History Main / ProtocolPeril

** The crew of ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise 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!"

* The Cascadians of ''VattasWar'' 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.]]

* 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.

* In ''Literature/{{Dune}}'', this almost happens when Duke Leto's entourage meets with Stilgar, a Fremen leader, for the first time. As Stilgar walks out, he spits on their table. Some of the men react with anger, but fortunately Liet-Kynes, who is familiar with Fremen customs, is on hand to explain: water is so precious a resource on Arrakis that every drop is counted and precious, and the Fremen wear suits that recycle 100% of a body's waste water. To share one's bodily water (as with the spit) with someone else is therefore a gesture of great respect.

!!Examples

* In the "Where the Buggalo Roam" episode of ''{{WesternAnimation/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 PeacePipe. He did. The punishment was death.

* In the ''King'' episode The Museum of Tomorrow, Russel has to find out a crime that he will commit. Turns out that he managed to anger aliens by messing up their meeting ritual which involves kicking each other in the shins causing them start destorying the kingdom.

* 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]] [[TheyCallMeMisterTibbs forms of]] [[LastNameBasis address.]] A [[GuiltByAssociation group session]] of PhysicalFitnessPunishment is not only to be expected, but pretty much designed into many such training regimens.

** During the Vietnam Wars, CIA and other intelligence agents undercover as officers were known to mistakenly salute enlisted men and NCO's or address them as 'sir'. One would wonder why they weren't properly briefed on military protocol, unless they were set up for failure to amuse the more senior agents.

* Subverted in ''StarControl II'' where it was previously thought that the war with the [=VUX=] was the result of the captain of the FirstContact ship calling the [=VUX=] captain ugly. Turns out, they are the ones who think we're too ugly to be left alive and simply used the accidental insult as a pretext.

* ''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.

* ''{{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. Therefore, {{Hilarity Ensues}} whenever buckets come into play.

* This trope was the cause of the Terran-Vasudan War in ''{{Freespace}}''.

* In the "Where the Buggalo Roam" 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 PeacePipe. He did. The punishment was death.

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 {{Alien Non-Interference Clause}}.

* In the "Where the Buggalo Roam" 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.

* In ''Series/StargateSG1'', [[AscendedExtra Vala]] was burned alive on an [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Ori]] planet for swearing.
** Well, that was only ''after'' they realised she had no idea how to perform the daily religious ceremony that the person she was currently [[BodySurf inhabiting]] ''should'' have known. They took it as a refusal and thus branded her as a heretic.
** Much earlier, in "[[Recap/{{StargateSG-1S1E3Emancipation}} Emancipation]]", Carter spoke to a man on a Mongol-influenced planet and was immediately sentenced to death. Fortunately, she had just saved a man's life, though, so she was spared.

* IsaacAsimov'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.

** Much earlier, in "[[Recap/StargateSG-1S1E3Emancipation Emancipation]]", Carter spoke to a man on a Mongol-influenced planet and was immediately sentenced to death. Fortunately, she had just saved a man's life, though, so she was spared.

** In ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]'' first 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...
** "The Big Goodbye" has Picard practicing the language of an alien race on the holodeck to prepare for upcoming delegations, because the slightest mispronunciation will be taken as a grave offense.

** Much earlier, in "Emancipation", Carter spoke to a man on a Mongol-influenced planet and was immediately sentenced to death. Fortunately, she had just saved a man's life, though, so she was spared.

* 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.

[[AC:Webcomics]]
* ''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.
* ''{{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. Therefore, {{Hilarity Ensues}} whenever buckets come into play.

** During the Vietnam Wars, CIA and other intelligence agents undercover as officers were known to mistakenly salute enlisted men and NCO's or address them as 'sir'. One would wonder why they weren't properly briefed on military protocol, unless they were set up for failure to amuse the more senior agents.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* 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 an outsider arrives at the colony to make social studies.

* ''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. Therefore, {{Hilarity Ensues}} whenever buckets come into play.

* 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]] [[TheyCallMeMisterTibbs forms of]] [[LastNameBasis address.]]

* The wretched beast-men of ''TheIslandOfDoctorMoreau'' adhere to a rigid set of rules intended to prevent them from backsliding into animalistic behavior. Any of their number who violate these rules is harassed by the others and hauled back to Moreau's "House of Pain" for surgical re-modification, and the novel's human protagonist is expected to conform to the same rules.

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

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 "WhatDoYouMeanItsNotHeinous" 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.