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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Gus''': In these situations, we must emulate the Prime Minister.
'''Dave''': What, cock it up and then blame someone else?
|''[[Drop the Dead Donkey]], Pilot episode''}}
Most of the time, characters will [[It's All My Fault|blame themselves]] for things going south. But there are some cases where the character who ''really'' is to blame will blame everyone else instead. Common variations include:
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The formal term for this is the [[wikipedia:Fundamental attribution error|"fundamental attribution error."]]
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'': From her first episode onward, Asuka always blames Shinji when missions and training go wrong, whether it's ''her'' mistake or completely beyond anyone's control. For variety, she also rips into him for apologizing for something he had no control over.
* Happens all the time in ''[[Ranma ½]]''. When something bad happens, the characters '''demand''' that the fault lies with someone else. Examples of note include Ranma not accepting responsibility for causing Ryoga to turn into a pig even though he pushed him into the spring. Ryoga blamed Ranma for missing the fight there were supposed to have before Ranma moved away, even though Ryoga was the one who missed the fight due to his own faulty sense of direction. Similarly [[Takahashi Couple|every argument Ranma has with Akane]] is somehow always Ranma's fault. This trope is to be expected since the author herself describes the series as a [[Played for Laughs|Gag Manga]].
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* [[Black Hole Sue|Haruhi Suzumiya]] from [[Haruhi Suzumiya|The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya]] acts this way in the way she abuses other characters to get her way, such as blackmailing the computer club president into giving her a free computer lest she releases some pictures (that she set up and took) of him molesting Mikuru and claims he tried to rape her. Her treatment of Mikuru as well, and in one instance, nearly gets her punched by an angry Kyon due to the abuse Haruhi heaps on the poor girl.
** Other times however, she isn't aware of things that happen as she's [[Locked Out of the Loop]] due to special circumstances, such as when she nearly destroyed the world due to a fit of jealousy when Kyon seems to be getting a little too friendly with Mikuru. And later on, [[And I Must Scream|repeating the same two weeks of summer over 15,000 times]] because she wanted to do more activities with her friends.
* ''[[Paranoia Agent]]'' is entirely about this.
* In the Doma Arc of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'', Rex has a grudge against Joey stemming from the latter winning his Red Eyes B. Dragon card in Duelist Kingdom, ''completely'' forgetting that ''he'' is the one who decided to up the ante and wager it against Joey's Time Wizard.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* ''[[Spider-Man]]''
** [[Hero with Bad Publicity|This is the norm in pretty much any adaptation in the entire franchise. Poor Spidey gets blamed by villains and civilians alike for pretty much every sucky thing that happens to them, regardless of whether or not its their own fault or it's a villain's doing in which it's completely beyond Spider-Man's control.]]
** One of the best known examples is Eddie Brock, who blames Spider-Man for destroying his journalistic career in both the 616 and [[Spider-Man (film)|Maguire/Raimi movie]] continuities, when
** Peter Parker's boss J. Jonah Jameson is guilty of this from time to time as well. His irresponsible journalism often puts people's lives at risk, but he always blames Spider-Man for causing the problems.
*** Subverted in ''Amazing Spider-Man'' <nowiki>#654</nowiki> {{spoiler|where Alistair Smythe kills Jameson's wife, Marla (who took the hit that was meant for him). He even says that he's not going to blame Spider-Man, instead saying that "[[It's All My Fault]]."}}
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* Despite [[Magneto]]'s desire to help his fellow mutants and deliver them from persecution his actions have probably done more to hurt his cause (and harmed more mutants) than he has helped. Naturally, this is always humanity's fault.
* Countless European [[Disney Ducks Comic Universe|Scrooge McDuck]] stories have Scrooge engaging in this. A common story template goes like this: Scrooge starts worrying that he's losing money (or in most cases not making as many billions as he used to). Scrooge whines about it to [[Donald Duck]] who either gives him a well meaning suggestion or simply makes a random remark that gives Scrooge an idea. Scrooge immediately implements said idea spending a ton of money. Said idea fails due to a reason that could have been anticipated with a market test or ''simple common sense''. Scrooge laments the loss of the money... and immediately blames Donald, with the story ending with Scrooge chasing him with the intent of causing bodily harm.
** Here's a concrete example of the above: in one story, Scrooge notices that his business is slowing down... because Scrooge already produces ''everything'' and there are no markets to expand into. Scrooge goes to Donald's house ''in the middle of the night'' to whine about it prompting him to snidely remark "You'd even sell ''dreams'' if you could, wouldn't you?". This gives Scrooge the idea to do just that. He enlists Gyro Gearloose to create a dream selling business via a machine that accesses your greatest desires and turns them into a dream stored in a tape that you can "replay" while you sleep. The business is a success... then Scrooge finds out that ''all his other businesses'' are going under thanks to people gradually replacing their non essential possessions with dreams (why have anything else when you can relive your innermost desires every night?). Guess who Scrooge blames?▼
** In another comic, Scrooge [[Crying Wolf|stages several robberies]] just to keep employees on their toes. Naturally, nobody believes him when he is genuinely robbed, but instead of acknowledging that he is at fault, he gets angry at Donald for not helping him.▼
▲Here's a concrete example of the above: in one story, Scrooge notices that his business is slowing down... because Scrooge already produces ''everything'' and there are no markets to expand into. Scrooge goes to Donald's house ''in the middle of the night'' to whine about it prompting him to snidely remark "You'd even sell ''dreams'' if you could, wouldn't you?". This gives Scrooge the idea to do just that. He enlists Gyro Gearloose to create a dream selling business via a machine that accesses your greatest desires and turns them into a dream stored in a tape that you can "replay" while you sleep. The business is a success... then Scrooge finds out that ''all his other businesses'' are going under thanks to people gradually replacing their non essential possessions with dreams (why have anything else when you can relive your innermost desires every night?). Guess who Scrooge blames?
▲In another comic, Scrooge [[Crying Wolf|stages several robberies]] just to keep employees on their toes. Naturally, nobody believes him when he is genuinely robbed, but instead of acknowledging that he is at fault, he gets angry at Donald for not helping him.
* [[Donald Duck]] himself is not immune to this trope, [[Depending on the Writer]]. It's not like he doesn't want to work... it's just that no job is available in a two-meters range from his sofa. Not his fault, really. Daisy is probably cosmically endowed with this trope: if you find her admitting any fault, you get a prize.
* [[Infinite Crisis|Superboy Prime]] kills a multitude of people, but refuses to take responsibility. Coming from a world where he was the only superhero, and being parented by a [[Golden Age]] Superman, he thinks the DC universe is full of degenerates. In his mind, it's '''their''' fault that he's driven to kill. No one agrees with him.
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* Pre-Flashpoint, Deathstroke's entire motivation for hating the [[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]] and trying to kill them was that he blamed them for the loss of his family. In reality, Deathstroke himself was the one who drove them away with his life as an amoral mercenary. Averted in one storyline when he eventually realized he was a terrible father. He enacted a scheme to endear his remaining two children to the Teen Titans so they could have the family he couldn't give them.
▲== Fan Fiction ==
* [[Assumptions]]: Rainbow Dash's huge ego makes it downright impossible apologize to Caramel, [[Nice Guy|who has been nothing but kind to her]], after he find out she nearly killed him with a botched aerial trick. Rainbow chooses to fly away in shame rather than admit she wronged him, but later halfway-apologizes, which Caramel accepts.
* There have been quite a few ''[[Harry Potter]]'' fanfics written from the point of view of the Slytherin students. Very often in these stories, the Slytherins view themselves as the victims of injustice, of rampant "anti-Slytherin prejudice." The fact that people dislike or distrust the Slytherins ''never'' seems to be the Slytherins' fault for being bigots, bullies, or otherwise openly cruel and hostile to other students, [[Fantastic Racism|particularly Muggle-borns]].
** The real kicker is that [[Misaimed Fandom|the writers of these stories (and their supporters)]] [[Draco in Leather Pants|actually seem to believe that the Slytherins are right]]. No matter how horribly the Slytherins behave, the writers always seem to attribute any display of animosity toward them to "anti-Slytherin prejudice."
** Elsewhere in the fandom, this is a trait frequently attributed to Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, who will make spectacularly bad decisions and then shift the blame for their consequences to his underlings or political opponents.
* In ''[[The Blue Blur of Termina]]'', Tatl stops Sonic from going after the Skull Kid and, as a result, gets left behind and accidentally injured by the imp. She immediately blames Sonic who, in turn, immediately calls ''her'' out on it:
{{quote|'''Sonic:''' ''If it weren't for ''you'' and your friend, you wouldn't even '''be''' in this mess!''}}
== [[Film]] ==▼
▲== Film ==
* In ''[[Caddyshack]]''. Rodney Dangerfield drops his anchor into another boat. The other boat sinks, yet all Rodney says is "You scratched my anchor!"
** Of course, it's okay because the other guy is a gigantic dick, and even though Dangerfield is even more of a dick than that to him, he's a charming, amicable schmoozer to literally everyone else.
* Epitomized by the comic duo [[Laurel and Hardy]]. Whenever things went wrong, Hardy would blame Laurel (regardless of what part of the blame he truly carried) with a reproachful "here's another nice mess you've gotten me into".
** This schtick is borrowed by ''[[Illuminatus]]!'' where various different figures appear dressed as Laurel and Hardy, e.g. The Flood, everyone except Noah and Co have been drowned for their sins by a vengeful God. Jehovah (as Ollie) turns to Lucifer (as Stan) and says, "Now look what you made me do!" Lucifer cries. Hiroshima, a mushroom cloud rises above the city. Tens of thousands have been killed in a split second. President Truman (as Ollie) turns to Albert Einstein (as Stan) and says, "Now look what you made me do!" Einstein cries. etc.▼
▲This schtick is borrowed by ''[[Illuminatus]]!'' where various different figures appear dressed as Laurel and Hardy, e.g. The Flood, everyone except Noah and Co have been drowned for their sins by a vengeful God. Jehovah (as Ollie) turns to Lucifer (as Stan) and says, "Now look what you made me do!" Lucifer cries. Hiroshima, a mushroom cloud rises above the city. Tens of thousands have been killed in a split second. President Truman (as Ollie) turns to Albert Einstein (as Stan) and says, "Now look what you made me do!" Einstein cries. etc.
* Likewise, Moe of ''[[The Three Stooges]]'' was quick to pin blame and administer physical punishment against Larry and Curly (or Shemp), even when whatever hilarious accident that had happened to Moe was his own fault.
* ''[[Spider-Man (film)|Spider-Man]]'':
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** Scar to Simba in the first film. [[Blatant Lies|"...and if it weren't for you, he would still be alive!"]]
*** Although in this case it's less a refusal to admit responsability and more an attempt to guilt-trip Simba.
* ''[[The Santa Clause (film series)|The Santa Clause]] 3: The Escape Clause''.
{{quote|'''Jack Frost''': (examines a sign he's "supervised" the elves putting up.) Very nice! I've done it!
(The sign falls down and shatters, and he glares at the elves.)
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* Sean from ''[[The Social Network]]'' particularly has this problem. He blamed the Winklevii and/or Manningham for {{spoiler|"planting" the coke and calling the cops for catching him with underaged interns.}} He also doesn't seem to get how record companies would be pissed to see you take money away from them, chalking it up to the companies not having a sense of humor.
== [[Literature]] ==▼
▲== Literature ==
* ''[[Jurassic Park]]'': In [[Michael Crichton]]'s novel, Hammond <ref>who's more of a [[Jerkass]] than in [[The Film of the Book]]</ref> has a long internal monologue in which he blames everyone except himself for the disaster. Then he [[Karmic Death|gets eaten]].
** Gennaro, too, is a largely irresponsible man who has allowed significant monetary investment in a project he did very little checking on, under a man (Hammond) he knew to be unsavoury, and yet whenever something goes wrong he's the first one to start bitching at someone else. Eventually Grant [[What the Hell, Hero?|calls him on it by slamming him into a wall]] and [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|spitting it all into his face]].
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* The ''[[Mass Effect]]'' EU book ''Ascension'' had an exiled quarian cooperate with Cerberus as revenge for (as he thought) his people banishing him from the Flotilla for no reason. Keep in mind, this same quarian had attempted to ''sell his people to the Collectors''.
* ''[[The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]]'': Even when writing his final letter, Jekyll refers to Hyde ([[Freudian Slip|mostly]]) in the third person, insisting Hyde's actions were not ''his'' actions. "[E]ven now I can scarce grant that I committed [them]."
* ''[[Oblomov]]'' is completely unable to change his life by himself; when he gets unhappy he decides to blame Sachar instead. Now Sachar is a [[Jerkass]] and whatnot, but still [[
* ''[[In Death]]'': A number of the villains will always blame everyone but themselves when something goes wrong. ''Divided In Death'' had Dr. Mira explicitly telling Eve that Blair Bissel refuses to blame himself and that he ''has'' to blame someone else for everything going wrong for him.
* ''Sisterhood'' series by [[Fern Michaels]]: A number of villains essentially go around with this attitude. Senator Webster in ''Payback'' stands out with refusing to accept the blame for having multiple affairs, and then feebly trying to blame his wife Julia Webster for giving him AIDS. She had to pretty much shove the evidence in his face and spell out that recklessly having sex with women caused him to get AIDS, and he passed it on to her, plain and simple! Owen Orzell AKA Jody Jumper in ''Home Free'' actually averts or defies the trope by coming out and admitting that he is responsible for what he has done and nobody else.
* In ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]
* [[Ring Lardner]]'s novel "You Know Me Al" is a collection of letters from a young pitcher trying to break into the big leagues. Whenever he writes about one of his poor pitching performances, he starts by saying that he always takes responsibility for his failings (usually with a [[Title Drop]]), and then immediately blames everyone else on the team for his loss.
* The bully ringleader in ''[[Let the Right One In]]'', Johnny, feels this way towards the protagonist, Oskar, smashing him in the head with a piece of wood... while he and a lackey were ''throwing him into a frozen lake''. He retaliates by holding Oskar's head ''in the path of an oncoming train''. Oskar in turn retaliates by burning the bullies' school desks. Unfortunately, the scrapbook with Johnny and his [[Teens Are Monsters|older brother Jimmy's]] only photos of their father is in his desk. They respond by nearly drowning him, then preparing to ''cut out his eye''. Never once does Johnny acknowledge his horrible treatment of Oskar which drove him to this.
* ''[[The Onion]]'':
*
** ''[https://local.theonion.com/shitty-human-being-blames-decreased-daylight-this-time-1819571858 Shitty Human Being Blames Decreased Daylight This Time]''.
** ''[https://politics.theonion.com/clinton-already-working-on-follow-up-book-casting-blame-1819580284 Clinton Already Working On Follow-Up Book Casting Blame For Failures Of First]''
* In ''[[Who Cut the Cheese?]]'' by Mason Brown, Cover successfully blames Duck for ruining a cheese depot.
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* A common variant that shows up in most crime dramas involves an escaped convict seeking revenge on the cop who arrested him, the lawyer who helped convict him or the witness who testified against him, as payback for landing him in jail. The criminal never accepts that it's their own fault for breaking the law in the first place. This attitude is sometimes, unfortunately, [[Truth in Television]].
* ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]'': The Trotters have a strong habit of blaming each other when things go pear-shaped. However, the person being blamed always calls the accuser out on it. One example of note, in one of the TV specials, quite similar to the Scrooge McDuck example above: after Cassandra kicks Rodney out for [[Not What It Looks Like|seemingly taking another woman out to the pictures]], Rodney worries that Cassandra's father is going to fire him, as he's left a message saying that there's something important they need to talk about. [[During the War|Uncle Albert tells one of his war stories]] about a stoker who was facing a court-martial and handed in his resignation. [[Karma Houdini|Because he was the only stoker on the ship, they had to refuse his resignation and cancel his court-martial]]. Rodney follows suit, thinking that Cassandra's father will turn down the resignation, since it's so close to Christmas and more orders are coming in. When Rodney meets him, it turns out he just wanted to talk about the extra workload. Then he finds Rodney's resignation and accepts it. Rodney blames Albert.
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* ''[[Lois and Clark]]'': Humorously played with in the pilot episode, which sees Lois and Clark captured and tied up by the bad guys after Lois has pressured Clark into breaking into a suspicious warehouse. Lois angrily blames Clark for their current situation. Clark angrily points out that ''he's'' not the one who wanted to break into the warehouse in the first place. After a moment's pause, Lois realizes that he's right - and this triggers an outburst of self-pity about how her recklessness and competitiveness [[Freudian Excuse|all stems from her upbringing]], how her father never paid any attention to her and how she competes with everyone and sleeps with guys from work to compensate for her hidden insecurities, thus leading Clark to save their lives out of frustration with her [[wangst]]ing as much as anything else.
** The hilarious bit comes when Clark just rolls his eyes at this and breaks the chains binding them. Even ''[[Superman]]'' couldn't stand listening to that.
* A running gag on ''[[Top Gear]]''
* A subplot in an episode of ''[[The West Wing]]'' revolves around someone suing the President for making a remark about the safety of American cars, following which his wife was killed in an accident when she didn't wear a seatbelt. This inspires Sam to work on proposals for increased safety regulations for the auto industry, only for the President himself to shoot him down, pointing out that as much as he sympathises with the husband's loss and his need to find someone to blame, he can hardly be held responsible if someone chooses to use an off-the-cuff remark he made as an excuse to ignore common sense safety guidelines.
* Lois from ''[[Malcolm in the Middle]]'' is like this often. In one point she gets into an argument with a cop over whether she cut off another car or not and is given video proof that she did, yet still insists that the video is inaccurate. {{spoiler|It was, but she didn't need to know that.}}
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{{quote|'''Manny:''' Bernard I'm sorry! It was my fault you toasted my hand!}}
== [[Music]] ==▼
▲== Music ==
* An early Straylight Run demo includes a track called "It's Everyone's Fault But Mine". Which, given its subject matter (the singer's estrangement from his old band, Taking Back Sunday), might be a fairly accurate title.
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==▼
▲== Newspaper Comics ==
* At one point in ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'', Calvin blames Hobbes for breaking the battery case of a beanie, even though Calvin was the one who broke it. Played with in that after Hobbes calls him out on it, saying he had just been sitting there watching Calvin work when it snapped. Calvin then tearfully admits that he knows, and that having Hobbes take the blame will make him feel better.
** On top of that was Calvin's decision to not take part in elections when he's an adult, with the final reasoning of "It's easier to blame things than fix them."
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* Lucy from ''[[Peanuts]]'' is quick to blame others for things that were often her fault in the first place, the worst example of this being "It's Your First Kiss Charlie Brown" (see in [[Western Animation]], below).
== [[Radio]] ==▼
▲== Radio ==
* In one episode of ''[[I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue]]'', Jeremy Hardy makes a joke which could be seen as offensive. Tim Brooke-Taylor immediately follows it with the comment "That was Jeremy Hardy who said that..." Moments later, Tim makes a joke which is groaned by the audience and follows it, again, with "That was Jeremy Hardy who said that..."
** And in another episode, Tim makes a joke which gets a mixed reaction, before saying "Oh, you shouldn't say that. Shush, Jeremy." <ref>Part of the joke is that Jeremy is both younger and more 'alternative' than the regular cast, so he's more expected to make offensive jokes.</ref>
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* In ''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]'', the mission debriefing tends to devolve into ''[[Blame Game|everyone]]'' [[Blame Game|doing this at once]].▼
* ''[[Dungeons
** In the same vein, [[Forgotten Realms]] was effectively erased and replaced with another setting under the same name, with some names borrowed (see the creativity problem above). This didn't roll well with most old fans, and surprise, this
==
* ''[[Into the Woods]]'' has a song named [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|"Your Fault"]], which involves all the 'heroes' placing the blame for the [[Darker and Edgier]] second act on each other. ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK2FVhr9l3A&feature=fvwrel See here]). The witch proceeds to [[What the Hell, Hero?|call all of them out on their behaviour]] in a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|The Reason You Suck]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp_ywtm7wLY Song].▼
▲* In ''[[Paranoia]]'', the mission debriefing tends to devolve into ''[[Blame Game|everyone]]'' [[Blame Game|doing this at once]].
▲* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' 4e mostly failed (as in, drowned in maelstrom of retroclones and d20 OGL products) because... [http://yarukizerogames.com/2013/04/01/dd-4es-influences-and-problems/ of the gamers who discussed D&D3.x!] If no one pointed out its bugs, and everyone just praised it, the developers and managers (who for their next number had ''voting on WotC site for specific isolated features one by one'') would ''surely'' get their concepts articulate and coherent - [http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Eladrin needless random mashing of terms from previous editions] and widely ridiculed gems like [http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Bloody_Path nonsensical arcade elements] or "[[CamelCase|GloomGloom]]" [[I Don't Like the Sound of That Place|naming scheme]] being, somehow, side effects of making the game non-optimizable (wait, who even said it could - much less should - be a ''good thing''?).
▲** In the same vein, [[Forgotten Realms]] was effectively erased and replaced with another setting under the same name, with some names borrowed (see the creativity problem above). This didn't roll well with most old fans (set heavily intersecting with "the ones who ''have money to buy stuff''"). Whose fault that could be?.. Cue the loud astroturfing (which touched even tvtropes) that shifted on Ed Greenwood blame for all and any stupid stunts that were ever done by TSR/Wizards' editors to his novels<ref>''Spellfire'' was [[Executive Meddling|"trimmed"]] until the plot was [[Plot Hole|cut into disconnected pieces]]. Later he was told to fix their mess within specified word count - ''and then it was cut again, beyond their own limit''.</ref>, whole series of books<ref>Like [http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1888&whichpage=7#36407 characters being one-arc, except the few "prominent" ones].</ref> and Realms in general, often despite loud protests of himself and other authors, which all was publically clarified years ago. E.g. frog-marched in limelight to death and beyond - which is because [[Creator's Pet|Authors Luvs Them]] - even though it was common knowledge in the fan circles for years that Ed consistently expresses desire to (and ''does'', as much as he can) write about relatively "common" folk rather than Elminster; it's less clear, but often suspected [http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=12023&whichpage=53#262993 about Salvatore and Drizzt] too. Same goes for Ed cosplaying as Elminster at a convention (at TSR request).
▲* [[Into the Woods]] has a song named [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|"Your Fault"]], which involves all the 'heroes' placing the blame for the [[Darker and Edgier]] second act on each other. ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK2FVhr9l3A&feature=fvwrel See here]). The witch proceeds to [[What the Hell, Hero?|call all of them out on their behaviour]] in a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|The Reason You Suck]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp_ywtm7wLY Song].
== [[Video Games]] ==
* Stross from ''[[Dead Space 2]]''. He was unintentionally responsible for the death of his wife, Alexis, and their son. Unable to accept it, the Marker slowly drives Stross more and more insane as time goes on, {{spoiler|eventually becoming [[Face Heel Turn|actively antagonistic]] and trying to kill Isaac and Ellie}}. It's not that Stross wants to hurt them, it's just that Stross wants someone, ''anyone'', to validate what he's seeing and tell him his family's deaths wasn't his fault, which is why he listens to what the symbols from the Marker are telling him.
* ''[[Dynasty Warriors|Dynasty Warriors 4]]''. Dong Zhuo's campaign. If Lu Bu defeats Diao Chan in the final act of the campaign. "Why did you take Diao Chan into battle. You are the one that killed Diao Chan!"
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* Professor Kuriakin in ''[[Fahrenheit (2005 video game)]]'' tells Lucas Kane that the Oracle must never kill directly. Instead, he possesses a random proxy to commit the murder.
* By the time of the final battle in [[Portal 2]], {{spoiler|Wheatley's incompetent management has left the Enrichment Centre on the brink of self-destruction. Wheatley rants at Chell for running off with Glados after he "reluctantly" assumed power, when in reality he jumped at the opportunity to take over and then tried to kill Chell and Glados. He even goes so far as to claim that there's nothing wrong with the facility, and all the alarms and warnings going off are just a conspiracy by the two of them trying to sabotage him, even as his lair starts to catch fire and the ceiling collapses around him.}}
* In most ''[[Super Mario (franchise)|Super Mario]]'' games that give him a voice, Bowser shifts the blame for his plans failing to his underlings or allies upon defeat. The most ludicrous case is ''[[Mario & Luigi: Dream Team]]'' when {{spoiler|he blames Antasma for his defeat when Bowser himself double-crossed him and threw him under the bus when he felt like [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|he didn't need him anymore]].}}
* ''[[Project Wingman]]'': The [[Final Boss]] keeps blaming those darn mercenary dogs for everything going wrong even after personally {{spoiler|unleashing [[Fantastic Nuke]]s in defiance of the just-signed ceasefire.}}
== Web Animation ==
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{{quote|'''Caboose''': I did it! I {{spoiler|beat up the girl}}! I--Not my fault! Not my fault! The computer made me touch it!}}
== [[Web Comics]] ==▼
▲== Web Comics ==
* Mandark from ''[[Powerpuff Girls Doujinshi]]'' really can't bring himself to accept {{spoiler|that he killed Dee Dee}}. This being [[Dexter's Laboratory|Mandark]], he blames Dexter.
** Not quite true. {{spoiler|Mandark did blame himself for Dee Dee's death. However, he hates Dexter for [[Death Seeker|not avenging her by finishing him off when he had the chance]].}}
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** Silas Merlot is sentenced to work on Castle Heterodyne, a punishment reserved for particularly nasty criminals, after an incredibly lengthy situation involving indirectly killing someone important to Baron Wulfenbach's plans for running his empire, and later deliberately killing many, many people to hide the evidence of what they worked on. Since Agatha (who Merlot has despised as long as he's known her) was either at the center of, or even the specific subject of, every stage of the situation, Merlot decides that it's all her fault for being born in the first place.
** Gil Wulfenbach has a bit of trouble with this too; his part in the above situation was to defend himself. Unfortunately, "defending himself" meant swatting a bomb away, and more unfortunately, "away" meant "back at the guy who threw it, who was the one who was important to the Baron's plans". For the rest of the scene everyone shouts at Gil for killing Dr. Beetle, and Gil eventually gives up on impotently crying that Dr. Beetle threw a bomb at him.
* In ''[[Strays]]'', in [[Dreaming of Times Gone By|Meela's dreams]], after a [[Stalker with a Crush]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20110830134138/http://www.straysonline.com/comic/163.htm kills the mother, he sees the child and] -- ''blames him.''
* ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'': This is Miko Miyazaki's downfall; when [[Brought Down to Normal|the gods strip her of her powers]] for killing Lord Shojo, she refuses to believe it was her own fault and places the blame on a conspiracy by the Order.
** [[Start of Darkness]] posits that this is Redcloak's major flaw. If he admits that allying with Xykon — let alone making him a [[Our Liches Are Different|lich]] — was a mistake, then the deaths of all the goblins who aided him in executing "the Plan" will be on his shoulders. During [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]] that Xykon delivers to Redcloak, Xykon bluntly states that Redcloak will never betray him because Xykon is Redcloak's excuse for his inexcusable deeds.
* Vriska from ''[[Homestuck]]''. She initiates a [[Cycle of Revenge]] that leaves three of her companions paralyzed from the waist down, blind, and dead, respectively, then she says the other trolls are jerks and weaklings for not wishing to associate with her anymore. She amasses large numbers of pointy dice which she scatters across her floor and never cleans up, and then she says it's [[Born Unlucky|just bad luck]] that she keeps stepping on them. It's only in {{spoiler|the last hours of her life}} that she admits to anyone else that there might be something wrong with her.
* Lark in [[Mike: Bookseller]] will blame anyone or anything to get out of trouble: "Lark, that's a cardboard display of [http://www.krrobar.com/mikebookseller/comics/67.html Henry Winkler]".
* In ''[[Jack (webcomic)|Jack]]'', this is a consistent trait among the damned. None of them will ever admit full guilt in their actions; doing so is actually the first step in getting out of hell, which most of them simply can't take. This is one of the reasons why the damned can't stand angels; easier to blame and hate an authority figure who sent you to hell (even if they didn't) than admit you might actually deserve being where you are.
* In ''[[Dominic Deegan]]'', Siegfried's inability to admit guilt for his misdeeds is ultimately what keeps him {{spoiler|trapped in hell}}.
* Paul Christophoro, the instigator of the infamous [[Penny Arcade]] vs. Ocean Marketing fiasco is apparently suing the company that hired him to sell the controllers for [[Internet Counterattack|getting the entire internet after him and ruining his company]]. [[Insane Troll Logic|Apparently being a egomaniacal jerkass is the fault of the company who had nothing to do with anything past making the controllers.]]
== [[Western Animation]] ==▼
▲== Western Animation ==
* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''
** "Bart Star": Homer has a [[Flash Back]] to a floor gymnastics routine. Abe yells "You're gonna blow it" at him... and so he does, and Abe then gets mad at him. To add insult to injury, Abe's bitter condemnation to Homer—immediately after yelling this out—are "This is what I get for having faith in you."
Line 295 ⟶ 288:
'''Petra''': You idiot! That monster is my boyfriend! ''(pushes XR down)''
'''XR''': ''(to Mira)'' You idiot! That monster was her boyfriend! }}
** Similarly, ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]] 3'' has Jessie admit to Woody that the toys were wrong not to believe him. When she says that she was wrong specifically, Mr. Potato Head adds, "Jessie's right, Woody. She ''was'' wrong!"
* ''[[Family Guy]]'': Brian notes that Peter is a terrible liar. The scene then cuts to Peter and one other man in an elevator. Peter farts. The other man looks at him. Peter's remark? "Um... That was you."
** Though Meg [[
** After hitting Brian with his car:
{{quote|'''Peter''': I know we're not here to place blame or beat ourselves up, but I can't help feeling like this is somehow Meg's fault. }}
** Stewie frequently meddles into Brian's attempts at finding women and gives him bad advice. When it inevitably fails and Brian confronts him, Stewie will always accuse ''him'' of trying to blame his
*** Not that Brian isn't capable of doing this on his own, such as cheating on Rita, his (older) fiancee, with a hot young thing, then saying he just needed one last fling before settling down with her. She doesn't buy it.
* ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'': This was Numbuh 86's beef in her introduction episode, going hand in hand with her [[Drill Sergeant Nasty]] and [[Straw Feminist]] persona. She constantly blames Sector V for everything going wrong in the mission despite the fact it was her overzealousness that hampered their efforts. Thankfully karma stepped in at the end of the episode when she finds out she inadvertently screwed up an undercover mission of another operative (A ''girl'' operative at that, and one of the highest ranking ones) and harshly gets chewed out for it.
Line 308 ⟶ 301:
{{quote|'''Butters''': It's great, you get to throw rocks at cars and if the driver gets angry, you blame me."}}
** Also done in [[The Movie]], as the end of the song "Blame Canada" has the line ''We must blame them and cause a fuss/before somebody thinks of blaming us!'' due to them allowing their children to go see a movie with foul language, vulgar jokes, and various other things and blaming Canada for it instead of themselves.
** In another episode, the parents are angry that the school is not teaching children about sex, something that is usually the responsibility of parents. Of course, at the end of the episode, they get called out on that by Chef, as the teachers they pick to explain are Mr. Mackey (who hasn't had sex in decades), Ms. Choksondik (who [[Does Not Like Men]] and thinks [[Sex Is Evil]]), and Mr. Garrison (
** Butters is often a scapegoat for ''his own parents''. In one episode, Butters is grounded because his dad mistakenly put Hamburger Helper in his coffee.
* ''[[Justice League]]'': The Atom is battling a (relatively) large nano-machine, and blames it on his assistant.
Line 316 ⟶ 309:
* Lucy in ''[[Peanuts]]''. In the animated special ''It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown'', she pulls the football from Charlie Brown in an actual football game with a game-deciding last-second field goal on the line, and then later (with Peppermint Patty) blames him for missing. (It should be noted that Charlie Brown himself [[It's All My Fault|feels let down]] by this miss, even though it clearly wasn't his fault).
* Played very darkly in the [[Disney Animated Canon|Disney]] animated movie ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'':
** Frollo, a pious, merciless man, develops an obsession with the gypsy Esmeralda, rationalizing his lust by claiming ''she''
{{quote|'''Frollo''': It's not my fault! / I'm not to blame! / It is the gypsy girl, the witch who sent this flame!}}
** Frollo also chases a woman through the city on his horse because he thinks the bundle she's carrying is stolen property, only to unintentionally kill her in front of Notre Dame; his excuse to the Archdeacon is that wouldn't have happened if she hadn't run from him in the first place. He also orders his men to burn down a home, ''with an innocent family still inside'', with the excuse that they were harboring gypsies (despite the only "proof" being that someone had found a gypsy emblem on their property).
Line 324 ⟶ 317:
* Governor Ratcliffe from ''[[Pocahontas]]'' who blames the Native Americans for not finding any gold and John Smith for [[Taking the Bullet]].
* In ''[[Moral Orel]]'', Clay Puppington practically lives by shifting blame. In one episode, he teaches Orel the same (thankfully, Orel didn't keep that lesson for long). Orel counsels Principal Fakey to do the same, regarding Fakey's infidelity. This extends to claiming he's been faithful and accusing his wife of cheating on him and giving him gonorrhea, while he's having sex with the woman who gave the disease, as she tells him it's not that bad. He then states there's no decency in the world and goes home from school to throw her out. With his pants around his ankles the whole way.
* [[Recess]]: Dr. Phillium Benedict blames Principal Prickly for losing his job and his girlfriend. In truth, he lost his job and his girlfriend because he attempted to abolish Recess. Unfortunately, he didn't learn a lesson from that and he later became Secretary of Education so that he could abolish recess nation-wide. The president fired him for doing so.
** When his head scientist fails to move the moon to the position that the former principal wanted it to go, Benedict blames everything on him, even though he could have chosen a location that had more electricity to power up the beam in the first place. Though in his defense, Third Street Elemtnary was the ''last'' place that people would look for the stolen laser (and the police are apparently incompetent).
== [[Real Life]] ==▼
* [[Truth in Television|If you don't know anyone with a habit of shifting blame, then you probably do it yourself]]. And at the same time, if you accuse ''everyone'' in your life of shifting blame, you probably do it yourself. [[Hypocritical Humor|And if you didn't want to know this unsavoury tidbit about yourself, then it's your own damn fault for reading this page.]]
▲== Real Life ==
** As famous existentialist [[Jean-Paul Sartre]] once remarked, an individual who only blames others for his failures can never be truly free, because he never accepts responsibility for his own actions.▼
* According to [[Peloponnesian War|Thucydides]], the Athenian democracy was like this. Generals who survived a failed expedition were often [[You Have Failed Me...|put to death]] by democratic vote, despite the fact that the people had voted for the expedition and it was obviously not the generals' fault.▼
▲** As famous existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre once remarked, an individual who only blames others for his failures can never be truly free because he never accepts responsibility for his own actions.
▲* According to [[Peloponnesian War|Thucydides]], the Athenian democracy was like this. Generals who survived a failed expedition were often [[You Have Failed Me|put to death]] by democratic vote, despite the fact that the people had voted for the expedition and it was obviously not the generals' fault.
* Psychologists call this the [[wikipedia:Fundamental attribution error|fundamental attribution error]].
* A lot of politics can be seen like this, depending on how cynical you are. Politics is, in a lot of ways, a popularity contest. If you plan on moving up the political ladder, you need to try and keep something of a clean record. When a large political blunder occurs (like the current{{when}} debt crisis), there tends to be a lot of shuffling blame to avoid being the ones with egg on their faces when it's time for re-election season.
* Actually a very common argument many convicts make to justify their crimes. Most people who watch enough crime
* This is basically how the chocolate companies try to justify doing little or nothing to help the many child slaves that gather cocoa. They claim they have no control over the cocoa farms they buy from, when they could just stop buying from said farms and/or spend some of the billions they have to help those children.
* Entire ''governments'' can play this game with other countries, such as in "Operation Paul Bunyan". Two US soldiers were attacked by around 40 North Korean soldiers. North Korea then claimed that the Americans attacked them.
* The list of people and organizations blamed for [[Hillary Rodham Clinton]] losing the election in 2016 continued to grow for [http://twitchy.com/sd-3133/2017/05/31/denial-is-a-btch-omg-look-who-hillarys-blaming-for-her-loss-now/ more than six months]. It does include most of her supporters, but not herself.
* The Japanese have yet to ''properly'' apologize for [[WWII]], angering China and especially South Korea and making the relations between the countries bitter.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Morality Tropes]]
[[Category:Hypocrite]]
[[Category:Character Flaw Index]]
[[Category:Blame Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Never My Fault]]
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