History Main / NotHelpingYourCase

** In the episode "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIVJustice Justice]]", Rimmer is tried for murdering the crew of the ''Red Dwarf'' due to botching the replacement of a drive plate. Kryten decides to act as Rimmer's defense ...which involves proving that Rimmer is not competent enough to have properly replaced the faulty plate himself. (Lister would have helped, but he was in stasis at the time, and only Holly was able to, somehow, keep the ship running for three million years.) Rimmer, being somewhat of an egotist, ends up falling straight into this one by objecting to his own defense (which Kryten points out as further evidence).

*** Even worse, another prisoner is a templar who was responsible of capturing Jowan, the Blood Mage that Loghain hired to poison one of his biggest oppositors. This revelation not only works in favor of the claims that he used a blood mage to kill someone, but also put both the templar's sister (a noblewoman) and the representative of the local religion against him.

* Mitzi in ''Webcomic/{{Lackadaisy}}'' has a little bit of trouble convincing Wick that her comment about having Rocky murdered [[JustJokingJustification was a joke]]... because her explanations are, in order, "I wouldn't need to hire anyone, I could wring his neck myself," followed by "I'm still joking, he'd do it himself if I asked him nicely" and "still joking but he ''really would''".

* ''Webcomic/DumbingOfAge'': [[http://www.dumbingofage.com/2011/comic/book-1/06-yesterday-was-thursday/uptight/ this]] classic.

* The current page image is from ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive''. Ellen's reaction to a party could've meant "any number of things!" Mr. Verres figured that all of those reasons would justify having a more responsible chaperone.

* According to Adolf Hitler, he was not fond of Himmler's archaeological expeditions for this reason. The attitude among Italian fascists was that the Germans were just an upstart and not a proper MasterRace, since the Italians had built the Roman Empire back when Germany was an insignificant backwater ruled by a bunch of illiterate barbarians living in mud huts and hitting each other with stone axes. (Modern archaeologists believe Teutonic society was more sophisticated than that, but they did indeed lack any state with the Roman Empire's level of complexity.) Himmler made dozens of expeditions around the world to prove the contrary... and each time, what they mostly found was mud huts and stone axes, all of which were proudly reported on as if they were signs of some great primeval Germanic society. Before long, Himmler started [[{{Ghostapo}} switching to a blatantly supernatural track]], claiming that the Aryans were actually descended from Atlantis, of all things. Hitler recognized fairly quickly that all this did was confirm the Italian mockery.

* According to Adolf Hitler, he was not fond of Himmler's archaeological expeditions for this reason. The attitude among Italian fascists was that the Germans were just an upstart and not a proper MasterRace, since the Italians had built the Roman Empire back when Germany was an insignificant backwater ruled by a bunch of illiterate barbarians living in mud huts and hitting each other with stone axes. Himmler made dozens of expeditions around the world to prove the contrary... and each time, all they really found were mud huts and stone axes, all of which were proudly reported on as if they were signs of some great primeval Germanic society. Before long, Himmler started [[{{Ghostapo}} switching to a blatantly supernatural track]], claiming that the Aryans were actually descended from Atlantis, of all things. Hitler recognized fairly quickly that all this did was confirm the Italian mockery.

* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: When the Golden Policewomen capture the Holliday Girls, thinking they're Green Geni due to the coating they're wearing, the earth gals already have reason to suspect the Golden gals are villains due to a plea for help they intercepted. Then one of the Golden women keep cutting off Etta's explanations and saying things which make them seem to be unmistakably overbearing conquering dictators, instead of police leading to a much deeper misunderstanding than was already in place.

** In one episode, House calmly and politely pleads his case to the transplant board as to why his patient should receive a heart transplant, but the board turns him down on account of the patient's age. Figuring he has nothing to lose, House then angrily accuses the board of ageism, even pointing out to one member that as an elderly man himself, as well as black, he's both susceptible to heart disease himself and ineligible for a transplant by his own criteria.

* ''Series/TheGoodPlace:'' When a highly flustered Chidi asks Eleanor to recall ''one'' good deed she committed in life, to make him feel less awful about helping keep her secret, she draws a blank. Chidi changes tack and asks her to describe an ''average'' thing she did. Eleanor can't even manage that. A later episode has the Judge of All Matters reviewing Eleanor's life to determine whether or not she deserves a second chance, and there are a lot of crappy deeds in there, such as starting fires to ogle mailmen, getting banned from Build-A-Bear, drunkenly crashing someone's quinceañera with an air-horn, and a long incident involving her roommate and an expensive dress.
** And when he expresses horror at Eleanor's job (telemarketing of fake supplements to sick elderly people) she tries to defend herself mentioning how good she was at it. Chidi rightfully points out that being good at something terrible makes it worse.

* A year after the release of ''[[Film/TheLastJedi Star Wars: The Last Jedi]]'', ''Esquire'' writer Matt Miller wrote [[https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a25560063/how-fans-ruined-star-wars-the-last-jedi-2018/ an article]] discussing & criticizing the [[VocalMinority toxic subsection]] of the Star Wars Fandom who spent the past year attacking the film, the actors, its crew, the creators, and the other fans who enjoyed the film; often using racist and/or sexist rhetoric in their attacks. Soon after the article was posted online, said toxic fans [[IResembleThatRemark began to harass Miller & Esquire online with extreme language, insults, racist and/or misogynist comments, all while demanding he be fired]]. Miller then wrote a [[https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a25617513/toxic-star-wars-fans/ follow-up article]] a week later thanking them for proving his point.

* Back in the 1980s, during the notorious lawsuit against [=McDonald's=] coffee, the suing party, one Stella Liebeck, went against the advice of her legal counsel and did an interview on 60 Minutes, live national news. During this interview, she took the provided empty Styrofoam cup and demonstrated how she placed the original cup of coffee from Mc Donald's between her legs and proceeded to violently rip off the lid, and testified during the interview that while this was going on, the driver of the vehicle hit a speed-bump on the way out of the parking lot, causing the coffee to splash her. (She testified in court that the vehicle was parked and standing still.) After she finished demonstrating how she intentionally put herself in harm's way, Matt Laurer asked the obvious question "Weren't you expecting the coffee to be hot?" Stella turned and looked at the news anchor with contempt, as if he was mentally challenged and said "No! I wasn't expecting the coffee to be ho-ot!" The backlash from countless third-party news, talk-show, and entertainment venues was almost immediate and intense. Even Sesame Street had the "Unpleasable Customer" grab a pot of coffee, pour it on his head, and then turn around and threaten to sue Elmo because he burned himself.
** It's important to note that the lawsuit wasn't because the coffee was as hot as your everyday coffee. It was hot enough to give her [i]third-degree burns[/i] and she was suing to get money for her medical bills that resulted from an 8-day hospitalization and skin grafts caused by said third-degree burns. Her initial attempts to settle with McDonalds were met with an offer of $800. She actually [i]won[/i] the court case, the jury finding McDonalds 80% at fault.
* [[http://www.cracked.com/article_18571_5-reasons-its-still-not-cool-to-admit-youre-gamer.html This]] Website/{{Cracked}} article mentions how gamers who are angry about anti-piracy measures pirate more and points out that this is not helping their case.
* And coming full circle, said Website/{{Cracked}} article cited examples to prove its point which actually ''undermined'' the point. It equates gamers choosing to pay nothing for the Humble Indie Bundle, where paying nothing was an option, to piracy and claiming this hurt sales and developers (said bundle was a ''massive'' financial success overall, which grew into a [[https://www.humblebundle.com/ dedicated storefront]] that is still around to this day), and citing ''VideoGame/{{Spore}}'s'' high piracy rate as justification for the use of DRM (the game was pirated so much ''because'' of its DRM, the controversial always-online [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SecuROM SecuROM]], and piracy was the ''only'' method to get a version that would work without a dedicated internet connection). In the end, the author actually ends up making a strong argument [[DigitalPiracyIsOkay in favor of piracy]].

* A year after the release of ''[[{{Film/TheLastJedi}} Star Wars: The Last Jedi]]'', ''Esquire'' writer Matt Miller wrote [[https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a25560063/how-fans-ruined-star-wars-the-last-jedi-2018/ an article]] discussing & criticizing the [[{{VocalMinority}} toxic subsection]] of the Star Wars Fandom who spent the past year attacking the film, the actors, its crew, the creators, and the other fans who enjoyed the film; often using racist and/or sexist rhetoric in their attacks. Soon after the article was posted online, said toxic fans [[{{IResembleThatRemark}} began to harass Miller & Esquire online with extreme language, insults, racist and/or misogynist comments, all while demanding he be fired]]. Miller then wrote a [[https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a25617513/toxic-star-wars-fans/ follow-up article]] a week later thanking them for proving his point.

* ''Anime/{{Monster}}'': Dr. Kenzou Tenma. Dear Lord. Not as extreme as most of these examples, but it's easier to count the moments when he ''isn't'' acting incredibly suspicious. Granted, Tenma was less interested in proving his own innocence than in helping others, performing selfless acts... [[BreadEggsMilkSquick and]] [[HeWhoFightsMonsters trying to bring down a man]] who may well be the [[TheAntichrist very embodiment of evil itself]] (and the one who is actually behind the crimes he's accused of).

* In ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'', a group of girls accuses Catarina of being a bully and provides a rather sizeable list of misdeeds as "evidence". Her friends speak up in her defense... by saying that she's [[DumbIsGood far too simple-minded]] to have carried out the complicated plots they're accusing her of committing. Catarina, who's standing right there, doesn't get offended because she's also too dense to realize that they're giving her backhanded compliments (her unspoken reaction is "I'm so happy they're standing up for me, but something seems off here...").

Compare IResembleThatRemark. Somewhat related are YouHaveToBelieveMe (a character makes bizarre statements in [[FreakOut a hysterical tone]]), DiggingYourselfDeeper (the character tries to sound [[ThatCameOutWrong less creepy]] by justifying the original creepy remark), ThenLetMeBeEvil (the character decides to live down to people's low expectations) and StickyFingers (habitual petty theft puts the character under a constant aura of suspicion). Contrast with WrongfulAccusationInsurance, where the character is not implicated for crimes committed while trying to [[ClearMyName clear their name]]. The tropes may overlap, though, if the character is called out for their crimes as they happen, yet [[EasilyForgiven unceremoniously pardoned]] after their name is cleared. Not to be confused with DontShootTheMessage. For moments where someone or something else doesn't help your case, see ContrivedCoincidence and InstantlyProvenWrong.

* Subverted in ''{{Journeyman}}''. When Dan starts digging under the front porch, Katie asks him what he's doing. He says "saving this family", to which she replies "no, not really". Dan has already been acting erratically and claiming to be a time traveller, so Katie thinks he's finally lost his mind. Then he digs up his wedding ring. He'd been wearing it just hours earlier from her point of view and had buried it in the past when the house had yet to be built.

* Back in the 1980's, during the notorious lawsuit against [=McDonald's=] coffee, the suing party, one Stella Liebeck, went against the advice of her legal counsel and did an interview on 60 Minutes, live national news. During this interview, she took the provided empty Styrofoam cup and demonstrated how she placed the original cup of coffee from Mc Donald's between her legs and proceeded to violently rip off the lid, and testified during the interview that while this was going on, the driver of the vehicle hit a speed-bump on the way out of the parking lot, causing the coffee to splash her. (She testified in court that the vehicle was parked and standing still.) After she finished demonstrating how she intentionally put herself in harm's way, Matt Laurer asked the obvious question "Weren't you expecting the coffee to be hot?" Stella turned and looked at the news anchor with contempt, as if he was mentally challenged and said "No! I wasn't expecting the coffee to be ho-ot!" The backlash from countless third-party news, talk-show, and entertainment venues was almost immediate and intense. Even Sesame Street had the "Unpleasable Customer" grab a pot of coffee, pour it on his head, and then turn around and threaten to sue Elmo because he burned himself.

* When Frank Reynolds gets roped into hosting a child beauty pageant in ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'', he wants it made very clear that [[MistakenForPedophile he is not, in his words, "a diddler"]] (it doesn't help that he got roped in because the original host was arrested for child molestation). He tries to go about this by repeatedly emphasizing that [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial he is not attracted to any of these children]] and even trying to have a song written called "Do Not Diddle Kids." The rest of the gang correctly point out that his repeated emphasis of this is just going to make people suspicious.

* A year after the release of ''[[{{Film/TheLastJedi}} Star Wars: The Last Jedi]]'', ''Esquire'' writer Matt Miller wrote [[https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a25560063/how-fans-ruined-star-wars-the-last-jedi-2018/ an article]] discussing & criticizing the [[{{VocalMinority}} toxic subsection]] of the Star Wars Fandom who spent the past year attacking the film, the creators, and the other fans who enjoyed the film; often using racist and/or sexist rhetoric in their attacks. Soon after the article was posted online, said toxic fans [[{{IResembleThatRemark}} began to harass Miller & Esquire online with extreme language, insults, racist and/or misogynist comments, all while demanding he be fired]]. Miller then wrote a [[https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a25617513/toxic-star-wars-fans/ follow-up article]] a week later thanking them for proving his point.

* A year after the release of ''[[{{Film/TheLastJedi}} Star Wars: The Last Jedi]]'', ''Esquire'' writer Matt Miller wrote [[https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a25560063/how-fans-ruined-star-wars-the-last-jedi-2018/ an article]] discussing & criticizing the [[{{VocalMinority}} toxic subsection]] of the Star Wars Fandom who spent the past year attacking the film, the creators, and the other fans who enjoyed the film; often using racist and/or sexist rhetoric in their attacks. Soon after the article was posted online, said toxic fans [[{{IResembleThatRemark}} began to harass Miller & Esquire online with extreme language, insults, racist and/or misogynist comments, all while demanding he be fired]]. A week later, Miller wrote a [[https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a25617513/toxic-star-wars-fans/ follow-up article]] thanking them for proving his point.

* A year after the release of ''[[{{Film/TheLastJedi}} Star Wars: The Last Jedi]]'', ''Esquire'' writer Matt Miller wrote [[https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a25560063/how-fans-ruined-star-wars-the-last-jedi-2018/ an article]] discussing & criticizing the [[{{VocalMinority}} toxic subsection]] of the Star Wars Fandom who spent the past year attacking the film, the creators, and the other fans who enjoyed the film; often using racist and/or sexist rhetoric in their attacks. After publishing, It wasn’t long until said toxic fans [[{{IResembleThatRemark}} began to harass Miller & Esquire online with extreme language, insults, racist and/or misogynist comments, all while demanding he be fired]]. A week after the article was posted online, Miller wrote a [[https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a25617513/toxic-star-wars-fans/ follow-up article]] thanking them for proving his point.

* A year after the release of [[{{Film/TheLastJedi}} Star Wars: The Last Jedi]], ''Esquire'' writer Matt Miller wrote [[https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a25560063/how-fans-ruined-star-wars-the-last-jedi-2018/ an article]] discussing & criticizing the [[{{VocalMinority}} toxic subsection]] of the Star Wars Fandom who spent the past year attacking the film, the creators, and the other fans who enjoyed the film; often using racist and/or sexist rhetoric in their attacks. After publishing, It wasn’t long until said toxic fans [[{{IResembleThatRemark}} began to harass Miller & Esquire online with extreme language, insults, racist and/or misogynist comments, all while demanding he be fired]]. A week after the article was posted online, Miller wrote a [[https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a25617513/toxic-star-wars-fans/ follow-up article]] thanking them for proving his point.

* A year after the release of [[{{Film/TheLastJedi}} Star Wars: The Last Jedi]], ''Esquire'' writer Matt Miller wrote [[https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a25560063/how-fans-ruined-star-wars-the-last-jedi-2018/ an article]] discussing & criticizing the [[{{VocalMinority}} toxic subsection of fans]] who spent the past year attacking the film, the creators, and the fans who enjoyed the film; often using racist and/or sexist rhetoric in their attacks. It wasn’t long until said toxic fans [[{{IResembleThatRemark}} began to harass Miller & Esquire online with extreme language, racist and/or misogynist comments, all while demanding he be fired]]. A week after the article was posted online, Miller wrote a [[https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a25617513/toxic-star-wars-fans/ follow-up article]] Thanking them for proving his point.

* A year after the release of [[{{Film/TheLastJedi}} Star Wars: The Last Jedi]], Esquire writer Matt Miller wrote [[https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a25560063/how-fans-ruined-star-wars-the-last-jedi-2018/ an article]] discussing & criticizing the [[{{VocalMinority}} toxic subsection of fans]] who spent the past year attacking the film, the creators, and the fans who enjoyed the film; often using racist and/or sexist rhetoric in their attacks. It wasn’t long until said toxic fans [[{{IResembleThatRemark}} began to harass Miller & Esquire online with extreme language, racist and/or misogynist comments, all while demanding he be fired]]. A week after the article was posted online, Miller wrote a [[https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a25617513/toxic-star-wars-fans/ follow-up article]] Thanking them for proving his point.

* A year after the release of [[{{Film/TheLastJedi}} Star Wars: The Last Jedi]], Esquire writer Matt Miller wrote [[https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a25560063/how-fans-ruined-star-wars-the-last-jedi-2018/ an article]] discussing & criticizing the [[{{VocalMinority}} toxic subsection of fans]] who spent the past year attacking the film, the creators, and the fans who enjoyed the film; often using racist and/or sexist rhetoric in their attacks. It wasn’t long until said toxic fans [[{{IResembleThatRemark}} began to harass Miller & Esquire online with extreme language, racist and/or misogynist comments, all while demanding he be fired]]. A week after the article was posted online, Miller wrote a follow-up article Thanking them for proving his point.