History Main / InnocentlyInsensitive

* Counterintuitively, this is how some disabled people feel about "inspirational" stories of the differently abled or even portrayals of disabled characters in the media. While the writer(s) and journalist(s) never set out to ''intentionally'' offend these people, some feel that they are presented in a patronising way. From non-disabled actors playing the role of a "Disabled" character to showing a disabled person somehow excelling at things more than a non-disabled person. Sometimes, they interpret them as pushing the message of how acceptance is conditional on how much a disabled person can be exploited or lead pressure to excel at something they legitimately have trouble doing.
** Even some ''non'' disabled people can feel this about "inspirational" stories of the disabled or underprivileged, thinking they imply that if disabled people can succeed at it, the non-disabled aren't working hard enough, and their struggles aren't important.

* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgKT3DEqCtk Hiro The Dense]] -- [[StockShonenHero Dense Shonen Protagonist]]'' is this when it comes to the HornyDevils attempting to seduce him. Due to a [[ChasteHero combination]] [[ObliviousToLove of]] [[NotDistractedByTheSexy differing]] [[LiteralMinded factors]], he rebuffs every sexual advance he receives, but defeating the succubus Izilith and requesting that she take him to her boss as his prize yields this exchange.

** In ''ComicBook/ActionComics'' #243, Superman gets [[BalefulPolymorph turned into a humanoid lion.]] While initially shocked, ComicBook/LoisLane talks him into going to a play with her to make him feel better and prove her feelings haven't changed. Much to her chagrin, she only remembers once they've arrived that the play is ''Beauty and the Beast''.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheTiggerMovie'': Pooh and co. just wanted to help Tigger stay happy; they had no idea how hurt he'd get when he finds out that his "family" are his disguised friends. So imagine their guilt (especially Roo's) when Tigger angrily storms off into a blizzard to find "them".

* Pooh, Tigger, Rabbit, and Eeyore in ''WesternAnimation/PigletsBigMovie''. They don't ''mean'' to be so abusive to Piglet, and they realize just how badly they've taken him for granted as the film goes on.

* Counterintuitively, this is how some disabled people feel about "inspirational" stories of the differently abled or even portrayals of disabled characters in the media. While the writer(s) and journalist(s) never set out to ''intentionally'' offend these people, some feel that they are presented in a patronising way. From non-disabled actors playing the role of a "Disabled" character to showing a differently-abled person somehow excelling at things more than a non-disabled person. Sometimes, they interpret them as pushing the message of how acceptance is conditional on how much a disabled person can be exploited or lead pressure to excel at something they legitimately have trouble doing.

The IdiotHero, {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, and those who have NoSocialSkills are prone to this. They tend to receive replies like "YouKnowImBlackRight" and "ImStandingRightHere". InnocentBigot is a subtrope. Obviously guilty of frequently committing a FeeFiFauxPas. It may also be the result of a CrazyCulturalComparison or a CrossCulturalKerfuffle. Compare HorribleJudgeOfCharacter, ObliviousMockery, MyParentsAreDead, DeadpanSnarker (when this is done intentionally) and HanlonsRazor. Contrast MoreInsultingThanIntended, where the insult was deliberate but not to such a degree.

'''Groot:''' ''[grunts]''\\

* Jake of ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}''. Most likely due to his upbringing as an orphaned, isolated inhabitant of a deserted jungle island, Jake has a tendency to be oblivious to the feelings of others, mostly Jane's. It's also implied that in his previous incarnation as Grandpa Harley, he was similar and ran away from home and from Nanna without apparently considering how it made her feel.

* Because [[NoSocialSkills she lacks social skills]], Laura Kinney aka ComicBook/{{X 23}} tends to do this. After an adventure in Limbo, Laura sees no problem with telling Surge (who wasn't present) that her boyfriend Prodigy had his heart ripped out (he got better) when all the other students were evasive about it (even implied that this was ''why'' Nori asked her about it after the others didn't come clean). When Laura is later attending ''ComicBook/AvengersAcademy'' and {{Wolverine}} brings some of her former classmates from Xavier's there to keep them safe, she greets Dust by telling her she "smells healthy." After Dust reminds her it's not polite to tell someone how they smell, she innocently says that because she can't ''see'' her (Dust practices ''hijab'' and covers herself in public) it's the only way she can tell.

** Deconstructed in a ''ComicBook/{{Catwoman}}'' issue. When Selina and Sylvia were teenagers working the streets together as prostitutes, Sylvia took Selina's place during their first time so Selina wouldn't have to go through with it. Selina didn't know how to handle Sylvia after the incident or attempt to comfort her, causing Sylvia to develop a deep hatred of Selina because she felt Selina abandoned her. Sylvia's hatred of her was unknown to Selina, who still trusted her and considered Sylvia her closest childhood friend. This allowed Sylvia to betray Selina in the worst way possible.

** This trait is often the reason why Miu is [[TheFriendNobodyLikes perceived as annoying by her classmates]], as she has a tendency to just blurt out whatever she's thinking without filtering herself first. Kaede notes in her Freetime Events with Miu that her intent isn't malicious and her constant insulting of Kaede is because [[NoSocialSkills Miu wants to make friends with her but has no idea how to do so in a normal way.]] She often tries to lighten the mood with jokes without being able to read the tone of the situation.

* As [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI The Great War]] looms closer, many attempts have been made to try and avert its course. Tsar Nicholas II of Russia at first called for demobilization of their troops, hoping to avert war. As his staffs argue with him about this decision, Nicholas looks out of the window, trying to think of a way out. But then an aide, his name lost in history, said the line, "Your majesty, we know how difficult it must be for you to decide...", unknowingly pressing Nicholas' BerserkButton, resulting in Nicholas ordering the mobilization instead. [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom Never before an innocently insensitive comment would result in an entire generation dead.]]

** One villager brings Mirabel a "not-special" gift basket while continuously talking about how she has no gift. He clearly meant no harm but he is unintentionally rubbing salt in a sore spot for Maribelle.

** Even some ''non'' disabled people can feel this about "inspirational" stories of the disabled or underprivileged, thinking this actually downplays any struggles ''they'' might have.

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[[folder:Podcasts]]
* Carlos from ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale'' is this towards Cecil sometimes. He does his best to fix the situation once he does finally notice it, though.

-->-- ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy''

[[folder:Films — Animation]]

** [[spoiler: Bruno]] clearly had meant well but it was not a good place and time to joke to the already anxious [[spoiler: Pepa]] on their wedding day.

* Anna of ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'' is a NiceGirl. She's just [[LaserGuidedAmnesia made to forget]] the fact that her older sister Elsa has [[AnIcePerson ice powers]] after the latter nearly accidentally kills Anna while playing.

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]

* In ''Film/{{Cinderella|2015}}'', Ella's father is a NiceGuy, but he does love Ella more than his new wife and stepdaughters. Lady Tremaine overhears him tell her this, and it becomes the seed of a lot of the abuse she deals later.

* Drax in ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' blithely muses that the Guardians are now his friends even as he continues to unknowingly insult them. The "innocent" part might have been more obvious if the scene where LiteralMinded Drax hears Gamora referred to as a whore without realizing that it's an insult hadn't been cut.

* Ahkmenrah's parents from ''Film/NightAtTheMuseum 3'' when they hear Larry is half Jewish:
-->"We love Jews! We owned forty thousand. So happy, always singing with their candles..."
* In ''Film/{{Psycho}}'', it seems like [[NervousWreck Norman]] [[MommyIssues Bates]] is going to run into this, especially once he starts asking his guest about "what [she's] running away from," but she [[SubvertedTrope seems strangely tolerant of it]]. A moment later, when she asks why Norman doesn't send his delusional old mother to an institution, he [[BerserkButton does not extend her the same courtesy]].

* Mr. Spock of ''Franchise/StarTrek'' fame always had a little bit of this going all the way back to the original series, due to his being raised in a society where emotions are suppressed in favor of logic, much to the annoyance of Dr. [=McCoy=] and the others. Captain/Admiral James T. Kirk was usually more patient with Spock due to their HeterosexualLifePartners friendship, but in ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'', Kirk, after putting up with an even more Innocently Insensitive than usual Spock (who was still coming off of rebirth) in the 20th century finally loses his temper and snaps at Spock who, upon learning that the window of opportunity to snatch up two whales is rapidly closing (thus placing the future of the Earth in dire peril), bluntly states that their mission won't be successful and states it as if they were running a grocery errand. Specifically Kirk tears into Spock with an incredulous "Our mission? Spock, you're talking about the end of every life on Earth! You're half human! Haven't you got any goddamned feelings about '''THAT'''?!"

[[folder: Jokes]]

** This has the sad side effect that extraordinarily competent people may come across as snobbish because they constantly have to remind themselves not to expect the average person to be able to keep up with them.
** It can make for a bitter, painful life when one must constantly choose between the loneliness of always being out ahead of the pack or hobbling oneself until one is as slow as everyone else. Studies like these only make it easy to sympathize with snobs and both male and female {{Alpha Bitch}}es of the intellectual variety. Of course, most people who think they have this problem, as the cited research points out, don't.
** Less talented people feel insulted when told that the task they failed at or invested a lot of effort to accomplish is "very easy", leading to a situation where highly intelligent people, by trying to downplay their intelligence, achieve the exact opposite of the intended effect.

Frustratingly TruthInTelevision. Especially notable are [[UsefulNotes/AspergerSyndrome autistic people], though this can vary and often the exact opposite is true if said people are ''[[SensoryOverload hypersensitive]]''. Contrast with ApologisesALot, when a character tries ''too'' hard to avoid being this -- and it is not unheard of for the two to alternate.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Encanto}}'' the town kids keep asking Mirabel what her powers are, oblivious to her discomfort with the subject and ignoring her deflections to avoid admitting her MuggleBornOfMages status.

Frustratingly TruthInTelevision. Especially notable are people with UsefulNotes/AspergerSyndrome, though this can vary and often the exact opposite is true if said people are ''[[SensoryOverload hypersensitive]]''. Contrast with ApologisesALot, when a character tries ''too'' hard to avoid being this -- and it is not unheard of for the two to alternate.

* People with poor social skills -- children and shy people who haven't had much chance to interact socially especially -- are also prone to this. It's a recognized trait of Autistic Spectrum Disorders to have some difficulty at picking up non-verbal cues that would alert them to other people's feelings.

The IdiotHero and {{Cloudcuckoolander}} are prone to this. They tend to receive replies like "YouKnowImBlackRight" and "ImStandingRightHere". InnocentBigot is a subtrope. Obviously guilty of frequently committing a FeeFiFauxPas. It may also be the result of a CrazyCulturalComparison or a CrossCulturalKerfuffle. Compare HorribleJudgeOfCharacter, ObliviousMockery, MyParentsAreDead, DeadpanSnarker (when this is done intentionally) and HanlonsRazor. Contrast MoreInsultingThanIntended, where the insult was deliberate but not to such a degree.

* ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': Siya is friends with Ruffles, one of the two-toes that lives under the shrine. However, their friendship is very much filtered through the bias held by most humans towards inak, considering them lesser. Siya bases a inak character in her story off of Ruffles, but portrays her as a dumb comic relief character. And when some of the inack [[spoiler:steal documents from the shrine head's office in a rebellion attempt]] and the rest of the inak are ordered to stay underground, Ruffles asks Siya to stand up for them, but Siya is too caught up in her own troubles and essentially tells Ruffles to be a good girl and go with the other inak into imprisonment.