Right Hand Versus Left Hand: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|''"[[Older Than Feudalism|When thou doest alms]], [[Trope Namer|let not thy left hand know]] [[Accidental Innuendo|what thy right hand doeth]]."''|'''Jesus''' in [[The Bible|Matthew 6:3]]}}

 

Communication is the key to life. Good communication will lead to productivity and fewer wasted resources. [[Poor Communication Kills|Bad communication will only lead to headaches and heartbreaks.]]

 

 

 

Sometimes this will lead to [[Enemy Civil War|civil wars]], a [[Face Heel Turn]], a [[Heel Face Turn]] or simply to follow the age old goal that [[Hilarity Ensues]]. If you want to introduce likable but misguided antagonists to tangle with the heroes and villains, this is a good way to keep them fighting everyone and stay relateable. Usually, if it's one side that insists on not comparing notes, it's because they're an [[Ineffectual Loner]] who will sooner or later get creamed by the bad guys.

 

 

Interestingly enough, there could almost be more [[Truth in Television]] examples than fictional examples.

 

 

== [[Anime]] ==

* NERV versus SEELE in ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''. Augmented by a lot of personal egos getting in the way and the sheer scale of the project. {{spoiler|Not to mention the [[Gambit Pileup]]}}.

** From a literal translation, it actually means the Nerve of the Mind who would dare to defy the Throne of the Soul. Though the only real ones in charge was {{spoiler|Gendo Ikari the Commander of NERV, Keel Lorenz Number 01 of SEELE, and the Spanner in the Works ...Yui Ikari, AKA Eva-01 itself.}}

* In ''[[Seirei no Moribito]]'', most of the cast turn out to be working toward the same ultimate goal; the conflict comes from the fact that the two main groups involved have very different ideas about exactly what's going on and what needs to happen in order to see that goal accomplished, and have no communication between them for most of the series. Once they ''do'' start communicating, they soon manage to align their efforts.

 

 

== [[Film]] ==

* In nearly every modern monster movie it would be easy to defeat the monster if the human characters would stop bickering and cooperate. This is usually because if the special effects budget is too small to feature the monster a lot, having characters argue is an alternate way to introduce combat and suspense. Handled well (George Romero's zombie movies, for example) this can be an effective way to introduce human drama and suspense. Handled badly (like in most made for TV [[Sci Fi]] channel movies) it generates frustration among the viewers as it can involve handing characters the [[Idiot Ball]] and making the monster seem non-threatening.

* In ''[[In the Line of Fire]]'', the Secret Service agents are investigating the home of a man planning to kill the President. They wind up getting into a scuffle with CIA agents who, unknown to them, are also investigating the man. Later we find out that the CIA has a complete file on the killer because they trained him. Unfortunately the information is classified, meaning that they are ''legally'' forbidden to share it with the Secret Service agents working alongside them.

* [[Dan Abnett]]'s [[Eisenhorn]] runs into this repeatedly, being on the run from the rest of the Inquisition for much of his novels.

* [[Dan Abnett]]'s [[Ravenor]] has to operate free from the rest of the Inquisition in ''Ravenor Returned'', which results in the Inquisition's declaring him rogue in ''Ravenor Rogue'' and hunting him.

** Becomes huge issues later with the Peoples Republic of Haven. The fight to overthrow the Legislaturalists has all sorts of issues with differing factions in the government and the rebellion fighting. Later there's State Security and various different factions and heads often not keeping each other in the loop.

* This shows up in ''[[X Wing Series|Starfighters of Adumar]]''. General Wedge Antilles, an [[Ace Pilot]] of [[Improbable Piloting Skills|no small skill]], is sent as an ambassador to the largest nation of a neutral world called Adumar, not because of any political acumen, but because the Adumari are [[Planet of Hats|pilot-mad]]. It's expected that the diplomatic liaison will tell him what to do, and Wedge will mostly be there to look good. But he gets shut out of everything but flying duels, and he refuses to kill Adumari in these duels. The liaison tells him that he ''should'' kill them; it's native custom and by not doing it [[Ass in Ambassador|he makes the New Republic look weak]]. The Imperial pilots kill in duels, and they look strong. Wedge refuses. The liaison talks the leader of this particular Adumari nation into going to war with the others to unify the planet, and it's expected that Wedge and his pilots will fight in this war - the Imperial pilots are doing it. Wedge refuses, and the ruler basically calls open season on him and his pilots, letting everyone try to kill them. They escape through a combination [[Indy Ploy]] / [[Xanatos Speed Chess]], find that the New Republic flagship in orbit won't respond when they comm it, and go to ground, where Wedge finds that the liaison told the ruler that Wedge wanted to fight, but had been ordered not to and wanted to be killed honorably.

* In [[Catch-22]], two CID men are sent to Pianosa investigate someone who has been using the name "Washington Irving" on confidential letters. Unfortunately, neither one of them know that the other is on the base, and both are convinced that the other is in fact the person they have been looking for.

 

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

** An episode of ''[[Benson]]'' did the same.

* ''[[Spooks]]'' plays with this in the last episode of Season 7 in particular. Section D are trying to stop a Russian nuclear bomb in London, but the FSB are hunting them through the streets. Harry realises the local FSB office probably doesn't have clearance to know about the bomb, since they'd all be killed in the blast. {{spoiler|Once he tells them what's going on, they join forces and the FSB take out the bomb carrier so that the weapon can be defused.}}

* In the the sixth season of ''[[The West Wing]]'', Leo has a heart attack, leaving the White House temporarily sans Chief of Staff. One episode shows Josh and Toby flailing around the capital, making promises that cancel each other out, leading to a Republican complaining that "the left hand doesn't know what the far left hand is doing."

** Happened in a similar manner on [[Angel]] between Spike and Cordelia in the fifth season.

'''Cordelia''': Well, clearly, mine's better. }}

* There's a great scene in [[NCIS]] when Ziva discovers people spying on her and Tony (they're undercover). The agents and the spies spend a few minutes shouting "Federal agents!" and pointing guns at each other before they realize they have the same goal. This is just one of many episodes in which federal agencies have trouble working together.

* Played in the ''[[Nash Bridges]]'' episode "Javelin Catcher". While Nash is trying to locate and apprehend a man before he blows up his former boss with a rocket launcher, Evan arrests the suspect for soliciting a prostitute. After the suspect is released, Nash almost mentions the trope by name.

* Subverted on [[Prison Break]]. Linc and Michael are working at cross purposes during season four, and decide to go after Scylla separate from each other. [[Ho Yay|But because of]] [[Big Brother Instinct|brotherly love]], they still share information.

* In Seasons 2 and 3 of ''[[The Wire]]'', Stringer Bell becomes the [[Dragon Ascendant]] of the Barksdale gang after Avon Barksdale is sent to prison. Stringer and Avon have very different visions for how the future of the gang should play out, and spend much of their time covertly undermining each other's work, both intentionally and otherwise.

* In season 4 of ''[[Sons of Anarchy]]'' the FBI, ATF and Justice Department are all working together to bring down the Sons who have allied themselves with a dangerous Mexican drug cartel. They do not know that {{spoiler|the cartel leaders are actually CIA operatives who are using the Son's IRA connections to gain enough influence in Mexico's drug organizations to avert a possible Mexican civil war.}}

 

== [[Tabletop RPG]] ==

** There is an example in the game's fiction of an incident early in the history of the Imperium, before Imperial Guard equipment and uniforms were regulated (well, closer to regulation) in which two armies of Guardsmen from different worlds encountered one another, each deciding that the other must be a hostile force. Several thousand were killed before the commanders on either side realised what was going on.

*** The Shira Calpurnia novels demonstrate this to almost depressing levels. The first novel alone demonstrates the minutia of political (and literal) conflict and vested interests between the Adeptus Arbites, Ministorum, Ecclesiarchy, Navy, Navigators, Astropaths, Sorroritas, and the Inquisition, all of whom are meant to work together. And this is just in one hive of one planet in one of innumerable sectors in the Imperium.

* ''[[Halo]] 2'' had political machinations abound, leading to a power struggle between the Elites and the Brutes to be the honor guard (or the right hand...) of the Prophets. In the [[Expanded Universe]], it is shown that various parties within the UNSC also do not agree with each other.

* In ''[[Fatal Hearts]]'', The two groups are old enemies, but they have essentially the same goal in the course of the story. However {{spoiler|most endings have one or both groups being destroyed in the end. Only one actually has the two groups come together in a peace talk of sorts.}}

** Depending on your choices in the dialogue, this can be highly underserved as Zeeaire was an enormous [[Knight Templar]] who insisted you should be killed for getting a shard of their sword stuck in your body when it exploded, even if the player wants to give it back.

* Basically, in [[Kingdom Hearts|358/2 Days]], Saix vs any Organization XIII member who was talented in anyway that could threaten his status as Xemnas' right hand man. And just who does he use to do this? His friend, Axel. He does this so much that Axel gives him a nice little warning:

 

 

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* The ''[[Kids Next Door]]'' are having a cereal party. (The "bowl": The Grand Canyon!) Toilenator wants to be a respected villain, so he flushes the cereal, killing the party... and Mr. Boss' plan to attack them at said party. Whoops!

** "Operation E.N.G.L.A.N.D" revolves around Nigel running from a group of kids who are trying to steal a parcel that he's supposed to deliver to the British KND, at the end of the episode the kids manage to catch up to him and angrily explain that they ''are'' the British KND.

 

* This is sometimes given as the reason for Nazi Germany not using/developing further the technology that it invented.

** Generally, in Nazi Germany, it wasn't normally the case of not knowing what the others were doing, but more of each department (or leader) wanting to develop it independently and not share any credit with anyone else.

** Since [[Adolf Hitler]] didn't show a great deal of interest in the day-to-day running of his government, his top ministers engaged in what they called "Working Towards the Fuehrer", where they would try to formulate policy based on his vague directives and ranting speeches. This worked out about as well as you can imagine. On the other hand, when Hitler did get personally involved he often made things even worse.

** It also really didn't help that a good portion of the German scientists that were experts in the field were of the "Undesirables" and had either fled the country, or ended up dead.

*** The Manhattan Project WAS highly compartmentalized, it's just that it got so big (larger than most European Government ministries and some European Goverments) that the compartments by necessity had to be pretty big too.

** Also on the theme of Nazi Germany, there were ''several'' intelligence agencies - each run by a different high-ranking Nazi Party official - in ''direct competition'' receiving the ''same information''. Hitler's eugenic policies as applied to the German intelligence community didn't end well, suffice to say.

* 9/11 might have been prevented if the [[CIA]] and [[FBI]] and other agencies communicated with each other about the hijackers. But they distrusted and disliked each other.

** Also usually issues of strict rules on who can do what. The CIA may figure out who the Russians have as a spy in a meeting in Vienna, but have to work with the FBI to do anything. The firewalls between them to prevent abuse of powers mean often the FBI wasn't told what they needed to know.

** There's also the fact that both the CIA (Aldrich Ames) and FBI (Robert Hanssen) had been infiltrated by high-level Russian spies in the last decade. Hanssen was arrested in February 2001, and so the CIA would have been even more cautious about trading confidential information at the critical time.

* Practically standard operating procedure for large IT corporations:

** While Apple Computer provides dozens of instances of this, the classic example is the near-simultaneous barrage of the competing Apple ///, Lisa, Macintosh and IIGS platforms, all developed alongside each other by different feuding kingdoms within the company.

*** Just in the described period it lead to the Macintosh XL debacle, when Apple tried to sell then already underpowered and overpriced Lisa as a upmarket version of Macintosh and failed, and their killing IIGS simply because it was seen as cannibalizing Mac's market share: they were similar enough in performance and usability, but GS was sold at significantly lower profit margin. Apple /// plainly sucked though.

** Various parts of Sega's American and Japanese divisions all tried to launch an entire solar system of extraterrestrially codenamed products (CD, 32X, Saturn, etc… Plus numerous other, often incompatible, combinations thereof). The resulting collision landed with a dull thud in the marketplace and was largely responsible for obliterating Sega as a hardware manufacturer.

*** This was also part of the reason behind ''Sonic X-Treme'' becoming [[Vaporware]]; the team behind the game was split in two and given different parts of the game to develop, with no communication between them. By time Sega of Japan representatives came to check up on progress, the two parts of the game had been taken in wildly different directions.

** One of the most interesting cases of this in history was the background maneuvering in the Napster civil suit: Sony, manufacturer of computer products, saw Napster as a profitable way to get more people to use computers, and therefore funded much of their legal defense. However! Sony, entertainment and intellectual property owner, saw Napster as stealing their products through Digital Piracy, and therefore also funded most of the suit! Sony has been described not only as a feudal kingdom, but as "four separate companies, without a word to say to each other".

** Nokia. The infighting of Symbian group and [[Mee Go]] group, and then Stephen Elop came, apparently without leaving Microsoft paycheck. Official statement? "Windows Phone 7 is our way forward and we won't port Qt to it. But we are still developing Qt."

* [[The Neidermeyer|Nearly]] every instance of friendly fire in military history. It's all too easy to mistake a friendly unit for an enemy under bad conditions.

* Depending on which era of American military history you're studying, the branch rivalries will either equal (semi)friendly competition or this trope, complete with withheld information that ends up killing troops and fierce fighting over funding.

** One quote by Curtis LeMay, Air Force general. "The Soviets are our opponents, the Navy is our enemy."

** And some countries, like Canada, tried to solve the problem by simply amalgamating all three branches into one unified Force with an overarching command structure.

* A literal example of this trope is people who have their corpus callosum severed. It's possible for someone to be buttoning up their jacket with one hand while the other hand is unbuttoning it.

* This is a very important issue to look out for in the computer science industry, as there are often many individuals/groups contributing to a single project but not actually working together and great pains must be taken to ensure all their code will work together smoothly.

* [[The Raj]] and [[The Men of Downing Street]] were almost two governments. This messed up foreign policy quite a bit; several times an allied prince could not tell what it was exactly that the British were doing because they had ''two'' foreign policies going on. This could lead to suspicions of treachery in cases where only red tape was to blame.

* "[http://www.boingboing.net/2011/02/15/cbs-sends-a-youtube.html CBS sends a YouTube takedown to itself]". The title tells it all.

* [http://boingboing.net/2010/03/26/sony-accuses-beyonce.html Sony Entertainment shuts down Beyonce's official YouTube site].

* It is generally a bad idea to be in competition with yourself, resources are needed to maintain an edge in an aggressive market. Those resources have a hard enough time fighting against genuine competitors and maintaining competition against yourself doubles those resources. The only way to make even is by dominating a given market. Say there are three restaurants on a given intersection, all other things being equal those restaurants will acquire 33 percent of that market. If the parent company of one business was to open another branch in the open spot on the intersection it would reduce the market share of the other businesses from 33 percent to 25 percent, including the one they already own. The big difference is that the parent company now controls 50 percent of that market when before they only controlled 33 percent with the one business there. It ends up doing well for the parent company but it hurts the sub-franchise.

* A recent government regulation on the US banking industry is designed to prevent this. The Loss Mitigation department (the guys trying to help you keep your house) would often be in a race with the foreclosure department to see who could get their paperwork through first.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Narrative Devices]]

[[Category:Right Hand Versus Left Hand]]