History Main / HeadInTheSandManagement

* ''Fanfic/ISeeWhatYouDoBehindClosedDoorsMiraculousLadybug'': Ms. Bustier deals with an argument breaking out in her classroom by taking a bathroom break, and is flummoxed when the situation hasn't been resolved by the time she returns. When she learns that the argument was over Lila [[LiarRevealed being exposed]] as a [[TheUnapologetic completely unapologetic liar]], she decides not to do anything about it since [[spoiler:Lila left the room, and she can't be bothered with tracking her down]]. She's even more taken aback when her decision to completely ignore the problem doesn't go over well with her students.

* The Guardians of the Universe in the ''Franchise/GreenLantern'' mythos frequently fill this role, most recently in the ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'' event, where all save two refuse to believe in the prophecy and the coming of the War of Light until it is too late.
* The same stick you could use to find someone who used CulturalPosturing in ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' could also be used who also used this trope, at least within the original continuity. Quite notably, the Kingdom of Acorn and the entire Echidna race were like this very heavily.

* In a non-military example, the President and Vice President ([[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed who are clearly George W. Bush and Dick Cheney]]) in ''Film/TheDayAfterTomorrow'', particularly the latter. Neither is ready to accept ([[StrawmanHasAPoint perhaps with some good reason]], because the whole film runs on HollywoodScience) or act on the scientific predictions of doom in a century or so for half the world.

A new BigBad is on the march. Time for the forces of good to stand up and fight. Unfortunately for the heroes, the man in charge of their particular political organization has Head-in-the-Sand Management and sees no reason to do this. Perhaps he literally doesn't see the threat. Perhaps he doesn't think that the threat is a problem for their specific country. Perhaps he thinks the villain can be talked into leaving them alone or bought off in some way. [[PointyHairedBoss Perhaps he's just a few birds short of a flock.]] In any event, he's going to do his best to get in the way of doing anything productive to fight the villain. Head-in-the-Sand Management is usually not portrayed as himself a bad guy, just willfully blind to the problem. At any rate, the reaction is JustIgnoreIt.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': One of the biggest reasons why the [[WarArc Thousand Year Blood War arc]] comes rolling [[CerebusSyndrome the way it does]] is because, after Uryu tagged along to [[RoaringRampageOfRescue rescue Rukia from execution]], [[MadScientist Mayuri]] tried to warn [[BigGood Yamamoto]] that the Quincies ''might'' not be extinct after all and that [[GreaterScopeVillain Yhwach]] ''might'' have survived the last war -- Yamamoto refused to even consider such a possibility and dismissed him as being paranoid. Mayuri makes sure to rub it in Yamamoto's face after he's proven undeniably right and [[NeverMyFault Yamamoto tries to chastise him for not doing more]]. Yamamoto [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness doesn't even try to argue after that]].

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': One of the biggest reasons why the [[WarArc Thousand Year BLood War arc]] comes rolling [[CerebusSyndrome the way it does]] is because, after Uryu tagged along to [[RoaringRampageOfRescue rescue Rukia from execution]], [[MadScientist Mayuri]] tried to warn [[BigGood Yamamoto]] that the Quincies ''might'' not be extinct after all and that [[GreaterScopeVillain Yhwach]] ''might'' have survived the last war -- Yamamoto refused to even consider such a possibility and dismissed him as being paranoid. Mayuri makes sure to rub it in Yamamoto's face after he's proven undeniably right and [[NeverMyFault Yamamoto tries to chastise him for not doing more]]. Yamamoto [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness doesn't even try to argue after that]].

* The Sharlayan people in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', for all their knowledge, acts like this when danger rears its head. In the backstory, when the Garlean Empire invaded Ala Mhigo, their response was to pack up and bail from New Sharlayan. Since then, they’ve taken a staunch isolationist stance [[spoiler:though they are also working behind the scenes preparing to ferry as many things as possible off the Star and to elsewhere in case the Final Days hit, but in a massive obstructive way.]]

** Long Feng, the EvilChancellor of Ba-Sing-Se, has elements of this. While he's clearly aware of the war with the Fire Nation, he seems more interested in keeping it under wraps than actually doing anything about it, and he spends far more time scheming against the Avatar, the world's last realistic hope, than against his enemies. It's not a completely straight example, as he is quite active (and very ruthless) in enforcing his own power -- he just doesn't want to jeopardize it.

** A subverted example from "Return to Omashu" would be King Bumi who, when Fire Nation troops attacked, immediately surrendered and simply cackled about doing nothing, but it's subverted in that he was simply waiting for another moment to strike.

** Long Feng, the EvilChancellor of Ba-Sing-Se, has elements of this. While he's clearly aware of the war with the Fire Nation, he seems more interested in keeping it under wraps than actually doing anything about it, and he spends far more time scheming against the Avatar, the world's last realistic hope, than against his enemies. It's not a completely straight example, as he is quite active (and very ruthless) in enforcing his own power--he just doesn't want to jeopardize it.

** A Subverted example from "Return to Omashu" would be King Bumi who when Fire Nation troops attacked immediately surrendered and simply cackled about doing nothing, but subverted in that he was simply waiting for another moment to strike.

* PlayedForDrama and tragedy in ''Fanfic/YourMoveInstigatorDrawYourWeaponAndHoldYourTongue''. Set in a world where [[ForWantOfANail the Third Shinobi War wears on for years past its canonical end]], the Sandaime has grown weary of the conflict and its high costs... and resigned to its continuation. Having effectively all but given up on reigning in Danzo, he writes off many terrible decisions as being nothing more than DirtyBusiness. Such as sending all the non-clan heirs out to the front lines as ChildSoldiers.

* ''ComicBook/{{Annihilation}}:'' Of the three major intergalactic powers involved, the Skrulls are involved with the war from day one, the Shi'ar aren't involved at all, and the Kree are being led by House Fiyero, who just weaselled their way into power, and don't care too much about the war, even once it's reached their doorstep. And making matters worse, House Fiyero even sides with [[OmnicidalManiac the Annihilation Wave]] toward the end.

[[caption-width-right:216:[[WildlifeCommentarySpoof As you can see, in times of stress, the]] ''[[BinomiumRidiculus Dumbassus bossus]]'' will bury its head in whatever surface is available to it as a means of getting them to stop, made possible by [[PointyHairedBoss the two hair-like crests on its head]]. Alas, this method never works.]]

A new BigBad is on the march. Time for the forces of good to stand up and fight. Unfortunately for the heroes, the man in charge of their particular political organization has Head-in-the-Sand Management and sees no reason to do this. Perhaps he literally doesn't see the threat. Perhaps he doesn't think that the threat is a problem for their specific country. Perhaps he thinks the villain can be talked into leaving them alone or bought off in some way. In any event, he's going to do his best to get in the way of doing anything productive to fight the villain. Head-in-the-Sand Management is usually not portrayed as himself a bad guy, just willfully blind to the problem. At any rate, the reaction is JustIgnoreIt.

* The White Council in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''. The Merlin and his people want to appease the Red Court (by offering them Harry's head) when it's fairly clear that the vampires ''want'' a war. They also completely deny the possibility of a rogue faction within the Council, despite mounting evidence. [[spoiler:At least some of this behavior was probably due to a traitor using mind magic to subtly influence their decisions as the Merlin seemed to have pulled up his head out of the sand and was preparing to go on the offensive in Literature/{{Changes}}.]]

A new BigBad is on the march. Time for the forces of good to stand up and fight. Unfortunately for the heroes, the man in charge of their particular political organization has Head-in-the-Sand Management, and sees no reason to do this. Perhaps he literally doesn't see the threat. Perhaps he doesn't think that the threat is a problem for their specific country. Perhaps he thinks the villain can be talked into leaving them alone or bought off in some way. In any event, he's going to do his best to get in the way of doing anything productive to fight the villain. Head-in-the-Sand Management is usually not portrayed as himself a bad guy, just willfully blind to the problem. At any rate, the reaction is JustIgnoreIt.

* Season 2 of ''Anime/PsychoPass'' has the Sibyl System who were ignoring the danger that Kirito Kamui posed, most especially when he kidnapped an Inspector, created a hostage situation which resulted in many casualties and killed many of their Enforcers so he can steal their Dominators. And yet, Sibyl kept their heads and focused on trying to darken Akane’s Psycho-pass instead. Later on, it’s revealed that Sibyl knew that Kamui is dangerous and were unable to comprehend his entity, which explains their inaction against him. But it’s already too late when [[spoiler:Kamui gains the upper hand and judges the system by forcing them to remove their brains with high crime coefficients]].

** Harvey Who, the head of the Kingdom of Acorn's intelligence agency, delivered a powerful TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Elias Acorn when the latter came to get his aid in trying to reclaim the throne from Naugus. He kept warning them over and over not to trust certain people and that bad things were coming, but Maximilian Acorn, the previous king, refused to listen, rather listening to the Source of All's guidance, and all of Mobius paid the price. When he realized Elias had a much better head on his shoulders, Harvey agreed to help.
** Despite being put in charge ''because'' of King Max's stupid decisions and meant to prevent such things from happening again, the [[NotSoOmniscientCouncilOfBickering Council of Acorn]] soon prove to be just as bad. Best shown in their ''first'' act; even after learning of the return of Enerjak, a nigh-omnipotent RealityWarper with powers [[ImaginationBasedSuperpower limited only by his imagination]], they decide to wait and refuse to let either the Freedom Fighters or Chaotix face him or head to Angel Island to investigate until more can be learned about the danger of the situation. The Chaotix outright riot in response, and Dimitri is so disgusted by their slow decision making that he turns to Eggman for help instead. The Council of Acorn being mostly hindrances led to one disaster after another with the worst being the [[CosmicRetcon Super Genesis Waves]].

* ''Fanfic/BabylonBeautifulFiction'': Fuhrer Hakuro deals with the terrorist terrorizing Central by completely ignoring her and refusing to give Mustang any back-up when he tries to deal with the problem. When it becomes apparent that homeless people were brutally murdered or sometimes eaten, he notes that Central is [[KillThePoor better off without them]].

* ''Fanfic/TheFlowersDream'': When the flower awoke, the dream world that it created started to fade and vanish. Once it went back to sleep, the majority of its inhabitants tried to deal with this by just pretending that it never happened. The breezies were the only ones trying to deal with the situation, and were constantly hampered by the bigger folk's thougthless actions.

* ''Fanfic/KarmasABitch'' points out how Principal Damocles and Miss Bustier never bothered to fact-check any of Lila's claims, accepting every excuse and claimed disability at face value. While recounting the events surrounding Marinette's expulsion, Adrien [[ExplainExplainOhCrap gradually realizes]] that neither bothered checking the school's security cameras, and that while they ''know'' none of the lockers have working locks -- something both Lila and Chloé have exploited -- there's no sign they ever intend to get them fixed.

* Franchise/MonsterVerse: ZigZagged overall by [[Characters/MonsterVerseMonarch Monarch]]. The military in ''Film/Godzilla2014'', and the government and most of the public in ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'', '''perceive''' Monarch as a straight example because of their refusal to try killing every Titan they find on human terms and their preference to let Godzilla do his thing. In actuality, Monarch are refusing because they know that eradicating the Titans or attempting to eradicate them would shoot humanity in the foot one way or another[[note]]Either humanity would cause their own mass extinction which would eradicate us within the next century or two without the Titans to maintain the ecosphere's balance, or our own arrogance would lead to us overestimating our ability to kill the Titans and they would decimate our civilization in aggravation[[/note]]. That being said, Monarch are still often highly indecisive when it comes to finding better solutions to dealing with the ''genuinely'' hostile Titans: Serizawa correctly tells Admiral Stenz that Godzilla can destroy the [=MUTOs=] for us and will then leave humanity in peace, but he fails to offer any specifics about how to minimize the collateral that that route would entail in order to convince Stenz that such a strategy ''doesn't'' equate to the military sitting on their asses while people die. In ''Godzilla: King of the Monsters'', Monarch are right that TheGovernment[='s=] plan would be tantamount to sabotaging ourselves as a civilization, but for all of Serizawa's preachings on finding coexistence, Monarch don't seem to be doing anything to make that ideal a reality, instead keeping the Titans contained and maintaining the status quo even while the government get closer to dissolving Monarch and enacting their plan (the EcoTerrorist [[spoiler:Emma Russell]] [[VillainHasAPoint calls Monarch out on this]]). In ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'', the HumansAreMorons trope is in full effect, and no-one in Monarch thinks to investigate Apex Cybernetics, despite the corporation's suspiciously central whereabouts in Godzilla's attacks, until it's too late (in fact, Mark Russell outright dismisses [[NotNowKiddo Madison]]'s warnings about Apex out of hand) – this is downplayed in the novelization, where Mark and Director Guillerman ''are'' investigating Apex, but they're still too slow to stop Apex [[spoiler:completing Mechagodzilla]] and they still don't call off the HollowEarth expedition which is ultimately crucial to Apex's success.

* ''Literature/TheDiabolic'': The Empire and the theocracy are both deeply invested in ignoring the fact that all their technology is breaking down. It is explicitly blasphemous to understand how any of it actually works, or to study the science behind it. Everything is maintained by robots maintaining robots, but that chain of maintenance is breaking down over time.

** Dorne's approach to some of the Vulture Kings was say they were going to do something about it, followed by doing nothing. Then again, given the Vulture Kings tended to prey on Westerosi, and Dorne's history with the rest of the continent, there ''might'' be [[TheManBehindTheMan reasons]] for this...

* Cornelius Fudge in ''Literature/HarryPotter'' does this quite a bit in the first few books and films, but this behavior is at its worst in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix The Order of the Phoenix]]''. Fudge desperately tries to deny that BigBad Voldemort has returned, even setting up a smear campaign against Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore for even suggesting Voldemort was around. His denial even extends to actively interfering with Hogwarts' ability to teach their students self-defense by making their Defense Against the Dark Arts class ineffectual fluff only good for passing standardized testing. This all blows up in Fudge's face when Voldemort appears right outside the Ministry of Magic, thus removing all possible doubt to his return. Fudge ends up getting the sack after the true nature of the threat becomes apparent; a lot of deaths could have been avoided if his pride and cowardice weren't ruling his actions. It's also hinted that Fudge [[GreenEyedMonster is jealous of Dumbledore's success]], and that Fudge realizes deep down that he's a weak man trying to play a strong man. This puts Fudge's actions in an even worse light to the public, since Fudge let people die and put even more people in danger just to spite Dumbledore. The moral outrage around the denial of Voldemort's return leads to Fudge going down as one of the worst Ministers of Magic in history.

* The Pre-War Presidential Administration in ''Literature/WorldWarZ'', who ignored the solutions to preventing the looming global zombie outbreak, instead performing a few token solutions that ranged from unhelpful to genuinely harmful (i.e. allowing a bogus vaccine to pass through the FDA). When interviewing the former Chief of Staff, [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Grover Carlson]], Max Brooks calls him out on this.

** Early in the fourth season, the Drazi and Hyach ambassadors who want to prevent Delenn and her few remaining supporters from continuing attacks on the Shadows. They believe that if the Army of Light doesn't antagonize the Shadows, they might well go back to sleep for another thousand years, but if Delenn and company press on, it will drag everyone down into the abyss. As is usual with this trope, the Drazi and Hyach ambassadors aren't evil... they're just wrong.

*** Luckily averted at the turning point of the war: when ambassadors from the Abbai and some League worlds that had been overrun reached Earth and plead their case to the Earth Alliance Senate, some were of the idea the Dilgar weren't their problem and planned to vote against up until the ambassadors successfully pointed out the resemblance between the policies and attitude of the Dilgar and those of Nazi Germany, resulting into Earth Alliance intervening with its ''massive'' military and turning the tide out of a combination of indignation and realization that if the Dilgar won ''they'' were next.

** In the series proper, amoral MadScientist Qyburn accuses the Maesters of this, directly accusing them of being behind Westeros' MedievalStasis. Initially, this seems to be just a NeverMyFault justification for his ForScience attitude, but then comes TheReveal in season 7. Namely, that the Maesters know, and have always known, that the White Walkers ''are'' real, but they see no reason to bother with alerting the rulers of Westeros and possibly dooming millions of innocent people because they assume that the Wall in the North will keep them at bay as it has done for centuries. [[spoiler: They are ''completely'' right.]]

* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': The High king Gil-galad and his right had, Elrond don't want to listen to Galadriel that Sauron might be prepare to return, not even when she brings them proof from one of his fortresses. Later is revealed that they are aware of this possibility, but they don't allow Galadriel to seek Sauron and his Orcs anymore because they fear Sauron's return might become a SelfFulfillingProphecy.

* Music/DanielAmos: In the short story that accompanies the album ''Music/{{Alarma}}'', one scene has the Reverend James Cursory reassure his church congregation. He tells them that everything is okay, that there are no problems at all--and the rampaging giant outside is just their imaginations. All they need to do is sing and feel good, and their imaginary problems will go away! The giant levels the church while they’re singing.

* Happens frequently in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''; depending on which side of the galaxy, many Imperial worlds are governed by corrupt and inept rulers who ignore any signs of possible danger thinking that sending a few thousand Imperial Guardsmen (or worse, Planetary Defense Forces, who unlike most Guardsmen tend to be either vanity affairs more fit for pageantry than combat or jackbooted thugs to oppress the local populace; neither type have much in actual military training) can stamp it out. Only for the threat to have escalated into near unstoppable, whether its an Ork WAAAGH!!!, a Chaos horde, or a Tyranid Hive Fleet, the imperial rulers would mostly remain oblivious to it, or just flee the system. [[MoleInCharge Assuming that they weren't working with said Chaos horde/Tyranid fleet in the first place.]]

** Viscount Dumar tends to take a very quiet route in regards to the Qunari. He clearly doesn't like them and doesn't like his son hanging around with them, but his only actions amount to sending Hawke to try and appease them. Part of the problem is that the Viscount doesn't want to do anything lest he [[SlaveToPR incur the wrath of the nobles]], but neither can he take a direct approach as the Arishok refuses to say anything to him other than "Begone". This forces Dumar to rely on Hawke, as Hawke is the ''only'' person in Kirkwall the Arishok considers [[WorthyOpponent worthy]] of his attention. [[spoiler:After the murder of his son by Chantry zealots hoping to frame the Qunari, Dumar simply [[DespairEventHorizon stops caring]] altogether, leading to the situation deteriorating rapidly, the Qunari beginning a military coup of Kirkwall, and Dumar's subsequent execution by the Arishok.]]

* In the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' series, the Council has this attitude towards the Reapers despite Shepard repeatedly telling them that they're coming, especially Sparatus, and Shepard has the opportunity to not only [[WhatTheHellHero call them out on it]], but can even refuse to save them in the first game, not that their replacements are any better. All three quickly do a 180 in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' when the Reapers finally arrive, and amusingly Turian Sparatus is the most supportive of the three. Salarian Valern requires Shepard to rescue him from Cerberus, and the supposedly reasonable Asari Tevos first states that, "The cruel and unfortunate truth is that while the Reapers focus on Earth, we can prepare and regroup". Later its revealed that she had extremely important information regarding a Prothean Beacon that the Asari had been hiding for centuries and doesn't tell Shepard until the last minute. This ends up resulting in LaserGuidedKarma when Thessia falls to the Reapers about as fast as Earth did once the Reapers actually reach it.

* In ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', the Trooper storyline has you go after a highly competent and ruthless Sith general. After a lot of hard work, luck and HeroicSacrifice you succeed in capturing him. You are given a medal and told that the Republic has traded the prisoner back to the Empire for some trivial concessions. This can be averted, but it requires certain choices to be made and shouting down the Supreme Chancellor ''while they're giving you a medal''. There is an undeclared war going on with the Sith Empire that the Republic is losing but the Senate sees no reason to be concerned and thinks that they can still negotiate with the Sith.

* {{Deconstructed}} in ''{{WebAnimation/RWBY}}'' with Professor Ozpin. His approach to villains threatening to upend 80 years of general peace is to essentially wait on the matter and occasionally dump his life-threatening burdens onto kids. This culminates into the [[EndOfAnEra Fall of Beacon]] which led to the loss of life and the Kingdoms riling up to go to war. When he returns to the heroes and is informed of the updated situation, he decides to, again, wait on the matter, leading to the villains having set the table for the fall of another Academy that they would have succeeded at were it not for [[NiceJobFixingItVillain some villains being too greedy in their ambitions]]. Eventually, his insistence on keeping everything hush hush caught up to him when his omission on a powerful relic's ability to attract the Grimm became the last straw for the group and they force [[AwfulTruth the truth]] out of him before he eventually retreats.

** Long Feng, the EvilChancellor of Ba-Sing-Se, has elements of this. While he's clearly aware of the war with the Fire Nation, he seems more interested in keeping it under wraps than actually doing anything about them, and he spends far more time scheming against the Avatar, the world's last realistic hope, than against his enemies. It's not a completely straight example, as he is quite active (and very ruthless) in enforcing his own power--he just doesn't want to jeopardize it.

** Raiko from the sequel series ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' refuses to help to Korra free the Southern Water Tribe from the Northern Water Tribe because it's something that does not directly involve the Republic, and when told later on of Unalaq's evil plan to free the terrible [[EldritchAbomination Vaatu]] from his prison he still declines because he feels it's better to simply try to prepare for the worst-case-scenario and ready Republic City's forces to try and weather the storm. Naturally, due to his lack of help, Korra fails to prevent Vaatu's escape, and Republic City's defenses are utterly ''useless'' against the hybrid form of Unalaq/Vaatu, who would have '''destroyed''' the city had Korra not arrived in time to stop them. Raiko, of course, wasted no time spinning things to blame Korra for the mess. Subverted in the fourth season, when he recognizes the threat posed by Kuvira and the Earth Empire and mobilizes all United Republic defenses to stop her. Ironically, he then has to deal with this trope from Fire Lord Izumi, who doesn't want to commit to a first strike given her nation's history, and Tenzin, who's a pacifist and also won't condone a preemptive attack.

* ''WesternAnimation/ShadowRaiders'': King Mantle of Planet Rock is the biggest thorn in the side of the Alliance against the Beast Planet due to his arrogant conviction in Rock's military supremacy and [[TheyJustDontGetIt refusal to accept the power of the Beast]]. Even the destruction of two of his vaunted Battle Moons fails to quell his dismissal of the Beast and his constant jockeying for power, which ultimately leads to him [[spoiler:stealing vital command codes in an effort to force the other planets to make him their supreme leader]]. It's telling that the Alliance's leadership [[TheFriendNobodyLikes vastly prefer Femur to Mantle]]... and ''Femur'' is a smarmy, cheating, cowardly, hedonistic flirt from a planet of backstabbers, thieves and assassins.

* In ''Fanfic/GuardiansWizardsAndKungFuFighters'', this is how [[spoiler:Nimue]] feels about Kandrakar's stewardship of the Known Worlds. In her view, they just uphold the status quo, rather than actively intervene to face the various evils threatening the worlds themselves.