History Main / ProtocolPeril

* To the humans in the ''Literature/Foreigner'' 'verse, The War of Landing was caused by this - everything was going wonderfully until suddenly the atevi attacked them. To the atevi, they spent years trying to negotiate their way out of the war before finally being pushed too far.

* Isaac Asimov's short story ''Strikebreaker'' features a little colony in an asteroid. Being so small everything must be recycled, even water, from feces. Naturally someone has to do the job and the asteroid's inhabitants try to make him as comfortable as possible. However, it's stigmatized by everybody, who due to social prejudice avoid interacting with him and feel physical disgust by him. The trouble appears when an outsider arrives at the colony to make social studies.

* A relatively mild example often ensues for new recruits joining the military, particularly in more individualistic cultures where one isn't accustomed to taking orders from arbitrarily appointed superiors and having to place the group before themselves. Not to mention little things like [[DontCallMeSir proper forms]] [[TheyCallMeMisterTibbs of]] [[LastNameBasis address.]]

** The crew of ''{{Enterprise}}'' once managed to anger alien dignitaries by having a dinner in their honor. This was highly offensive to the visitors (whose [[PlanetOfHats hat]] was already "easily offended") because on their planet you eat alone. "You eat like you mate!"

* ''StarTrek'' thrives on this trope:
** In TheNextGeneration 1st season episode "Justice", the crew beams down onto a seemingly pleasurable planet inhabited by the friendly Edo, where it is explained that no one breaks the rules because of random inspections and [[AllCrimesAreEqual only one punishment: execution]]. Then Wesley, who was playing with other kids, accidentally breaks a greenhouse window and it just so happens that's where the moderators check at that moment...

** There's an episode of ''StarTrekVoyager'' where B'Elanna (part [[ProudWarriorRace Klingon]]) gets arrested for having violent thoughts on a planet of telepaths.

** Well that was only after they realised she had no idea how to perform the daily religious ceremony that the person she was currently [[MindSwap inhabiting]] ''should'' have known. They took it as a refusal and thus branded her as a heretic.

Here's the basic formula: take a society. Give them, as one of their [[PlanetOfHats hats]], a [[UsefulNotes/{{Japan}} rigid]] and/or [[UsefulNotes/{{Britain}} complex]] code of manners or tradition they adhere to. Make the consequence of breaking that code dire: death, slavery, imprisonment, declaration of war, loss of a desperately needed supply or alliance they have. Insert the protagonists, usually well meaning but likely to have difficulty complying. If they can get away with asking why the punishment is so severe, the response will often be "[=~What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?~=]" Or if the custom is particularly lacking in good sense from the outside point of view, well, "NobodyEverComplainedBefore." Shake well and watch your protagonists squirm.

* The Cascadians of ''[=~Vatta's War~=]'' put a huge emphasis on politeness over much else and the list of things that are considered impolite is vast. Visitors to the spaceport are given a sizable booklet explaining the rules and expected to learn them. The third book has Cpt. Kylara Vatta in a courtroom defending her identity against another Vatta starship captain claiming she is an imposter; being found in contempt of court is an offense that carries the death penalty. [[spoiler: When DNA tests show the other captain was lying, he gets aggressive and insulting and having already been warned, is found in contempt. This does not sit well with Ky, even though he's been shown to be in league with the organization that murdered her family.]]

* In ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'', [[AscendedExtra Vala]] was burned alive on an [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Ori]] planet for swearing. [[IGotBetter She got better]], though.

** For clarification, the Vasudan language is ridiculously complex and changes depending on things like your relative status to the other person, the time of day, your spacial position relative to the Emperor, etc.

* ''ArabianNights'': In Arabian cultures it is taboo to eat with your left hand; one man who tries it gets it cut off by his dinner guest. In another tale this becomes an issue for a man who lost his right hand...

* ''Homestuck'' has the trolls who, due to differences in reproduction, results in buckets in the troll world being viewed the same way that pornography would be viewed by an individual from our world.

Here's the basic formula: take a society. Give them, as one of their [[PlanetOfHats hats]], a rigid and/or complex code of manners or tradition they adhere to. Make the consequence of breaking that code dire: death, slavery, imprisonment, declaration of war, loss of a desperately needed supply or alliance they have. Insert the protagonists, usually well meaning but likely to have difficulty complying. If they can get away with asking why the punishment is so severe, the response will often be "[=~What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?~=]" Or if the custom is particularly lacking in good sense from the outside point of view, well, "NobodyEverComplainedBefore." Shake well and watch your protagonists squirm.

* Try visiting the [[{{Deep South}} southern US]] and addressing an older person without using "Sir" or "Ma'am". Doesn't happen all the time, but WhatDoYouMeanItsNotHeinous does tend to rear its head. For that matter, try visiting the North and calling an unmarried (or even married) woman "Ma'am". You'll get a reaction like you just spat on her.

* AMagicalRoommate has an off-screen moment where Kuralla visits one of the fairy lands and accidentally performs the wrong bow. The king makes her and Sages leave in exchange for him doing nothing else.

* When the explorer Vasco De Gama came round Africa for a FirstContact with the Indian Grand Mogul, his ships were loaded with beads for trade and diplomatic presents because that was sufficient for the low tech cultures along the way. Unfortunately the Grand Mogul had a technology base about equal to Europe and ruled one of the richest parts of the world. Naturally he wasn't pleased at having beads as a gift.

* One episode of {{Futurama}} featured native Martians as Native American stereotypes. There was a misunderstanding, but it would all be OK if Kif didn't cough while smoking the peace pipe. He did. The punishment was death.

* Isaac Asimov's short story ''Strikebreaker'' features a little colony in an asteroid. Being so small everything must be recycled, even water, from feces. Naturally someone has to do the job and the asteroid's inhabitants try to make him as comfortable as possible. However, it's stigmatized by everybody, who due to social prejudice avoid interacting with him and feel physical disgust by him. The trouble appears when nd outsider arrives at the colony to make social studies.

* Isaac Asimov's short story ''Strikebreaker'' features a little colony in an asteroid. Being so small everything must be recycled, even water, from feces. Naturally someone has to do the job and the asteroid's inhabitants try to make him as comfortable as possible. However, it's stigmatized by everybody, who due to social prejudice avoid interacting with him and feel physical disgust by him. The trouble appears when and outsider arrive in the colony to make social studies.

* Try visiting the south and addressing an older person without using "Sir" or "Ma'am". Doesn't happen all the time, but WhatDoYouMeanItsNotHeinous does tend to rear its head.
* For that matter, try visiting the North and calling an unmarried (or even married) woman "Ma'am". You'll get a reaction like you just spat on her.

* ''ArabianNights'': In arab cultures it is taboo to eat with your left hand; one man who tries it gets it cut off by his dinner guest. In another tale this becomes an issue for a man who lost his right hand...

* Isaac Asimov's short story ''Strikebreaker'' not only is about this trope but maybe his logical extreme aswell. The story features a little colony in an asteroid and, being so small everything must be recycled, even water, from feces, someone has to do the job and the asteroid's inhabitants try to make him as comfortable as possible, however, it's stigmatized by everybody, who due to social prejudice avoid interacting with him and feel physical disgust by him. The trouble appear when and outsider arrive in the colony to make social studies.

* The ''RetrievalArtist'' series by Kristine Kathryn Rusch has the Earth Sphere Alliance bound by treaties with their alien trading partners to honor their laws and extradite people who break them, with judgements handed down by a Multicultural Tribunal. Many of the alien crimes, punishable by death or FateWorseThanDeath, are acts that would be completely innocent in the eyes of humans - say, stepping on the wrong sort of plant. This is why there are agencies to Disappear people who run afoul of them, trackers that hunt them for the law and retrieval artists working outside the law who may bring them back for other reasons.

A SubTrope of CultureClash. SuperTrope to FumblingTheGauntlet, where the character's innocent action is taken as a challenge to fight. See also: PlanetOfHats, SacredHospitality. Likely to involve invoking the PrimeDirective.

* When Vasco De Gama came round Africa for a FirstContact with the Indian Grand Mogul, his ships were loaded with beads for trade and diplomatic presents because that was sufficient for the low tech cultures along the way. Unfortunately the Grand Mogul had a technology base about equal to Europe and ruled one of the richest parts of the world. Naturally he wasn't pleased at having beads as a gift.