Not Cheating Unless You Get Caught: Difference between revisions

* In ''[[Ski School]]'', the "good guys" Ski team must beat the Big Bad and other innocent bystander competitors to stay on the slopes, so they pull shenanigans like pouring oil on the snow to make their competitors slip and fall, or have buxom ladies flash passing skiers to make their competitors slip and fall. High fives all around.

* In ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'', the title character remarks about his stealing food from the marketplace, "you're only in trouble if you get caught!". Which segues into this little exchange:

Aladdin: I'm in trouble. }}

* ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'': The Pirate Code is really more a set of "guidelines", or "suggestions." At least they are on the open seas; not so much when [[Keith Richards|Captain Teague]], Keeper of the Code is in the room with a loaded gun. Still some room for... Liberal interpretation, of course.

* In [[Tamora Pierce]]'s [[Tortall Universe]] books, Pages and Squires train at the Palace - and one of the rules is "Don't get into fights". Of course, pages and squires fight all the time and are caught, but the traditional excuse is "[[Cut Himself Shaving|I fell down]]". When the protagonist is being bullied on a regular basis and learns a less honourable style of fighting to beat the bully, they are read the riot act. Except not, because their teacher is secretly glad the bully was dealt with and the protagonist reflects on this rule as they are being told off.

* In ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'''s Triwizard Tournament cheating is a more or less accepted tradition that every single side engages in. When Harry (who was entered into it against his will) tells Cedric they're up against dragons in the first task, Moody doesn't bat an eye.

* In [[Larry Niven]]'s Known Space stories, a Belter (asteroid belt miner) who's never been busted for smuggling will get looked down upon by his peers - because it might mean he's never ''tried''.

* This was pretty much [[Vorkosigan Saga|Miles Vorkosigan's]] modus operandi, until ''Memory'' when he got caught, and it blew up in his face. He tried it again when courting Ekaterin in ''A Civil Campaign'', and it blew up in his face again.

** And lampshaded in ''A Civil Campaign'':

"Correct, Ivan. You learn fast. Grandfather would have been...suprised." }}

* In [[The Hunger Games]], it is technically illegal to train children to participate in the Games and have them volunteer to take the place of whoever gets chosen by lottery. Regardless, the tributes from Districts 1, 2, and 4 are always what are called "Career Tributes". The Capitol seems [[Selective Obliviousness|to ignore this]] because it makes for a more entertaining show.

* Al Bundy says as much in an episode of ''[[Married... with Children]]'' where Al enters himself in an athletic competition for senior citizens. When he's standing victoriously on the podium and holding his medals, he says, "It's only cheating if you get caught."

* [[Porridge]] basically ''is'' this trope, with Fletcher delivering lines like:

'''Fletcher''': [[With Due Respect|With respect]], Godber, we are all here for the ''same'' reason. ... We got caught. }}

* The trope name is spoken almost verbatim in ''[[Andromeda]]'' by Gaheris Rhade to [[The Captain|Hunt]] in a [[Flash Back]] when Dylan catches him cheating at [[Go]]. Rhade is visibly confused as to why Dylan is angry at him. Being a [[Nietzsche Wannabe|Nietzschean]], he naturally assumes that everyone behaves that way, if they want to survive.

== Webcomics ==

* In ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'', Eglamore's [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=162 advice to Antimony] was not exactly what one'd expect from the teacher grounding a student. Annie initially criticizes this advice, but she has no trouble following it later. Of course, [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=552 his company in their time used to do the same]...

** Generally the Court uses visible and mediocre security measures which kids can and regularly ''do'' hack, jam or bypass on their inevitable forays into the Court. While quietly employing a very advanced, undetectable and unexpected in its work tracking system (of course, this ran smoothly only until one young [[Mad Scientist]] discovered it while hacking around their network) and/or beings that look innocuous, but are more than capable of stopping most troubles into which students could possibly get.

* A number of strongly forbidden behaviors in ''[[Girl Genius]]'' are tacitly acknowledged to the point that the real crime seems to be doing them ''sloppily'', such as students spying on Castle Wulfenbach, Jägers sneaking into Mechanicsburg (where they're forbidden until the Heterodyne gets the castle under control), and nobles being resurrected (which formally results in [[Legally Dead|loss of all titles and permanent ineligibility]]).