathetic to do anything to stop it. Dante specifically points out Pontius Pilate as being here, as he could have saved Jesus but chickened out instead.
* This is Mapleshade's reasoning in ''Literature/WarriorCats'' for attacking Frecklewish, who saw Mapleshade's kits in the river but did not try to help them. Granted, Frecklewish could not swim and assumed the kits would be saved by [=RiverClan=] warriors, but Mapleshade is too filled with hatred by this point to listen.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* In ''Series/BabylonFive'', the whole plot where Londo could have stopped everything bad that happened to the Narns with "One word."
* ''Series/BarneyMiller'': In "Noninvolvement", Wojo arrests Al Mitchell for not getting involved to stop a pursenapper, only prompting him by saying "Grab him" instead of identifying himself as an officer. After Mitchell protests the circumstances of his apprehension, he has a disagreement with Arnold Ripner, and after Wojo offers Mitchell a bowling ball, he declines it because it has 2 finger holes, dropping the charges after Wojo offers Mitchell an apology.
* ''Series/{{Camelot}}'': Morgan's reason for hating Igraine is apparently this, as Igraine never opposed her father when he tried to destroy her childhood. It appears later on that there is also a dose of IrrationalHatred in this since Igraine couldn't have escaped Uther's will (he was really a domineering violent king). [[spoiler:When Morgan stabs Igraine in the season 1 finale, her stepmother reveals that Uther wanted to kill his own daughter, and that she convinced him to simply send her away in a convent to protect Morgan.]]
* ''Series/ChariteAtWar'' plays in UsefulNotes/NaziGermany and makes this a huge theme; protagonist Anni has to recognize this about herself. Like many others, she isn't exactly a full-on Nazi, but she never did or said anything when "undesirables" were systematically sorted out and murdered by the eugenics programme. That attitude is decried by dissidents like her brother Otto, but it's still extremely prevalent -- even Professor Sauerbruch, a supporter of the resistance, is not innocent of it. Anni learns to acknowledge her guilt.
* ''Series/DesperateHousewives'' has this as the main motive of [[spoiler:Paul Young]] in Season 6, after the titular housewives knew he was framed for murder and refused to do anything to assist. Further, they also refused to visit him or show him any kindness.
* ''Series/{{Justified}}''
** Hunter Mosley was the sheriff of Harlan County when Henry Crowder kidnapped, raped and murdered Mosley's young niece. Henry fled and the other members of the Crowder family refused to reveal where he was hiding. Mosley made a DealWithTheDevil with a Miami drug cartel and with their help located Henry and murdered him in revenge. He then went after the other Crowders and while he could not have them arrested as Henry's accomplices, there were plenty of other crimes they were guilty of and could be sent to prison for. Even years later he still holds a grudge against the Crowders even though the remaining members of the family had no role in the matter.
** Ava Crowder was abused for years by her husband Bowman until she finally had enough and shot him dead. All the locals knew what was happening and have no real problem with what she did since they feel that Bowman deserved what happened to him. However, when they try to express this sentiment to her she rebukes them because none of them tried to help her when she was abused so their words mean nothing to her. The only one to apologize for his inaction is Bowman's brother Boyd and Ava forgives him after he risks his own life to save her from his father Bo Crowder.
** This trope is subverted by Limehouse who runs the black community of Noble's Hollar and has for years offered sanctuary to the abused women of Harlam County. As a result Limehouse now has a network of grateful women who provide him with information on all the important things happening in the region.
* Canonically, on ''Series/OnceUponATime'', this is probably supposed to be Regina's motivation for extracting revenge on [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom Snow White]], who was manipulated by Regina's mother Cora into [[spoiler:revealing the identity of Regina's lover, all despite swearing to never to say a word about it to Cora, who then killed him]]. This is left ambiguous and she may believe that Snow White was more than negligent and planed it all from the start.
--->'''Regina''': ''(having an IndulgentFantasySegue about strangling the girl)'' "My mother corrupts young souls. If you had been stronger, none of this would've ever have happened..."
* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'''s infamous two-parter GrandFinale involves the gang watching a fat guy get carjacked and mugged and just standing there videotaping the whole thing while making fun of his weight the whole time, only to run afoul of a "Good Samaritan Law" requiring them to assist anyone they see in danger. The prosecutor then proceeds to track down [[BackForTheFinale every single person they've ever pissed off over the course of the entire series]] and [[TheDogBitesBack has them testify about their horrible character]], which gets them found guilty and sentenced to a year in prison.
* Subverted in an episode of ''{{Series/Taggart}}''; members of a criminal gang are being murdered and the prime suspect is the daughter of a [[BadassBystander have-a-go-hero]] who got beaten to death for his trouble (by the leader, the other gang members just stood by). They arrest her after she shoots said leader [[spoiler:however when they try to call her out for killing the other gang members, she denies it. They realize that said leader had manipulated her into shooting him (he was wearing a bullet proof vest) and was the one who killed his former partners in crime.]]
* In ''Series/{{V 2009}}'', this culminates for Erica after she must watch her ex-husband die in her arms because of an attack by the aliens, just after escaping that everyone thinks was a kidnapping, and is just narrowly cleared of accusations of being TheMole. But this is not over, because she must bear her son Tyler's sneering comments about how she couldn't save her husband and should have, leading to FailureToSaveMurder. She is understandably angry and depressed and this sounds shocking to her, just like the cases of teenagers chastising the church for not meddling in V politics. Though, when you read Tyler's previous actions, you realize that he often blamed her for not helping the cute (ruthless homicidal totalitarian) and charismatic HiveQueen of the Vs, his friends, or himself when she could barely intervene...
* One episode of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' features a psychic boy out to kill his abusive father and uncle. He's also after his mother, because she didn't do anything to stop it.
* ''{{Series/The Haunting Hour}}'': In "Mrs. Worthington", the titular villian [[spoiler: planned to punish Nate's mother for not doing anything to stop Molly from bullying Nate.]]
* The season 1 ''Series/{{CSI}}'' episode "Blood Drops" has the team investigating a murder scene where the parents and two sons of a family were killed in their home, but the two daughters survived. Turns out Dad had been [[spoiler:sexually abusing the older teenage daughter, leading to the birth of the younger one. He then turned his attention to the younger daughter, who was seven at the time]]. The teenage daughter hired her boyfriend and some of his friends to kill Dad to stop the abuse, and had the other family members killed because they never tried to stop Dad.
* On ''Series/{{The 100}}'', Clarke and Lexa know that Mount Weather is going to launch a missile at a village. They ''could'' evacuate the village in advance of the missile, but that would tip off Mount Weather that they have an informant inside the mountain. To preserve this secret, Clarke and Lexa tell no one about the missile and simply save themselves. Abby and Octavia, who were in the village when it hit, do not take this well.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': In the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS01E19Duet Duet]]," it turns out that Kira's Cardassian prisoner is [[spoiler:pretending to be an infamous war criminal. He was actually a minor functionary who simply did his job while the war crimes were going on all around him. He feels so guilty about his silent complicity that he wants to get himself executed in a public reckoning for his people's crimes.]]
* ''Series/TheFortyFourHundred'': In "Rebirth", NTAC discovers that Edwin Mayuya, a [[UsefulNotes/{{Rwanda}} Rwandan]] member of the 4400, emigrated to the United States in April 1994 using a false identity. His real name is Edwin Musinga and he is wanted by the Rwanda government for aiding and abetting the Tutsi genocide. Musinga was a Hutu who ran a clinic which primarily catered to Tutsis. The police approached him and asked if he would allow the clinic to be used as a safe house for the Tutsi. He agreed and the word quickly spread among the local Tutsi community. Within three hours, the clinic was full. However, unbeknownst to Musinga, it was a trap. The police returned and slaughtered the Tutsi. While Musinga did not kill anyone personally, he did nothing to prevent the massacre as he blamed the Tutsi for the Hutu President of Burundi Cyprien Ntaryamira's plane being shot down.
* In the third season of ''Series/GameOfThrones'', several guards help Lord Karstark kill two young Lannister squires who'd been held hostage, as revenge for the deaths of Karstark's children. Robb orders the men responsible hanged, and when one protests that he was only the watcher, Robb decides to [[ForcedToWatch have him hanged last so he can watch the others die]].
* ''Series/CriminalMinds'' uses it sometimes as character backstory, regarding the target of the unsub's anger.
** One of the unsubs in the episode "The Perfect Storm" had an abusive father and brother. When the police finally got involved, the mother covered for them, claiming the unsub was lying about the abuse. The person the unsub blames most is, of course, the ''mother'' for enabling the abuse, not the father and brother for actually enacting it.
** Likewise, in the PoorlyDisguisedPilot for ''Series/CriminalMindsBeyondBorders,'' the European unsub was abused by his father, but his American stepmother and stepsiblings were spared the abuse (it's never specified how aware of the situation they were, but no indication was given that they participated). Thus, his rage is targeted towards American families (with particular hatred for the father figures).
** One episode had an unsub going after the bullies who drove his friend to suicide in high school. Well, one of the bullies, and also the parents of the girlfriend of another bully (he was out of town), and also the principal who he felt didn't do enough to remedy the situation, and also a substitute teacher who ''did'' help break up a prank, but apparently not well enough.
** The unsub in "Elephant's Memory" targets his revenge attacks at the actual people who he feels actively harmed him (the football team who bullied him, his negligent father, and his girlfriend's abusive father). It's Reid who insists on assigning responsibility on those who could have stepped in sooner, but didn't. He outright tells a room full of police officers that they could have prevented his murder spree.
* In the ''Series/That70sShow'' episode "Halloween," the gang breaks into their old elementary school, which burned down years before for some Halloween hijinks. Just as they decide to leave becuase they're not having any fun, Jackie and Donna come in with their old permanent records. When they look into Hyde's file, it says that he's a born criminal with no future because he smashed a girl's diorama, which he denies doing. Eric then confeses that he smashed the dioram because he was jealous of how much better hers was. Hyde then starts blaming Eric for how he has been treated by everyone, saying that he was pegged as a troublemaker because Eric just stood by while their teacher yelled at him for something he didn't do.
* ''Series/ControlZ'':
** [[spoiler:Raúl, aka the hacker]], in the murder of [[spoiler:Luis]] as he had set up the fight between him and [[spoiler:Gerry]] in the first place but did not do anything to intervene when it quickly escalated, aside from only desperately pleading with [[spoiler:Gerry]] to stop, to no avail.
** Quintanilla as well, even lampshaded by [[spoiler:Luis's mother]]. When Quintanilla found out about the fight, he locked [[spoiler:Gerry]] up, only for him to be released by [[spoiler:Alex]] on the hacker's orders, so Quintanilla handled the situation very poorly.
** The students themselves who witnessed the fight also didn't do anything to prevent Gerry's violent rampage from going any further, even some of their pleads for Gerry to cool down didn't help at all.
** Gerry became TheBully at the school (even towards Luis) as a result of his father's emotional abuse, especially after Gerry showed him a drawing Luis made of him, which led to his father making a homophobic comment about it. Gerry's mother, on the other hand, is more calm, understanding and possibly open-minded than her husband, yet she was unable to prevent the abuse from going any further.
** Alex, Gerry and Pablo in [[spoiler:Susana]]'s accidental murder caused by [[spoiler:Sofía, Javier, María, Claudia and Raúl]]. While Alex and Gerry can only watch in horror as the six of them fight over the stolen money bag for their own purposes, Pablo, who witnesses the murder outside of the school premises, simply leaves her to bleed out on the sidewalk by taking the money and driving off in his car.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* One ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'' antagonist is a vampire who annoyed the wrong Prince and spent several years being [[AndIMustScream used as a decoration]] at the Prince's parties, generally with his ribcage split open to hold cold drinks. Since escaping, he's become a [[TheDreaded horror story among monsters]] for hunting down and [[ExtremeMeleeRevenge brutally murdering]] everyone he remembers ever seeing at those parties in retribution.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* A widely-circulated UrbanLegend about Music/PhilCollins' "In The Air Tonight" is that the song is about an incident where Collins witnessed a man refusing to help a drowning victim. In one version, he allegedly sang the song to the man in concert after arranging a front-row seat. The man was supposedly DrivenToSuicide afterward.
* "The Night Will Only Know" by Music/GarthBrooks has a pair of cheating lovers witnessing the murder of a woman. The [[KarmaHoudini killer goes free]] because the lovers don't want to confess to their adultery.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Bloom of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'' is outraged if his niece Tine faces him in battle because he treated her kindly after abducting herself and her mother, Tailtiu, back to the family home in Tine's infancy. But although Bloom did not kill Tailtiu, he didn't lift a finger to stop his ''wife'' from abusing her until she died for [[HonorRelatedAbuse shaming the family]]. And he doesn't like the Child Hunts much, but nor does he do anything to prevent them from being carried out on his lands. The second time Tine faces him, Tine holds him as responsible for her mother's death as if he'd done it himself because he sat back and allowed it to happen.
* ''Videogame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'', [[AChildShallLeadThem Sanaki]] accuses [[DirtyCoward Hetzel]] of doing this for over twenty years when she finds out that he could've at least tried to stop his superiors from committing [[MoralEventHorizon atrocities]] over the years, one of which was locking her away. Needless, to say, he does NOT walk away alive.
* ''Videogame/Portal2''. During the FinalBoss fight against [[spoiler: Wheatley]], he suffers a ''severe'' VillainousBreakdown, in which he - among other things - expresses resentment against [[PlayerCharacter Chell]] for not catching him at the beginning of the game (something which, by the way, [[CrueltyIsTheOnlyOption is impossible to pull off]]). For a robot, he sounds awfully [[TryingNotToCry close to tears...]]
-->'''[[spoiler:Wheatley]]:''' And another thing! You never caught me! I told you I could DIE falling off that rail, and you DIDN'T CATCH ME! YOU DIDN'T EVEN ''TRY''!
* In ''VideoGame/Disgaea4APromiseUnforgotten'' Judge Nemo considers [[HumansAreBastards everyone evil because no one but Artina helped him when]] [[spoiler:[[BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil he was tortured as a prisoner of war]]]], but what really pushed him over the edge was when [[spoiler:Artina was executed for her kindness to him]].
* In the game ''VideoGame/{{Misao}}'', Kudou saw Misao being bullied, but didn't take action against it, and Misao executes him by driving a car over him.
* ''Videogame/WorldOfWarcraft'': Grand Magister Rommath (along other blood elves) hate the [[TheMagocracy Kirin Tor]] because they did nothing when every elf in Dalaran, a city many of them considered home, was imprisoned and sentenced to death because of a false accusation.
--> '''Rommath''': "A monumental betrayal. In Dalaran, beneath the ever watchful eyes of the Kirin Tor."\\
'''Aethas Sunreaver''': "They really had nothing to do with --"\\
'''Rommath''': "I assume you mean that the Kirin Tor did nothing. Did nothing to prevent it, did nothing to stop it. And instead left us to rot in the prisons beneath a city many of us called home as much as ever we did Silvermoon."
** Related is the reason the blood elves were imprisoned in the first place. Garrosh infiltrated the Sunreavers and used the Sunreavers' portal network to steal the Divine Bell. The Sunreavers themselves knew nothing about this plan--but Jaina Proudmoore, head of the Kirin Tor, believed otherwise, and accused them of looking the other way while Garrosh did his thing.
* Godot in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'' hates Phoenix Wright because he did nothing to protect Mia Fey from being murdered, never mind that Phoenix ''couldn't'' have done anything under the circumstances, wasn't even physically there at the time, and knew nothing of the danger she was in. We learn during the final case of the game that Godot's hatred is actually [[spoiler: displaced anger at ''himself'' for not protecting Mia, never mind the fact that he was in a coma at the time of her death. Once he realizes that Phoenix is carrying on Mia's legacy and doing right by her memory, he admits that he's the one who killed Misty Fey (as part of a very elaborate plot to protect Mia's sister Maya) and congratulates Phoenix on a job well done. ]]

* This is a major theme of ''VideoGame/Persona5''. Many of the villains bring up the fact they can do the horrible things they've done because [[ApatheticCitizens the general public are more interested in being told what to do than doing what's right on their own.]] This is a deliberate commentary on Japanese culture and society, specifically how societal harmony and stability is given priority at the cost of the well-being of individuals, which leads to willful ignorance, blindness or so on of the problems, because confronting them would be "rocking the boat".
** One notable specific example is with StudentCouncilPresident Makoto Niijima. Makoto struggles with her inability to really help others along with how she suspected EvilTeacher Kamoshida's abuses, but never did anything about it. Ann calls her out on this though Makoto counters by saying that Ann did the same when she wasn't there for Shiho (her best friend). When Makoto unlocks her Persona and joins the Thieves, both apologize to each other, Makoto for this and Ann for her [[PsychologicalProjection projecting her own shame]] on Makoto.
** Comes to a head in the final dungeon, which turns out to be the MentalWorld of [[spoiler:the entire population of Tokyo, Mementos, who would rather turn a blind eye to corruption in authority to maintain societal order. They collectively represent the Deadly Sin of Sloth.]]
* In ''VideoGame/Persona5Strikers'', Zenkichi ends up falling into this in his backstory. He starts to realize that [[spoiler:CorruptPolitician Jyun Owada]] was the one who killed Zenkichi's wife Aoi in a hit-and-run accident, but backs off the investigation after [[spoiler:Owada threatens Zenkichi's daughter Akane]], resulting in an innocent man being blamed for the accident. While Zenkichi had understandable reasons for this course of action, he's deeply ashamed when [[spoiler:Akane's Shadow]] calls him out on it, resulting in [[spoiler:him awakening his Persona, Valjean]].
* Likewise in ''VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth'', the Phantom Thieves' battle theme, Invitation To Freedom, serves as a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech taunting their enemies for underestimating them as "bored teenagers," and asking how many times the listener ignored cries for help by people suffering.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'', Ravus never forgave the kingdom of Lucis or its king, Regis, for abandoning his home of Tenebrae to be conquered by the Empire of Niflheim. Strangely, he decides to carry out his revenge by allying himself with Niflheim to help them conquer Lucis.
* In ''VideoGame/EnsembleStars'', Natsume calls out Tsumugi for just sitting back and allowing Eichi to systematically destroy the Oddballs, claiming that knowing about a crime and doing nothing about it is the same as committing the crime itself. [[spoiler:Except Tsumugi wasn't an idle bystander. He actually provided Eichi with a lot of insight and ideas, including bringing Natsume's existence and potential as an Oddball to his attention.]]
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', [[TokenGoodTeammate General Leo]] confesses to Terra that he feels this way about Kefka using the Slave Crown to take away her free will, and says that because he didn't do anything to stop it, he considers himself no better than Kefka.
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', during the first visit to [[WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}} the Land of Dragons]], when Mulan is exposed as a woman, Shang realizes that Sora, Donald and Goofy knew the truth and kept it from him, so he gives them the same punishment.
* In ''VideoGame/UntilDawn'', the prank on Hannah mainly involved Mike, Emily and Jessica. The others weren't as involved. Ashley gleefully observed it. Matt filmed it. Sam's involvement was unclear; she does tell the others that the prank was cruel, but she went upstairs to either warn Hannah or tell her Mike is ready for her. The only innocent ones would be Josh and Chris, both of whom were passed out drunk, and Beth. Because of [[spoiler:Josh's mental state after the deaths of his sisters]], they viewed ''all'' the friends as this way and are even implied to blame themselves as well.
* ''VideoGame/PhantomBrave'': Midway through the game, Marona is hired by the Elder of Desert Island to stop a rampaging Raphael, only for the culprit to be an impostor, upon which said Elder uses LoopholeAbuse to cheat her out of her rightful pay. The real Raphael, who showed up to help her stop the impostor, hears the entire exchange and promptly starts going on an actual rampage to teach him a lesson. Immediately, the Elder [[EntitledBastard proceeds]] to beg Marona for help in stopping said rampage, promising to pay her if she does; instead, Marona [[BewareTheNiceOnes refuses to help him]] and walks away, leaving Desert Island to Raphael's mercy.
* ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'': General Jaeger was aware that Maximillian never truly loved Selvaria, but in actuality was [[IntentionalHeartbreaker manipulating]] [[MasterOfTheMixedMessage and]] [[DomesticAbuse abusing]] the latter's affections for him in order to achieve his ends. However, he could do nothing about it as much as he wanted to because Maximillian was his boss and because his homeland's independence depended on being in his service. He spends most of the game keeping his distaste to himself but still treating Selvaria with kindness to make up for his inability to intervene on her behalf. [[spoiler: When Maximillian orders Selvaria to [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness use her Final Flame]], he breaks his silence and calls him out on it. However, it is too little too late as Selvaria had crossed the DespairEventHorizon by that point and already made up her mind to die]]. After he is defeated by Squad 7, he has a HeelRealization and leaves Maximillian's army out of remorse for doing nothing about his behaviour.
** The AnimeOfTheGame has Johann, a lowly foot soldier, take General Jaeger's role of being a powerless spectator to Selvaria's situation. [[spoiler: While he does give Maximillian a well-deserved TheReasonYouSuckSpeech after Selvaria's death, his goodwill is rewarded with [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished being shot in cold blood]]]].
* ''VideoGame/WatchDogsLegion'': One of the trailers uses a modernized version of "First they came..." to explain why everyone and their grandmother[[note]]No, really, you can recruit their grandmother if she's on the street.[[/note]] is capable of rising up against the fascist Albion instead of continuing their movement routines:
--> First, they came for the foreigners, and I did not speak up, because I am not a foreigner. Then, they came for the protestors, and I did not speak up, because I am not a protestor. Then they came for the journalists, and I did not speak up, because I am not a journalist. Then they came for the street artists, and I did not speak up, because I am not a street artist. And I realized, that eventually, they'd come for me. And there would be no one left to speak for me.
* ''VideoGame/{{Judgment}}'': Chief Prosecutor Kunihiko Morita was part of the TheConspiracy around [[CureForCancer AD-9]], ensuring that no interference, legal or otherwise, came to it. His reason for this is that he [[FreudianExcuse lost his mother and brother to dementia]], and believes that with AD-9, nobody else will go through the same pain as he did. Yagami, for his part, is not only [[NoSympathy void of sympathy]] for Morita, but [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse points out that his inaction not only led to an innocent woman being murdered, but also led to her boyfriend being wrongfully accused of and put on death row for said murder]]. [[spoiler:Near the end of the game, it's revealed that AD-9 was doomed to fail no matter what was done, resulting in anyone who receives the drug dying a horrible death with their eyes turning blue, making [[AllForNothing Morita concealing the truth absolutely pointless]].]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Timecrest}}'': In ''VideoGame/{{Timecrest}}'', the Player themselves can do this in ''Timecrest 3: Luthor''. Specifically, [[spoiler: when Luthor asks the Player to not rewind time after jumping off the Sovereign Eye, the Player can listen to his request and he ends up committing suicide with the Player as an accomplice for assisting in his suicide by doing nothing.]] Even more, this option is necessary in order to obtain the Altered Future ending.
* In ''VisualNovel/ShinraiBrokenBeyondDespair'', during the climax, the rest of the cast besides [[OnlySaneMan Raiko]] becomes erroneously convinced that [[spoiler:Kamen]] is the murderer, and Rako has to prove them wrong. Once Raiko is successful, Nobara admits that she didn't want to believe [[spoiler:Kamen]] was guilty, but didn't speak up in the latter's defense, so she apologizes. [[spoiler:Kamen]] doesn't seem to have any hard feelings toward Nobara or the others who took a more active role in accusing [[spoiler:her]], though, probably because [[spoiler:her]] actions that night made [[spoiler:her]] look incredibly suspicious.

** ** The students themselves who witnessed the fight also didn't do anything to prevent Gerry's violent rampage from going any further, even some of their pleads for Gerry to cool down didn't help at all.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': In "Pre-School", we find out that the main characters were at fault for getting troublemaker Trent Boyett sent off to juvie in pre-school. Butters, who witnessed the whole thing, refused to defend Trent, being more concerned about possibly getting into trouble with [[AbusiveParents his parents.]] As a result, Butters is Trent's first victim when he's released, and is brutally assaulted into a coma.

* Godot in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'' hates Phoenix Wright because he did nothing to protect Mia from being murdered, never mind that Phoenix ''couldn't'' have done anything under the circumstances, wasn't even physically there at the time, and knew nothing of the danger she was in. We learn during the final case of the game that Godot's hatred is actually [[spoiler: displaced anger at ''himself'' for not protecting Mia, never mind the fact that he was in a coma at the time of her death. Once he realizes that Phoenix is carrying on Mia's legacy and doing right by her memory, he admits his wrongdoing and congratulates him on a job well done.]]

* Godot in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'' hates Phoenix Wright because he did nothing to stop Mia from getting killed--never mind that Phoenix ''couldn't'' have done anything under the circumstances and knew nothing of the danger she was in. [[spoiler:This is actually displaced anger at ''himself'' for not stopping Mia from getting killed--never mind that he was in a coma at the time.]]

* In ''VisualNovel/ShinraiBeyondDespair'', during the climax, the rest of the cast besides [[OnlySaneMan Raiko]] becomes erroneously convinced that [[spoiler:Kamen]] is the murderer, and Rako has to prove them wrong. Once Raiko is successful, Nobara admits that she didn't want to believe [[spoiler:Kamen]] was guilty, but didn't speak up in the latter's defense, so she apologizes. [[spoiler:Kamen]] doesn't seem to have any hard feelings toward Nobara or the others who took a more active role in accusing [[spoiler:her]], though, probably because [[spoiler:her]] actions that night made [[spoiler:her]] look incredibly suspicious.

* In the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode ''[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS01E19Duet Duet]]'' it turns out that Kira's Cardassian prisoner is [[spoiler:pretending to be an infamous war criminal. He was actually a minor functionary who simply did his job while the war crimes were going on all around him. He feels so guilty about his silent complicity that he wants to get himself executed in a public reckoning for his people's crimes.]]

* In the backstory of ''Series/{{Justified}}'' Hunter Mosley was the sheriff of Harlan County when Henry Crowder kidnapped, raped and murdered Mosley's young niece. Henry fled and the other members of the Crowder family refused to reveal where he was hiding. Mosley made a DealWithTheDevil with a Miami drug cartel and with their help located Henry and murdered him in revenge. He then went after the other Crowders and while he could not have them arrested as Henry's accomplices, there were plenty of other crimes they were guilty of and could be sent to prison for. Even years later he still holds a grudge against the Crowders even though the remaining members of the family had no role in the matter.

* The Danish film ''[[Film/TheCelebration Festen]]'' ''(The Celebration)'', set during a family reunion for a 60th birthday party, centres on the revelation by eldest son Christian that he and his twin sister were sexually abused by their father. When his mother tries to intervene, he [[CallingTheOldManOut calls her out]] for ignoring the abuse and says "[[SarcasmMode I'm so grateful to have such a twisted hypocrite for a mother]]. I wish you were dead."

Audience and writer sympathy for each party (on one hand, the accusers, be they the victim or not, and on the other, the accused) can vary, depending on a variety of factors. The work can evaluate the so-called accomplice's responsibility for the crime simply by establishing whether it was done with the bystander being oblivious or knowing all along. If the accused witnessed the crime or had full knowledge of it ''and'' had all the power necessary to prevent it from happening but still chose to do nothing about it, then it's improbable the accused will get away scot-free. Double points if the accused approved of the crime.

** Adelaide's thoughts in ''The Night After'' make clear that she sees Principal Damocles as one. While he ''does'' act after Alya assaulted her daughter and punishes Ms. Bustier for her attempt to victim-blame Cole for the attack, he's only doing so for fear of facing legal recourse (which ultimately doesn't work since Adelaide still ends up suing the school), since he allowed [[BullyingTheDisabled the ablist bullying against Cole]] to go on completely unaddressed until circumstances ensured he couldn't ignore it anymore.