Who Would Be Stupid Enough...?: Difference between revisions
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== [[Literature]] ==
* Shows up a lot in ''Discworld'', in fact.
** Somewhat [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] in
{{quote|"No one would be that stu--"
Susan stopped. Of course someone would be that stupid. Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible do it. If you put a switch in a cave somewhere, with a sign on it saying "[[The End of the World as We Know It|End-of-the-World]] switch. [[Schmuck Bait|PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH]]," the paint wouldn't even have time to dry. }}
:*
{{quote|Any true wizard, faced with a sign like "Do not open this door. Really. We mean it. We're not kidding. Opening this door will mean the end of the universe," would ''automatically'' open the door in order to see what all the fuss was about.}}
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Honor Harrington|Storm from the Shadows]]'', [[General Ripper|Admiral Byng]] says something to this effect, thinking that Michelle Henke and the Manticorans will not actually make good on their warnings to punish the Solarian aggression. It doesn't end well for him.
* In Norman Spinrad's [[Alternate History]] novel ''[[The Iron Dream]]'', the author analyzing the work of [[Meta Fiction]] around which Spinrad's story is framed notes that some fans may yearn for a decisive and iron-willed leader like the one depicted in the work of metafiction to save them from Soviet domination, but concludes that no rational person would ever stand such a clearly delusional, bloodthirsty tyrant. Considering that the in-universe author of the work of metafiction is ''[[Adolf Hitler]]'', well, I think you see Spinrad's point.
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* Stalin himself invoked this trope almost word for word when aviation minister Mikhail Khrunichev and aircraft designer A. S. Yakovlev proposed to buy advanced jet engines from the British. "What fool will sell us his secrets?" At the time jet engines were revolutionary technology and selling them would be the equivalent of selling stealth technology to your worst enemy today. Turned out the British Labour government was that stupid. They sold the Rolls Royce Nene to the Soviets who put it in the [[Cool Plane|MIG 15]]. The Mig gave air superiority to the [[Dirty Communists|North Koreans]] during the first stages of [[The Korean War]], before the appearance of the F-86 Sabre. Just to add insult to injury, they never paid the British the licensing fees either.
* Battle of Leyte Gulf: The Japanese Navy's "Shō-Gō 1 Plan" was for a decoy fleet, the Northern Force, to get the attention of the US Navy's covering forces and draw them away so that their Center and Southern Forces could attack the American Landing Zones at Leyte Island. William F. Halsey, commander of the USN 3rd Fleet, fell for the ruse by speeding after them with all of his ships, leaving a handful of Destroyers and Escort Carriers at the mercy of attack by Takeo Kurita's Center Force which occurred near Samar Island.
* In the debacle following the United States' 2020 presidential election, attorney Sidney Powell ([[Sarcasm Mode|who was ''not'' working]] for [[Donald Trump]], but obviously [[Bad Liar|acting of her own volition]]) claimed she would "release the Kraken" in a deluge of lawsuits to prove widespread voter fraud. (For those who never saw ''[[Clash of the Titans]]'', [[Critical Research Failure|the Kraken is slain at the end]].) Not only did she provide no proof whatsoever, her election-related filings had "sloppy mistakes" and absurd accusations (many of them originating with the notorious Q-Anon [[Conspiracy Theories|Conspiracy Theory]]), including claims that Dominion Voting Systems had rigged their machines under the orders of Cuba, China, Venezuela, Hugo Chávez (who died in 2013), George Soros, the Clinton Foundation and antifa. All these lawsuits failed, and in January of 2021, shortly after the Capitol Building riot, Dominion sued Powell for defamation, with Smartmatic filing a similar suit in February. Her initial defense, [[Not Helping Your Case|said in court under oath, no less]], that "no reasonable person" would have believed her claims. [https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/22/politics/sidney-powell-dominion-lawsuit-election-fraud/index.html Read the detailed story here.] (A year later in February 2022, Powell [https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7wnyn/sidney-powell-finally-admits-that-perhaps-the-kraken-is-not-real finally admitted that the "Kraken" might not exist.] ''Might.'')
* [https://www.indy100.com/news/qanon-shaman-lawyer-jacob-chansley-b1960049 This was also the excuse] made by attorney Albert Watkins, who represented Jacob Chansley (aka the "Qanon Shaman") as to why his client should ''not'' be called an "insurrectionist":
{{quote|'''Watkins:''' An insurrectionist? Look up the word. Are you gonna follow the guy who’s naked, tattooed, nipples, January, DC, hours outside, with horns, facepaint and fur and say ‘yeah, that’s the guy I want, I’m following him’ - unless you are smoking crack, [[Not Helping Your Case|which you know is not bad on occasion]].}}
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