History Main / HanlonsRazor

''Note: this article mainly discusses the Hanlon's Razor influence in media (RealLife section notwithstanding), for a more detailed analysis of the concept and implications of razor itself, please see [[http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Hanlon its article]] on Wiki/RationalWiki.''

* The Slacktivist, a liberal Christian blogger, has repeatedly posted about the [[http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2012/03/06/contraception-ignorance-stupid-or-evil/ Stupid-or-Evil game]] when it comes to discussing the actions of [[TheFundamentalist less liberal Christians]]. His most common conclusion averts this trope: he feels that if you've been fiercly opposing something for a long time (birth control, evolution theory, gun rights, etc.), you have every reason to find out as much as you can about it. Remaining ignorant despite your enduring interest in the subject takes a deliberate choice and is therefore no better than deliberately lying.

* Less than 20 minutes after the accidental death of Diana, Princess of Wales, conspiracy theories were already buzzing around the Internet.

## Well... [[NiceJobBreakingItHero A good chunk of]] [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom the other characters]] [[SpannerInTheWorks end up doing this afterward]]. [[CerebusRollercoaster Long story short]], Lelouch and Suzaku manage to take advantage of the whole thing to [[spoiler: create a GenghisGambit where they take over the world and have Lelouch's death bring peace, which works]]. Ending on possibly one last example where [[spoiler: Nunnally's grief over her dead brother is ignored by a whole crowd surrounding them, who are just cheering for Suzaku disguised as Zero ''right above them'' for putting an end to Lelouch apparently being a monstrous emperor.]] On that note, part of this is because [[spoiler: Nunnally ended up figuring it all out at the very last second, while no one else is actually supposed to know.]]

* This trope was one of the central tenets of ''Series/AllInTheFamily'', especially regarding main character [[NobleBigot Archie Bunker.]] Though openly racist, sexist, conservative, and distrustful of anyone who wasn't a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant man like himself (Jewish, gay, Catholic, Italian, Russian, communist, and liberal people were all fair game for his derision), the show often out of its way to show that Archie wasn't malicious, just uninformed and resistant to change. When genuinely hateful people showed up--such as an episode where a branch of the Ku Klux Klan moves into the neighborhood or one where Edith's gay DragQueen friend Beverly is killed in a hate crime--Archie would be [[EveryoneHasStandards horrified at what happened]] and either try to keep them away from his family or comfort their victims. Later episodes also gave him a FreudianExcuse of an [[AbusiveParents abusive father]] who taught him much of what he knew. It's part of what makes the character so appealing: he's not a bad guy, just a BookDumb one.

* ''WebVideo/SexHouse'' takes six people, almost all of them completely incompatible with each other, and essentially locks them inside to make sure they have as much sex as possible. The events of the series imply that the producers are not evil, just completely incompetent, [[WhatAnIdiot idiotic]], [[LazyBum lazy]], and [[TheScrooge cheap]].

## Well... [[NiceJobBreakingItHero A good chunk of]] [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom the other characters]] [[SpannerInTheWorks end up doing this afterward]]. [[CerebusRollercoaster Long story short]], Lelouch and Suzaku manage to take advantage of the whole thing to [[spoiler: create a GhengisGambit where they take over the world and have Lelouch's death bring peace, which works]]. Ending on possibly one last example where [[spoiler: Nunnally's grief over her dead brother is ignored by a whole crowd surrounding them, who are just cheering for Suzaku disguised as Zero ''right above them'' for putting an end to Lelouch apparently being a monstrous emperor.]] On that note, part of this is because [[spoiler: Nunnally ended up figuring it all out at the very last second, while no one else is actually supposed to know.]]

** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_Error At least one expert concluded]] that Kennedy was, indeed, shot by Oswald, but the final shot to the head was the result of FriendlyFire from a nearby Secret Service agent. Under this theory, most of the subsequent inconsistencies and suspicious behavior were the result of the Secret Service desperately trying to cover up this incredible screw-up. In 2017 declassified CIA files corroborated this theory, as they clearly stated that two persons had to have been involved.

* ''Film/DontLookUp'': When Kate talks with Yule and his ConspiracyTheorist friends about the government's response to the comet, she shoots down a couple of their theories, saying, "The truth is way more depressing. They are not even smart enough to be as evil as you're giving them credit for." [[spoiler:Of course, one theory involving a SleeperShip is later proven right, but her point stands given what happens to the people on board.]]

In ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainVoyageOfWisteria'', during her EurekaMoment, Chloe finally stumbles upon a connecting factor between a lot of the actions that shaped the ''[[Fanfic/InfinityTrainBlossomverse Blossomverse]]'': Goh getting so hung up over a misunderstanding with [[BirdsOfAFeather Tokio]], only to take ''[[ChildhoodFriend her]]'' friendship for granted; Tokio letting the [[GuiltComplex guilt]] for that incident drive him onto the Train, when [[PoorCommunicationKills he could have reconnected with Goh with a phone call or a train to Vermillion City]]; [[AllLovingHero Ash Ketchum]] being so helpless in connecting with Chloe, and instead let her turn him into [[FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence an icon of resentment]]; Trip [[BeAsUnhelpfulAsPossible barging onto the scene like a Tauros in a china shop]], when he really ''did'' [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold want Ash, and to a lesser extent Goh, to learn from their mistakes]]; [[FelonyMisdemeanor Yeardley joking about being a "work in progress" in class]]; and ''Chloe's'' CharacterDevelopment having to result in [[AesopCollateralDamage her loved ones being traumatized]] and [[HatedByAll her hometown hating her]]? To put it quite simply, it was ''because they were all children.'' They kept encountering situations that they didn't know how to handle, and kept making mistakes because they didn’t know better. Most of the players in this game [[RousseauWasRight really did have good intentions]], even if their actions made it seem otherwise. Even those individuals who ''were'' malicious weren't [[BeyondRedemption one dimensional monsters that couldn't be redeemed.]] The [[KidsAreCruel bullies of Class 5-E]] ''were'' [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse inexcusably cruel]] to Chloe, but that rose out of being DrivenByEnvy and believing LonersAreFreaks. If they had received better instruction on what being a Trainer was actually like, and [[SelectiveObliviousness allowed themselves to get a better picture]] of Chloe and what her life was like, who knows how things might have turned out? As for Chloe and Parker Cerise, ''[[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech their]]'' [[ColdBloodedTorture malicious actions]] came about when they ''ignored'' the Razor and assumed malicious intentions from ''everyone'' in Vermillion City. Subconsciously, Chloe believed that [[MiseryPoker her trauma]] ''[[MiseryPoker had]]'' [[MiseryPoker to be something massive and horrible]], so she could make sense of both the hurt ''she'' felt and [[PlayingTheVictimCard the hurt she inflicted upon others as catharsis]].

** Heart of the Swarm

** Legacy of the Void

* After the disasterous handling of the 2020 Iowa caucus, a large segment of the online media has been screaming that it was an attempt to sabotage Bernie Sanders. Numerous people have had to come forward indicating it is a tech error due to poor management, and this trope has been specifically quoted multiple times.

** In general, the series bases much of its humor on demonstrating what actually happens when you trap the kind of people who play [=MMOs=] -- particularly the toxic, idiotic players who either invoke LeeroyJenkins tactics or don't get along well with other players -- inside a game and force them to finish it. For one, [[RealityEnsues it explains why 2,000 people died in the first month]]. [[spoiler:Said explanation ''also'' being why Kayaba joins the game as Heathcliff, hoping that he can actually help them not kill themselves.]]

** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_Error At least one expert concluded]] that Kennedy was, indeed, shot by Oswald, but the final shot to the head was the result of FriendlyFire from a nearby Secret Service agent. Under this theory, most of the subsequent inconsistencies and suspicious behavior were the result of the Secret Service desperately trying to cover up this incredible screw-up.

* The [[CreepyCrows hellraven]] Utsuho Reiuji from ''VideoGame/TouhouProject: Subterranean Animism'' ate a dead sun God, gained [[ILoveNuclearPower nuclear powers]] and immediately decided that she would use these powers to nuke the surface world into a blasted hellscape. Not out of any kind of malevolence, mind you, but simply because she failed to consider the possibility that the ideal circumstances for ''her'' to live and thrive in might not be the ideal circumstances for ''everyone else'' to do the same. That, and she was, perhaps understandably, under the temporary influence of a bad case of [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity power-induced crazy.]]

* In the earlier books the Ministry of Magic in the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series could be argued to fit this trope. It was an incompetent organization run by an incompetent minister that meant well but ultimately was in urgent need of modernization. Book 5 and beyond reveals a lot more (although Hanlon's Razor is not countermanded completely). Hogwarts isn't immune either with its hiring of Gilderoy Lockhart as no matter how questionable the decision seems in hindsight there really is no proof that Dumbledore knew the full depths of Lockhart's background.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' hung a ''big'' {{lampshade|Hanging}} on this trope in an episode debunking 9/11 UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories. [[spoiler:The existence of conspiracy theories is actually a government conspiracy; Washington failed to ''prevent'' twenty Muslim lunatics with box cutters killing 3,000 people, so they'd rather allow people to believe that they ''made'' it happen -- it actually makes the government look more formidable and in control than it is. They do this because the conspiracy theorists are going [[CassandraTruth to ignore them when they try to tell the truth]], so they might as well play to that crowd as well]].

* Not keeping this trope in mind is likely part of the problem for any community, moderator, administrator, or forum veteran that SuffersNewbiesPoorly, especially when the community starts becoming insular. The tendency to suspect any potential social misstep or drama-causing on the part of the newcomer as trolling rather than simple ignorance or accident ends up deterring new individuals from joining as a result. Conservapedia and its administration, for instance, have demonstrated a history of treating edits or statements by new individuals that are not in line with the administration's stance on the topic as a deliberate provocation of the staff and respond with a prompt banning of the offending individual. The possibility of ineptitude or unfamiliarity by the newcomer are not considered as potential explanations--the administrative stance is that any explicit nonconformity to the administrative stance must stem only from malicious intent.

* King Elhokar in ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' is an incompetent, weak king who gets in the way of the protagonists' plans, such as [[spoiler:faking an assassination attempt to prove that [[InsaneTrollLogic there really are assassins after him]], and throwing Kaladin in jail for accusing a high-ranking lord of a serious crime]]. Speaking to him as a person rather than a king reveals that he's very insecure about ruling a recently established kingdom (it was founded by his father within his lifetime), and his actions are the result of poor judgement and an inability to determine which of his advisors have his or the kingdom's best interests in mind.

* [[Literature/TheDresdenFiles Harry Dresden]] has been both a beneficiary and a victim of this trope in a few instances; in ''Literature/TurnCoat'', [[TheChessmaster the Gatekeeper]] says he can't decide if Harry is a truly brilliant DiabolicalMastermind or a blundering imbecile. Harry just says "Dude," and indicates [[CosmicPlaything the various injuries he's constantly getting]]. In ''Literature/GravePeril'', a big moment for [[InspectorJavert Morgan]] is his acceptance that the many times Harry has flouted the Laws of Magic or been part of some kind of disaster are not due to deliberate malice, but due to arrogance, impulsiveness and recklessness.