Never My Fault: Difference between revisions

This is a frequent component of [[Comedic Sociopathy]]. Also tends to involve [[Moral Dissonance]]. The [[Opposite Tropes|diametric opposite]] of [[It's All My Fault]]. A character prone to this will likely try [[Glad I Thought of It]] too. Compare [[Hypocritical Humor]], which can involve a similar blindness to one's own flaws, and [[Implausible Deniability]]. See also [[It's All About Me]], which is one reason why a character would fall into just about any of the above.

 

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* In an episode of ''[[Lizzie Mcguire]]'', Matt and Lenny get left behind on a field trip. They flip a coin to decide whether to go back to school or spend a day on the town. When his parents confront him about not trying to get back to school, Matt claims that "I wanted to do the responsible thing. And I did, I did! Is it ''my'' fault that the ''penny'' told me to take the rest of the day off?"

* Lord Zedd pulls this off as early as his first appearance in ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]''. When Goldar apologizes for his loss (as the Rangers finally defeated the Piranhtishead Monster), Zedd snaps and blames Goldar, Squatt, and Baboo (the latter two had nothing to do with the episode) for the loss. He even blames Rita when their honeymoon goes sour when the Rangers are victorious.

* Ricky in ''[[Trailer Park Boys]]'' is always saying this about the harm he's caused. Except for one time when it actually ''isn't'' his fault.

* In ''[[Smallville]]'' nothing is ever [[Lex Luthor]]'s fault. He'll blame his [[Archnemesis Dad|dad]], Clark, Lana, and anyone else he can before accepting that his slide into villainy is by his own choice. This is actually a fairly major part of his characterisation, and something that Clark calls him out on in the Season 7 finale. Major Zod exhibits similar traits; after {{spoiler|throttling his lover to death and thus killing his unborn son, he blames Clark, claiming that he made Faora betray him}}.

* In ''[[Scarface the World Is Yours (Video Game)|Scarface the World Is Yours]]'', some of the truly hilarious insults Tony can scream at pedestrians as he runs them over include "You fucked up my grill, you stupid fuck!", "Hey! You cracked my fucking windshield, man!", and "Next time maybe you look both ways, you fuck!"

* Done twice in Episode 3 of ''[[Phantasy Star|Phantasy Star Universe]].'' First {{spoiler|the Parum refugees}} hate the GUARDIANS because of {{spoiler|the [[Colony Drop|GUARDIANS Colony crash-landing on Parum,]] which killed thousands and left the survivors homeless with hardly any means to survive.}} Then {{spoiler|the New Rogues leader, Tylor}} refuses to work with the GUARDIANS because {{spoiler|they did nothing while the SEED-Virus was unleashed on Beasts. Turning them into SEED-forms which lead them [[Shoot the Dog|to be purified.]]}} Both events were beyond the control of the GUARDIANS.

* ''[[God of War]]'' - That's right, Kratos, it is all Ares's fault that you personally killed your family in a blood-crazed frenzy that incidentally wouldn't have happened if you hadn't sold your soul to him and then butchered a bunch of defenseless priests for worshiping a different god. And sure, the gods betrayed ''you'' when you started destroying Rhodes with your divine powers immediately after Athena asked you to stop pointlessly invading places and told you that Olympus was losing patience with your insanity.

** To be fair, Ares did trick Kratos into killing his family and the gods did betray Kratos by intentionally misleading him about his reward for killing Ares.

** 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.

* 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 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 documenteries can list at least one criminal who for either [[Lack of Empathy]] or desire to eventually be proven innocent blames other people.

[[Category:Blame Tropes]]

[[Category:Never My Fault]]