History Main / JustFollowingOrders

* Used along with a healthy dose of GodwinsLaw in ''{{Clerks}}''. A man berates Dante in front of customers for selling cigarettes, accusing him of being just like the Nazis since he's "only following orders," and tells customers that they should buy Chewlies Gum instead. (Because selling a dangerous product to a willing consumer is just like gassing innocent people.) The man is a Chewlies Gum salesman.

* One of Nelson's goons says this in ''TheSimpsons'' episode "Bart the General."

* Used along with a healthy dose of GodwinsLaw in ''{{Clerks}}''. A man berates Dante in front of customers for selling cigarettes, accusing him of being just like the Nazis since he's "only following orders," and tells customers that they should buy Chewlies Gum instead. (Because selling a dangerous product is just like gassing innocent people.) The man is a Chewlies Gum salesman.

* Used along with a healthy dose of GodwinsLaw in ''{{Clerks}}''. A man berates Dante in front of customers for selling cigarettes, accusing him of being just like the Nazis since he's "only following orders," and tells customers that they should buy Chewlies Gum instead. The man is a Chewlies Gum salesman.

-->'''Wilhelm Keite''': We were just following orders!

* In the DocuDrama ''Nuremberg'', Field Marshal Keitel states this after reading the accounts on which he has been convicted.

* In the DocuDrama ''Nuremberg'', Field Marshal Keitel builds up his defense on this principle.
-->'We were just following orders!'

-->'''Paul Kellerman''': Just following orders.

** Earlier, during the Franco-Austrian war of 1809, while Prussia was neutral and nominally allied to France, Major Ferdinand Baptista von Schill led his hussar regiment to war against the French on his own accord. He was eventually killed in action, eleven of his officers were shot by the French for "brigandage", and the rest put on trial in Prussia for desertion. However, these last were only lightly punished, and a number of them went on to make great careers in the Prussian army, including Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Reyher, who was appointed chief of the general staff.

** During the SevenYearsWar, the distinguished CavalryOfficer Johann Friedrich Adolf von der Marwitz (1723-1781) was ordered by Frederick the Great to sack the Saxon castle of Hubertusburg in reprisal for the sacking of the palace of Charlottenburg in 1760. He refused and asked to be relieved of his duty. He left the army, and fell out of royal favour for years (although he eventually was promoted to major-general late in his lift). His nephew had this inscribed on his gravestone: "He chose disgrace where obedience brought no honour." This, along with the following, was invoked by the officers who conspired against Hitler.

* Examples of not following orders:

* Common defense for Americans involved in torture of suspected terrorists.

*** The Nazi' were'nt threatened with execution on disobedience either. In virtually every single recorded case of soldiers or officers protesting the order to commit genocide, they were simply reassigned, and not punished. That's the main reason so few Nazi war criminals get away with invoking this trope- they didn't even try the alternative, and if they had they would have been let off.
**** They usually got reassigned to the Russian front. Which was as good as death.

** IT helps that it genuinely looked like the Russians were falling back and had left some of the cannon they had captured exposed.

*** The Nazi' were'nt threatened with execution on disobedience either. In virtually every single recorded case of soldiers or officers protesting the order to commit genocide, they were simply reassigned, and not punished. That's the main reason so few Nazi war criminals get away with invoking this trope- they did'nt even try the alternative, and if they had they would have been let off.

* In BuffyTheVampireSlayer, Xander chloroforms Dawn and kidnaps her under Buffy's orders. However, it turns out Dawn carries a tazer and doesn't care, so she tazes him and drives them back anyways.

* From ''{{Heroes}}'' Chapter Nine: "It's Coming":

* From the ''Holby City'' episode "A Clean Slate":

* From the PrisonBreak episode "Bad Blood":

* In ThePunisher video game, one mook yells out "I was just following orders!" when you torture him to his breaking point.

* In {{Juathuur}}, this is the main source of conflict between Sojueilo (who follows orders) and Thomil (who doesn't).

* Common defense for Americans involved in torture of terrorists

-->'''Dr. Kaufmann''': Please Mr. Bond! I'm just a [[PunchClockVillain professional doing a job!]]