History Main / MasqueradeParadox

In UrbanFantasy, the various powerful and dangerous magical beings that prey upon humanity are also very keen to hide from humanity by organizing a {{Masquerade}}, and living inside a WainscotSociety. This creates a bit of FridgeLogic: [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual the magic-using heroes]] are ''both'' so powerless that they must spend their days hiding their magic from {{Muggles}}, ''and'' so powerful that they are the only ones who can save the Muggles from the monsters. The corollary is: {{Muggles}} have to be ''both'' so powerless that they cannot protect themselves from monsters ''and'' so powerful that they can destroy all monsters.

See, the various magical {{Differently Powered Individual}}s and WitchSpecies that inhabit the world have vast powers that could cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. So powerful are these monsters that mortals have no chance of standing up to them. Only other, more friendly magical beings (i.e. the heroes of the story) can save these hapless mortals from certain doom.

* In the ''{{Discworld}}'' of Creator/AAPessimal, is a good example of a paradoxical Masquerade that is eventually resolved in-story. The Masquerade that prevents Wizards from marrying and remaining in the profession is sucessfully challenged when mild-mannered and nerdy Ponder Stibbons gets a girlfriend. Who later becomes Mrs Stibbons. Clear-thinking people such as Lord Downey, who feels a duty of care towards ''his'' employee and respects her right to aspire to marriage and motherhood [[note]]Even then, he is thinking that her children are likely to make outstanding Assassins, and the future of the Guild should be a consideration[[/note]], point out that the issue isn't one of losing the magical flux or of hair growing in the palms of your hands (thus making it difficult to hold onto a staff). Mustrum, you just need to take care that they have no more than seven children. Older Wizards discover there are suddenly a lot more younger Wizards out there who see no reason why they should grow up into elderly embittered single misanthropes. And wizardry, in Conclave, votes to overturn the Lore as it was and to allow Wizards to get married like normal people. By the time of ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12650047/1/Strandpiel Strandpiel]]'', Ponder and his Assassin wife are proud, if slightly floundering, parents of three daughters. And Ponder is still an active Wizard. [[note]][[FieryRedhead Mrs Stibbons]] had heard about sourcerors. Her response is "Eight children? you were lucky to get ''three''.[[/note]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Deadlands}}'' is a good exploration of the paradox, and the negative consequences when there is an unjustified Masquerade. Both of the setting's dominant governments actively maintain the Masquerade. There are ''no'' supernatural safeguards to keep people in the dark, though, so basic psychology is used instead. However, the authors point out that maintaining the masquerade is actually counter-productive. [[spoiler: The BigBad are the Reckoners, who draw power from fear. The more people are afraid, the more the surrounding environment becomes twisted and "terrorformed" into an environment where monsters can thrive. The governments know this, and try to keep magic a secret to prevent panic and deny the Reckoners their fear. However, as the authors point out, making the supernatural (and the fact that it ''can'' be fought and beaten) known to the public would rob them of much of their ability to generate fear. A mysterious creature that prowls the jungle and snatches people from fields is scary, but a tiger is just dangerous. Furthermore, it's also been suggested that their efforts to maintain the Masquerade often lead to them causing as much fear, doubt and suspicion as the ghoulies they put down in the first place.]]. Overall, trying to protect the public by keeping them in the dark only puts them more at risk.

In UrbanFantasy, the various powerful and dangerous magical beings that prey upon humanity are also very keen to hide from humanity by organizing a {{Masquerade}}, and living inside a WainscotSociety. This creates a bit of FridgeLogic: {{Muggles}} have to be ''both'' so powerless that they cannot protect themselves from monsters ''and'' so powerful that they can destroy all monsters.

* Lisseur (quoted at the top) uses ''Literature/HarryPotter'' is a textbook example of the Paradox. The stated reasons for the masquerade are No. 3. And No. 4. Apparently, the wizarding society went into hiding when the witch hunting starts to get really bad in the fifteenth century. The masquerade is maintained because it's "more convenient" if non-wizards ({{Muggles}}) don't know about it. The paradox appears due to:
1) Before the modern era, wizards have superior firepower, including things like the Killing Curse, Avada Kedavra, which wasn't illegal at this point (Rowling, Tales of Beedle the Bard, p. 86). The ever-pedantic Hermione recounts how no actual witches or wizards were harmed by the inquisitions, as they could magically protect themselves from things like being burned.
2) Also in the pre-modern era, wizards were functioning members of society, with Muggles coming to them for help with ailments.
3) Modern-day powerful magic can effectively neutralize technology, and memory-altering magic is widely used to tamper with Muggle memories.
4) Magic is not inherently dangerous, and can be safely used to rapidly heal injuries and create wonderful devices.

** Case 2 Dresden have mentioned that muggles are so dangerous because they can keep throwing bodies at a problem until it goes away. However, every time a scene appears where ordinary muggles go up against a serious super, the ordinary muggles are laughably crushed. Powerful Necromancers, Vampires, and Faeries effectively control entire governments, and would have brought down all of human civilization if not for their more altruistic counterparts.
** Case 4 Recent developments in modern technology, and knowledge of magical weaknesses have helped humans better deal with some of the lower supernatural threats like vampires, werewolves, or low skilled magic users. The various {{Badass Normal}}s are pretty good evidence for this. However, the more powerful or godlike supernatural threats would require small armies, [[NuclearOption going nuclear]], or just beyond humanity's ability to deal with. Super's own ability to cause technology to malfunction, or kill in mass, has been used by wizards & whatnot to crush effective armies armed with modern military weapons. For example, a particularly powerful Necromancer was able to effectively start World War I all on his own, resulting in the deaths of millions. In addition, such technology did not exist centuries ago, when many of these beings were quite active. What stopped them from a complete takeover is unknown.
** Case 5 WeirdnessCensor. Muggles apparently have a capacity for self-delusion so powerful that it beggar's the question of how Muggles were able to ''survive'', much less develop modern science and technology. Bizarre events like hundreds of exploding chests, entire continents devolving into chaos, city-wide blackouts, and constant explosions and fires, are summarily dismissed are explained away as college pranks, gang wars, and terrorists. It is also applied inconsistently, as members of the Chicago Police Department as well as other Muggles, have accepted magic and monsters when presented with evidence and a good argument.
* Lisseur (quoted at the top) uses ''Literature/HarryPotter'' is a textbook example of the Paradox. The stated reasons for the masquerade are No. 3. And No. 4. Apparently, the wizarding society went into hiding when the witch hunting starts to get really bad in the fifteenth century. The masquerade is maintained because it's "more convenient" if non-wizards ({{Muggles}}) don't know about it. The paradox appears due to: 1) Before the modern era, wizards have superior firepower, including things like the Killing Curse, Avada Kedavra, which wasn't illegal at this point (Rowling, Tales of Beedle the Bard, p. 86), to the point where the ever-pedantic Hermione recounts how no actual witches or wizards were harmed by the inquisitions, as they could magically protect themselves from things like being burned. 2) Also in the pre-modern era, wizards were functioning members of society, with Muggles coming to them for help with ailments. 3) Modern-day powerful magic can effectively neutralize technology, and memory-altering magic is widely used to tamper with Muggle memories. 4) Magic is not inherently dangerous, and can be safely used to rapidly heal injuries and create wonderful devices.

Indeed, this course of affairs has been going on for thousands of years, since the dawn of human civilization. As TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed, we only came this far because of the benevolent protection of wizards and the like.

So, why are ''[[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual they]]'' hiding from the Muggles?

# MugglesDoItBetter. While those wizards and faeries are still running around with swords and wands, modern-day humans are using guns, drones, and nukes. Magical folk hide for fear that TheyWouldCutYouUp, especially in settings where ScienceDestroysMagic. After all, what's the point of having a spell for eternal youth if you can still be killed by a young punk with a gun! However, it does raise the question: If muggles are so adept at investigating nature and inventing new technologies, how can they ignore any evidence of magic? Also, in many settings magic has been around for thousands of years. What stopped magic from taking over in Ancient Egypt, Classical Greece, or Medieval Europe? Why aren't we today living under the thousand-year old TheMagocracy?
# WeirdnessCensor. Muggles have a pathological need ''not'' to believe in magic to the point of outright self-delusion. Magic is dismissed as a superstition or delusion, and anyone showing magic powers would result in a MedicateTheMedium. Magicals don't reveal themselves for fear they'd be dismissed as mentally ill and possibly institutionalized. The monsters may not be ''that'' powerful or good at hiding, but human self-delusion is enough maintain the Masquerade. Yet somehow, muggle civilization is ''also'' simultaneously open-minded enough to accept such things as a round earth, heliocentrism, the existence of Native Americans, evolution, dinosaurs, quantum physics, the Internet, a man on the moon, etc. But any evidence suggesting magic or monsters is apparently dismissed. Not to mention, basic natural selection would eliminate any organisms that failed to properly identify and adapt to threats to their survival.
# The entire world is AntiMagic. Our reality hates magic, putting any magic user that operates too long in the open at risk, à la ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension''. Of course, if the world is so hostile, and it is possible to operate in other planes of existence that are more amenable to magic, why would magic-folk risk coming here at all?
# The world is in some LotusEaterMachine. Magic and monsters actually rule the world, and all muggle civilization is a lie to keep them docile. This raises the question: If the magic folk are so powerful and dominant, then why bother hiding from muggles in the first place? Why not just rule openly?

** Case 4 Recent developments in modern technology, and knowledge of magical weaknesses have helped humans better deal with some of the lower supernatural threats like vampires, werewolves, or low skilled magic users. The various {{Badass Normal}}s are pretty good evidence for this. However, the more powerful or godlike supernatural threats would require small armies, [[NuclearOption going nuclear]], or just beyond humanity's ability to deal with. Super's own ability to cause technology to malfunction or kill in mass have been used by wizards & whatnot to crush effective armies armed with modern military weapons. For example, a particularly powerful Necromancer was able to effectively start World War I all on his own, resulting in the deaths of millions. In addition, such technology did not exist centuries ago, when many of these beings were quite active. What stopped tjem from a complete takeover is unknown.

Works that go out of their way to give reasonable explanations for the masquerade can mitigate this paradox. The general rule is: The better the explanation for the ''why'' and ''how'' of the masquerade, the better the resolution of the paradox.

** Case 4 Recent developments in modern technology, and knowledge of magical weaknesses have helped humans better deal with some of the lower supernatural threats like vampires, werewolves, or low skilled magic users. The various {{Badass Normal}}s are pretty good evidence for this. However, the more powerful or godlike supernatural threats would require small armies, [[NuclearOption going nuclear]], or just beyond humanity's ability to deal with. Super's own ability to cause technology to malfunction or kill in mass have been used by wizards & whatnot to crush effective armies armed with modern military weapons. For example, a particularly powerful Necromancer was able to effectively start World War I all on his own, resulting in the deaths of millions.

* Subverted with the Wiki/SCPFoundation, which keeps the existence of the paranormal a secret from the general populace, even though neither the Foundation nor (most of) its members are paranormal, because TheWorldIsNotReady. Keeping the populace ignorant of the paranormal in general makes it much easier for the Foundation to keep the populace from sticking their noses into dangerous paranormal situations. In a world where ''all'' MagicIsEvil, keeping it out of the hands of the public makes sense.

For possible solutions, take a look at SoYouWantTo/WriteABelievableMasquerade

For further examinations, see SoYouWantTo/WriteABelievableMasquerade

* [[https://historyengine.richmond.edu/episodes/view/6630 The Invention of Obstetrical Forceps]]. Peter Chamberlen the Elder is credited as inventing them around 1600. Once the forceps were developed, they became a family secret, and all of the family members partook of this secret for the next hundred years. They went to great lengths to keep this unknown to their contemporaries, their competitors, and to the public at large, even to the people they served. What is said that when the Chamberlens were summoned, they came in a gilded carriage and they had this gilded box covered with brocaded cloth carried into the house by servants. The sound of the instruments was muffled by the fact that there were other veils inside of the box. As soon as they confronted the woman in labor, her husband and her servants and relatives all would shoot out of the room, the woman herself was blindfolded, and then the Chamberlens went about their business of delivering her, making a lot of noise to distract what was going on and especially the sound of the forceps clanking against each other. So you heard bells, screams, and eventually you heard the cry of a baby, and that signaled to the world that another successful delivery had taken place. The family became very successful professional midwives and obstetricians. They kept the secret in part because they faced stiff competition from the female midwives as well as scorn from the medical establishment of the time, and because they didn't want to expose a financially advantageous trade secret. While such reasons may be understandable, they were effectively WithholdingTheCure from all the babies and women who might have survived if such an instrument had not been kept secret and been more widely available.

Also, being magical does not ''necessarily'' mean being evil. After all, in many stories set in a ConstructedWorld, magic and magical beings freely intermingle among normal humans. For example, Literature/{{Discworld}}, has vampires and werewolves that are able to function among the normal populace of Ankh-Morporkh. So, why in works set in our world does magic have to be hidden?

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_Plumbers The Plumbers]]. A covert White House Special Investigations Unit, established July 24, 1971 by then [[UsefulNotes/RichardNixon President Nixon]] to stop the leaking of classified information to the media. It soon became involved in spying on the Democrats and trying to win Nixon the 1972 election. The use of a secret unit directly from White House (as opposed to another agency like the CIA or FBI) was stupid at best, for if any of the guys were caught, it could be traced back directly to the President. Many of their plans and activities were even more ridiculous, and often done for seemingly no reason other than to satisfy Nixon's paranoia. Also, all the Democratic presidential candidates had largely self-destructed on their own at this point, without the plumbers aid. In the end, the whole Masquerade was pointless. The plumbers' activities eventually led to [[{{Scandalgate}} Watergate]], and the downfall of the very administration they were trying to protect. If Nixon had just played clean, he would have got what he wanted without his pointless Masquerade.

* ''Literature/RiversOfLondon''. The masquerade is a Case 4, upheld created more through public indifference and traditional discretion, despite the fact that numerous elements of the police and other government agencies are aware. In addition, magic is very much a science and able to be used safely, and the main characters have no problem conducting scientific experiments on it. The only reason given in Book 1 by Nightingale is that they [[TheProudElite wouldn't want the hoi polloi learning magic]].

* In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''/''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' crossover ''Fanfic/TheVampireOfSteel'', Supergirl wants to call the Justice League in and wipe all vampires off Sunnydale. Buffy talks Kara out of it, explaining the Gang needs to keep the existence of vampires a secret. A clear case of No. 2. and 4. Apparently people are willing to accep the existence of "Super-villains, criminals, alien enemies from dozens of planets", but not vampires.

* Although the series never focuses on ordinary people, ''{{Main/DragonBall}}'' is totally inconsistent as to the extent the various characters hide from humans. In the original series, magical martial arts were widely known to exist (albeit in a less powerful form than they would become later), and in the first two sagas of Dragon Ball Z, an alien invasion wrecks large areas of the Earth. However, after the Frieza Saga, humanity suddenly forgets about the superhuman powers of the Z-Fighters (who by now can wreck entire planets), Mr. Satan pops up with a reputation as an invincible fighter despite the fact that he'd have been a weak tournament adversary even by the standards of the original series, and nobody believes in flight or ki. The heroes largely ignore this, but a WeirdnessCensor ensures that nobody credits the heroes' deeds as possible even if they should know better. Frankly, it's only thanks to the efforts of the Z-Fighters that earth survives, yet humanity as a whole seems strangely content to ignore the planet-destroying creatures that tend to pop up on a regular basis. One would wonder why the Z-Fighters don't just ask for public funding in exchange for ensuring ''earth doesn't explode'', or educate the public and help prepare them for the next alien invasion.

* In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''/''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' crossover ''Fanfic/TheVampireOfSteel'', Supergirl wants to call the Justice League in and wipe all vampires off Sunnydale. Buffy talks Kara out of it, explaining the Gang needs to keep the existence of vampires a secret. A clear case of No. 2. and 4. Apparently people are willing to exist "Super-villains, criminals, alien enemies from dozens of planets", but not vampires.

** Case 1 Dresden claims that people tend to violently freak out when exposed to magic and go all BurnTheWitch! Yet, whenever we see him explaining magic and the supernatural to people, and providing evidence to support his claims, they tend to accept it (see Waldo Butters & Murphy).

** Case 4 Recent developments in modern technology, and knowledge of magical weaknesses have helped humans better deal with some of the lower supernatural threats like vampires, werewolves, or low skilled magic users. The various BadassNormals are pretty good evidence for this. However, the more powerful or godlike supernatural threats would require small armies, [[NuclearOption going nuclear]], or just beyond humanity's ability to deal with. Super's own ability to cause technology to malfunction or kill in mass have been used by wizards & whatnot to crush effective armies armed with modern military weapons. For example, a particularly powerful Necromancer was able to effectively start World War I all on his own, resulting in the deaths of millions.

* ''Literature/HorusHeresy'' demonstrates why a {{Masquerade}} isn't always a good idea. The Emperor of Mankind kept the existence of Chaos and demons hidden from the Imperium and the primarchs. He also kept them ignorant of his plans for the Webway. The first secret just left the primarchs vulnerable to the temptations of Chaos, and the latter created feelings of resentment and abandonment among the primarchs. The Emperor might have saved Himself a lot of grief if, instead of the {{Masquerade}}, He properly educated people about Chaos and told His children why He's taking a break from the Crusade. Instead, [[Warhammer40000 grimdark]]. PoorCommunicationKills indeed.

* ''Literature/RiversofLondon''. The masquerade is a Case 4, upheld created more through public indifference and traditional discretion, despite the fact that numerous elements of the police and other government agencies are aware. In addition, magic is very much a science and able to be used safely, and the main characters have no problem conducting scientific experiments on it. The only reason given in Book 1 by Nightingale is that they [[TheProudElite wouldn't want the hoi polloi learning magic]]

* Where would this trope be without ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''originator of the eponymous [[WeirdnessCensor Sunnydale Syndrome]]. A solid Class 5, the entire town is infested with monsters that regularly threaten innocent men, women, and children. Yet the heroes, most of whom are supernatural themselves, see no reason to inform [[Muggles the authorities or the public]], who somehow determined to bury their heads in the sand and loudly ignore what is happening. The show does see occasional LampshadeHanging: people on the sly mention all the "mysterious" deaths, and musician Aimee Mann says she hates playing vampire towns. A particularly large lampshade is hung at the end of season three, where the graduating class of Sunnydale High gives Buffy an award as "Class Protector", while admitting they don't usually acknowledge there's anything to be protected from. This indicates that they probably know that something odd is going on with their town, but they won't suspect anything supernatural. In season 6, a typical ''Sunnydale Times'' headline reads "Mayhem Caused: [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial Monsters Certainly Not Involved, Officials Say]]". Then again, Snyder mentions lying about vampires attacking the high school in season 2, telling journalists it was a gang on PCP -- which the chief of police says is the usual story. The closest thing to an in-depth explanation is this chestnut:
-->'''Giles:''' ''[[{{Muggles}} People]] have a tendency to rationalize what they can and forget what they can't.''

-->--Lissauer, Gabrielle. ''The Tropes of Fantasy Fiction''. McFarland & Company, Inc., 2015, pp. 158-161.

While it might may make sense for the monsters to remain anonymous, why would do the heroes want to keep the population ignorant of the danger? After all, doctors regularly inform their patients of whatever ails them, and the government informs and educates the public on a major disaster in order to keep calm. In fact, failing to properly inform someone of a danger is often a felony, as is covering up evidence of a crime

* [[https://historyengine.richmond.edu/episodes/view/6630 The Invention of Obstetrical Forceps]]. Peter Chamberlen the Elder is credited as inventing them around 1600. Once the forceps were developed, they became a family secret, and all of the family members partook of this secret for the next hundred years. They went to great lengths to keep this unknown to their contemporaries, their competitors, and to the public at large, even to the people they served. What is said that when the Chamberlens were summoned, they came in a gilded carriage and they had this gilded box covered with brocaded cloth carried into the house by servants. The sound of the instruments was muffled by the fact that there were other veils inside of the box. As soon as they confronted the woman in labor, her husband and her servants and relatives all would shoot out of the room, the woman herself was blindfolded, and then the Chamberlens went about their business of delivering her, making a lot of noise to distract what was going on and especially the sound of the forceps clanking against each other. So you heard bells, screams, and eventually you heard the cry of a baby, and that signaled to the world that another successful delivery had taken place. The family became very successful professional midwives and obstetricians. They kept the secret in part because they faced stiff competition from the female midwives as well as scorn from the medical establishment of the time, and because they didn't want to expose a financially advantageous trade secret. While such reasons may be understandable, it becomes somewhat HarsherInHindsight when one considers all the babies and women who might have survived if such an instrument had not been kept secret and been more widely available.

* Mages in the ''{{Franchise/Nasuverse}}'' (Tsukihime, Fate/stay night) generally have to keep themselves hidden, and teach their arts in secret. The stated reason is No. 3. (the Church is rather devoted to wiping out bloodsuckers). The canon explanation for this is because systems of Magecraft actually draw on a limited "amount" of power. The implication being that the more followers a system have, the lower the amount an individual can actually pull out. So really, they're keeping it secret just so they can keep the power to themselves.

* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'': The eponymous hero seems to have no problem with every single non-human recurring enemy retaining knowledge of his identity; luckily few of them thought to actually use this against him. While protecting his own identity is understandable, keeping information from the public or authorities seems less so.
** Some have tried attributing the ghosts' lack of exposing his identity to many things, such as some sort of ghost laws Danny has no knowledge of (like the Christmas truce). The only one that isn't purely guesswork is the case of Vlad Masters (also a half-ghost, under the name Vlad Plasmius); he and Danny keep each other's [[SecretIdentity Secret Identities]] secret because if one of them revealed the other's identity, the other would return the favor. As Danny pointed, if he got exposed, his friends and family would support him, and his helping people would make him a hero to the public. Vlad, who has no allies and who amassed his fortune by using his powers for crime, would have no such luck. Episodes like "Reality Trip" and "The Finale" prove Danny right.

* Lisseur (quoted at the top) uses ''Literature/HarryPotter'' is a textbook example of the Paradox. The stated reasons for the masquerade are No. 3. And No. 4. Apparently, the wizarding society went into hiding when the witch hunting starts to get really bad in the fifteenth century. The masquerade is maintained because it's "more convenient" if non-wizards ({{Muggles}}) don't know about it. The paradox appears due to: 1) Before the modern era, wizards have superior firepower, including things like the Killing Curse, Avada Kedavra, which wasn't illegal at this point (Rowling, Tales of Beedle the Bard, p. 86), to the point where the ever-pedantic Hermione recounts how no actual witches or wizards were harmed by the inquisitions, as they could magically protect themselves from things like being burned.[[note]]FridgeHorror when you think about all the people who actually were killed for witchcraft in the real, non-Potterverse world.[[/note]] 2) Also in the pre-modern era, wizards were functioning members of society, with Muggles coming to them for help with ailments. 3) Modern-day powerful magic can effectively neutralize technology, and memory-altering magic is widely used to tamper with Muggle memories. 4) Magic is not inherently dangerous, and can be safely used to rapidly heal injuries and create wonderful devices.

* According to ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'', the reason monsters hide in the closet to scare children is because their screams are used as a power source, same as electricity and gasoline. So why aren't monsters going about scaring everyone 24-7? Simple: ''they're afraid of us!'' Because "scream" is so powerful, the monsters assume that kids are toxic and that even touching one can be fatal. This even applies to items that kids come in contact with, such as toys and socks, and if one of those ends up in the monster world, it triggers a prompt response from the Child Detection Agency, who dispose of the item with extreme prejudice; there's even [[PoliceCodeForEverything a code for it - 23-19]]. So when a child does enter the monster world by accident, it sends everyone in a panic. It's strongly implied, however, that children being toxic is just a myth; Mike and Sulley are constantly interacting with Boo and, despite a couple of freak-outs, suffer no ill effects whatsoever. [[spoiler:Randall and Waternoose seem to be aware of this, seeing as they are plotting to kidnap children and extract their screams instead of scaring them, but are keeping this knowledge to themselves to further their agenda.]]

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_Plumbers The Plumbers]]. A covert White House Special Investigations Unit, established July 24, 1971 by then [[UsefulNotes/RichardNixon President Nixon]] to stop the leaking of classified information to the media. It soon became involved in spying on the Democrats and trying to win Nixon the 1972 election. The use of a secret unit directly from White House (as opposed to another agency like the CIA or FBI) was stupid at best, for if any of the guys were caught, it could be traced back directly to the President. Many of their plans and activities were even more ridiculous, and often done for seemingly no reason other than to satisfy Nixon's paranoia. Also, all the Democratic presidential candidates had largely self-destructed on their own at this point, without the plumbers aid. In the end, the whole Masquerade was pointless. The plumbers' activities eventually led to {{Scandalgate Watergate}}, and the downfall of the very administration they were trying to protect. If Nixon had just played clean, he would have got what he wanted without his pointless Masquerade.

# [[PrejudiceTropes Prejudice]]. [[Franchise/XMen Sharing the world has never been humanity's defining attribute]], and Muggles, when they see magic, decide to just BurnTheWitch!. This is particularly effective in a world where MagicIsEvil, or all supers are at the risk of becoming monsters. However, in settings where magic can be used to vastly improve people's lives, and where magical beings could use their powers to acquire wealth and influence, this becomes problematic. After all, doctors are widely respected for using their gifts and talents for saving lives. In addition, while this might be a good ''motivator'' for Muggles to try and hurt magic, it says nothing about the ''means''. Quite a few people hate the leaders of their nation. However, said leaders tend to be very powerful and very well protected, which tends to dissuade attacks unless an opportunity presents itself. Similarly, [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividuals Differently Powered Individuals]]have far greater physical powers than Muggles. Muggles can hate DPIs all they want, but if there isn't any opportunity for Muggles to actually ''do'' anything to them, then that prejudice won't amount to much.

# The entire world is AntiMagic. Our reality hates magic, putting any magic user that operates too long in the open at risk, a. la. ''TabletopGame/MageTheAscension''. Of course, if the world is so hostile, and it is possible to operate in other planes of existence that are more amenable to magic, why would magic-folk risk coming here at all?
# The world is in some LotusEaterMachine. Magic and monsters actually rule the world, and all muggle civilization is a lie to keep them docile. This raises the question: if the magic folk are so powerful and dominant, then why bother hiding from muggles in the first place? Why not just rule openly?

Works that go out of their way to give reasonable explanations for the masquerade can mitigate this paradox. The general rule is: the better the explanation for the ''why'' and ''how'' of the Masquerade, the better the resolution of the paradox.