[[File:rsz safety-death 3126.jpg|link=Scary Movie|frame|Ummmmmm... do I [[Take a Third Option|get a third choice]]?]]
{{quote|''"When your life has been directly threatened by your boss and there's already been one unsolved murder in your office building, [[Sarcasm Mode|always work late and alone!]]"''|'''Noah "[[The Spoony Experiment|The Spoony One"]] Antwiler,''' ''Let's Play [[Phantasmagoria 2]]''}}
The character who puts life and limb at risk by [[What an Idiot!|doing things that no sane human being would do]]. Walking down the alley alone to tell his friend about the [[Serial Killer]]. Telling her best friend [[Have You Told Anyone Else?|not to tell anybody]], but she has a crush on somebody. Walking through [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer|the streets of Sunnydale]]. Being [[Smallville|Lana Lang]]. [[Let's Split Up, Gang!|Splitting]] [[Never Split the Party|the party]]. [[Curiosity Killed the Cast|Being curious.]] [[Ransacked Room|Searching the hero's room in such a manner that no one could miss that you did it.]] Telling everybody in earshot he has vital evidence that he'll be taking to the authorities very shortly. [[Youth Is Wasted on the Dumb|Visiting a known dangerous area.]] [[Poor Communication Kills|Not telling the rest of the heroes about the upcoming trap laid out for them.]] [[Bullying a Dragon]]. Not only possessing [[Genre Blindness]], but putting [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|Zaphod Beeblebrox's]] [[Horrible Judge of Character|Peril-Sensitive Sunglasses on over it]]. Even close friends have to [[Face Palm]] upon hearing of his or her exploits. (Though it never [[Fearless Fool|penetrates their own heads]].) This trope is, surprisingly, [[Truth in Television]], as many people can attest to.
If a character is stupid, but does not put himself at an obvious risk of harm, it is not an example of this; see instead [[What an Idiot!]], [[The Ditz]], or [[Idiot Ball]]. Compare [[Artificial Stupidity]], the videogame equivalent of this which is a result of AI rather than the script being against them. Contrast [[Death By Pragmatism]] and [[Let's Get Dangerous]]. Not to be confused with [[Evilutionary Biologist]] or [[The Social Darwinist]], although [[Values Dissonance|they generally consider it a]] [[Moral Event Horizon]] [[Values Dissonance|to not murder the dumb in cold blood]].
'''Note:''' This trope has been subject to some [[Trope Decay|misuse]]. If you see any examples or [[Pothole|pot holes]] to this page in which the character's stupidity does not pose any threat to his physical well-being, please remove them or point them to one of the alternative idiocy tropes.
'''[[No Real Life Examples, Please]]'''. See the ''[[Darwin Awards]]'' and ''[[What The Fuck Is Wrong With You?]]'' for those.