Somebody Else's Problem: Difference between revisions

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'''[[No Real Life Examples Please]].'''

== Anime and Manga ==

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** But at some point after the series ends, he starts caring enough to devote a significant part of his [[Fiction 500|vast fortune]] into creating Duel Academia, a school intended to deal with all the magical consequences of Duel Monsters. Thus setting the stage for ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh GX]]''.

* Invoked by [[Big Bad|Fate]] in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', when he tries to convince Negi not to interfere with his plans to destroy the Magic World. His argument was basically "This isn't your world, it's just a fantasy, and you really shouldn't interfere in it's affairs." This is before Negi discovers {{spoiler|[[The High Queen|who his mother is]].}}

* ''[[Pokémon Special]]'': During their encounter at Fortree, Ruby states to Sapphire that he has no intention of helping defend Hoenn from Teams Magma and Aqua - his reasons being that [A] he's only in it for the Contests and [B] he isn't Hoenn born and raised. [[What the Hell Hero|Cue the fireworks.]]

* ''[[Pokémon Special]]'': During their encounter at Fortree, Ruby states to Sapphire that he has no intention of helping defend Hoenn from Teams Magma and Aqua - his reasons being that [A] he's only in it for the Contests and [B] he isn't Hoenn born and raised. [[What the Hell, Hero?|Cue the fireworks.]]

* ''[[Ah My Goddess (Manga)|Ah My Goddess]]'' had a few instances when passer-bys decided to ignore the heroes' home because they were used to strange happenings there and didn't want to get involved.

* ''[[Ah! My Goddess (Manga)|Ah My Goddess]]'' had a few instances when passer-bys decided to ignore the heroes' home because they were used to strange happenings there and didn't want to get involved.

* ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'': "I don't know, and I have no opinion."

* ''[[Madoka Magica]]'': Kyuubey only cares about things related to his mission, and is perfectly willing to {{spoiler|let the earth get destroyed}}.

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* Seems to be a prominent theme in ''[[Brazil (Film)|Brazil]]'', notably at the beginning; when the wrong man is sentenced to death, all any of the departments care about is that the problem doesn't trace back to them.

* Rick Blaine in ''[[Casablanca]]'' appears this way for a while ("I stick my neck out for nobody"), especially when he seems willing to turn over a resistance leader to the Nazis because he is married to Rick's former lover. Eventually, however, we see that Rick isn't nearly as selfish as he lets on.

* In ''[[The Mummy 1999 (Film)|The Mummy 1999]]'', O'Connell tries to convince Evy that ''the end of the world'' is [[Somebody ~~Elses~~ Problem]], with little success.

* In ''[[The Mummy 1999 (Film)|The Mummy 1999]]'', O'Connell tries to convince Evy that ''the end of the world'' is [[Somebody Else's Problem]], with little success.

* A man on the street frantically screaming "They're here!" only to be ignored / assumed mad in most if not all versions of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers".

* In ''[[Se7en]]'', Somerset tells Mills, "The first thing they teach women in rape prevention is never cry for help. Always yell 'Fire!' Nobody answers to 'Help!' You holler 'Fire!', they come running." After all, "In any major city, minding your own business is a science." Presumably fire is less [[Somebody ~~Elses~~ Problem]] than rape because it can quickly become ''everyone's'' problem.

* In ''[[Se7en]]'', Somerset tells Mills, "The first thing they teach women in rape prevention is never cry for help. Always yell 'Fire!' Nobody answers to 'Help!' You holler 'Fire!', they come running." After all, "In any major city, minding your own business is a science." Presumably fire is less [[Somebody Else's Problem]] than rape because it can quickly become ''everyone's'' problem.

* [[Big Jake]]: ''"I haven't interfered in anyone else's business since I was eighteen years old... and it damn near got me killed!"'' He changes his mind when he witnesses a [[Kick the Dog]] moment on the part of one of the goons.

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== Literature ==

* In Terry Pratchett's ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Making Money|Making Money]]'' Moist von Lipwig notes that people pay more attention to small noises than big ones, because while small noises are immediate and threatening, loud noises are 'everyone's problem, and therefore, not mine'.

* Richard Mayhew's refusal to yield to this trope, when he found Door bleeding on the sidewalk, led him into London Below in ''[[Neverwhere]]''. His fiancee declared it [[Somebody ~~Elses~~ Problem]], and so remained in London Above.

* Richard Mayhew's refusal to yield to this trope, when he found Door bleeding on the sidewalk, led him into London Below in ''[[Neverwhere]]''. His fiancee declared it [[Somebody Else's Problem]], and so remained in London Above.

** Residents of London Below tend not to be noticed by the Above folks in the first place. Later in the book, his fiance recognzies him for a brief moment, then is unable to even -see- him.

* In the [[Gone]] series, 90% of the Perdido Beach kids have this attitude. An apartment is burning down with a kid inside? Sam can deal with it. We're running out of food? Sam can find more. The Human Crew is running around trying to kill the mutants? That's the Sam's problem, not ours. Caine and Drake have gotten into the Power Plant and are going to feed uranium to a monster? It's Sam's job to stop them!

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== Live Action TV ==

* The [[Five Man Band|Four Man Band]] of ''[[Seinfeld]]'' is incarcerated in the finale for the many, many times they do this (as well as just being horrible). The breaking point is the four watching a man get mugged and laughing about it.

* The [[Five-Man Band|Four Man Band]] of ''[[Seinfeld]]'' is incarcerated in the finale for the many, many times they do this (as well as just being horrible). The breaking point is the four watching a man get mugged and laughing about it.

* In one episode of ''[[The Young Ones]]'', the characters have stumbled across a time warp and now have a horde of medieval peasants out to kill them. They are terrified, and wonder aloud how they are going to get out of this predicament, when Vyvyan says "Who cares?", and the housemates instantly lose interest in ''their own'' mortal peril. End of episode. Considering they [[They Killed Kenny|die on a near-daily basis...]]

* Malcolm Tucker in ''[[The Thick of It]]'' calls this trope NoMFuP: "Not My Fucking Problem".

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* In ''Zelda'' games, the world's gonna be destroyed if the princess isn't rescued, whether she's been kidnapped, turned to stone, or vanished off the face of Hyrule. Since you, Link, are already dealing with it, nobody's worried. It's YOUR problem now. They even charge you for equipment vital to your quest.

** Averted in ''[[The Legend of Zelda Majoras Mask (Video Game)|Majora's Mask]]'' - everybody knows that something horrible is about to happen. By nightfall of the last day, almost all of them have fled town - of the few who you are able to locate at this point, they acknowledge their flight probably won't make a difference. Only those in serious denial of the imminent catastrophe (and you, the player) remain behind.

* Senel Coolidge from ''[[Tales of Legendia (Video Game)|Tales of Legendia]]'' has this mindset at first. He acts as if the world revolve around Shirley, and if something unrelated to her is presented to him, he ignores them or at least tell him not to bugger him with it, pissing off many people, especially [[Tsundere|Chloe]], though eventually he stopped obsessing about her completely. This one is so bad that in the ''[[Tales of the World]]'', he gets a [[What the Hell Hero]] yell that he'd rather let the world be destroyed than just halting his search for Shirley, then he takes the hint (after all, if the world is destroyed, he can't even reunite with Shirley at all).

* Senel Coolidge from ''[[Tales of Legendia (Video Game)|Tales of Legendia]]'' has this mindset at first. He acts as if the world revolve around Shirley, and if something unrelated to her is presented to him, he ignores them or at least tell him not to bugger him with it, pissing off many people, especially [[Tsundere|Chloe]], though eventually he stopped obsessing about her completely. This one is so bad that in the ''[[Tales of the World]]'', he gets a [[What the Hell, Hero?]] yell that he'd rather let the world be destroyed than just halting his search for Shirley, then he takes the hint (after all, if the world is destroyed, he can't even reunite with Shirley at all).

* This trope is why nobody helps Aeka with the horrible bullying she deals with in ''[[Yume Miru Kusuri]]''. People realize she is suffering, but don't help her for fear that they will become targets. If the player picks her route, Kohei and her get so fed up with this that they {{spoiler|leave school entirely}}.

* [[Badass Bookworm|Soren]] from ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Path of Radiance'' especially. His first response to finding [[~~Everythings~~ Better With Princesses|Princess Elincia]] is to suggest leaving her behind, and then handing her over to the invading armies because "It's none of our concern." [[Dark and Troubled Past|There's]] [[Parental Abandonment|good reason]] [[Harmful to Minors|for his cynical outlook]] By the next game [[Defrosting Ice Queen|He Gets Better]].

* [[Badass Bookworm|Soren]] from ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Path of Radiance'' especially. His first response to finding [[Everything's Better With Princesses|Princess Elincia]] is to suggest leaving her behind, and then handing her over to the invading armies because "It's none of our concern." [[Dark and Troubled Past|There's]] [[Parental Abandonment|good reason]] [[Harmful to Minors|for his cynical outlook]] By the next game [[Defrosting Ice Queen|He Gets Better]].

* [[The Elder Scrolls Four]], being a [[Wide Open Sandbox]], allows you, the player, to ignore an '''impending demonic invasion.''' Sadly, it doesn't affect the gameplay by much, so you won't see any consequences of your negligence.

** Semi-averted by [[The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim]], where people are highly concerned about the dragon attacks, and will help fight any dragons in their area if they're able, but most of the local warriors are busy with the civil war going on, leaving it up to you to look into the dragons.

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* There's an [[SCP Foundation (Wiki)|SCP Foundation]] that lets people literally get away with murder by doing this.

** And a hat that functions as an SEP field -- the effects of which are permanent if you wear it too much.

* [[Fine Structure (Literature)|Fine Structure]] weaponizes this with a weapon that turns a person into [[Somebody ~~Elses~~ Problem]]. You can scream and wave and punch people and people will care so little that they won't notice any of it. Or you. Ever again.

* [[Fine Structure (Literature)|Fine Structure]] weaponizes this with a weapon that turns a person into [[Somebody Else's Problem]]. You can scream and wave and punch people and people will care so little that they won't notice any of it. Or you. Ever again.

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* Most characters in ''[[Drawn Together]]'' (considering the prevalent [[Jerkass]]-ness) have done this at one point or another, but Captain Hero, a superhero whose [[Catch Phrase]] is "SAVE YOURSELVES!", is probably the worst offender. His response to [[Bambi (Disney)|Bambi]] wailing to him about his dead mother (that he shot no less) is:

* Every character in ''[[Futurama]]'' has decided, at least once, that the current crisis is [[Somebody ~~Elses~~ Problem]].

* Every character in ''[[Futurama]]'' has decided, at least once, that the current crisis is [[Somebody Else's Problem]].

** Scruffy the Janitor may be the most blatant offender here: when asked why he didn't fix the boiler, his reply was "schedule conflict" and another flip of his porn magazine. When said boiler was getting ready to go critical ''ten feet away''.

{{quote| '''Scruffy:''' "Scruffy's gonna die the way he lived." (licks finger, turns page)}}

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** In ''[[Aqua Teen Hunger Force (Animation)|Aqua Teen Hunger Force]]'', Master Shake has a different (and often bizarrely random) reason every episode for not caring about what's going on - even in "Revenge of the Trees," where the [[Monster of the Week]] was looking for revenge on Shake.

** ''[[Sealab 2021]]'' does this a lot. In the pilot episode, "I, Robot," Quinn is trying to save Sealab from exploding -- but everyone else is too busy with a [[Seinfeldian Conversation]] to help. In "Green Fever," zombies attack the station, but Debbie is too busy preparing her birthday party, Stormy and Sparks are busy chatting about steel pipes, etc. Exactly who is uncaring varies; in "No Waterworld," Quinn is too busy with his monster truck to help Debbie find out why all the water around the station has disappeared.

** In ''[[Space Ghost Coast to Coast]]'', Zorak and Moltar frequently get bored with Space Ghost's show, and decide their jobs on it are [[Somebody ~~Elses~~ Problem]]. Sometimes Space Ghost gets bored with his own show, and does the same thing.

** In ''[[Space Ghost Coast to Coast]]'', Zorak and Moltar frequently get bored with Space Ghost's show, and decide their jobs on it are [[Somebody Else's Problem]]. Sometimes Space Ghost gets bored with his own show, and does the same thing.

* This is very prevalent in ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents]]''.

** In "That Old Black Magic, every [[Always Chaotic Evil|anti-fairy]] escapes from prison, and Jorgen prepares to round them up. Then his shift ends, to which he responds "Your problem."

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