History Main / WeirdnessCensor

* The game of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching Geocaching]] relies pretty heavily on this. Geocache containers can be hidden in highly unusual places, quite often by virtue of small size, camouflage coloring, or by being disguised as something so commonplace it is easily dismissed and overlooked. Searching for geocaches often calls for stealth ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching#Controversy_and_issues ); some cachers have reported that the easiest way to conceal their search is by acting mildly nuts or wandering at complete random, and thus they can find their objective without anyone taking much notice.

->''"Your species has the most amazing capacity for self-deception, matched only by its ingenuity [[InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves when trying to destroy itself]]."''
-->-- '''The Seventh Doctor''', ''Series/DoctorWho''

* In ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'' we are introduced to the Realm of The Dead from Kat's perspective where the organization and its facilities seems to take the form of some kind of children's haunted house with her companions Annie and Mort completely mystified by her ability to treat it as such. When we finally get a look at [[EldritchLocation what they see]] it's hard not to sympathize. Whether it is this, InvisibleToNormals, or something else is not clear yet, though.

** The [[TransformersGenerationOne original cartoon]] had a sort of masquerade for the first few episodes, but after a bit the Transformers didn't bother with hiding from humans as a whole (though many people still seemed unaware of their existence, considering all the episodes where a human mistakes a Transformer for a normal vehicle and react with shock/fear/awe when the Transformer reveals himself). By the movie and season three, there was no masquerade anymore.

* WesternAnimation/GravityFalls: Grunkle Stan either doesn't see or doesn't seem bothered by the supernatural events in the town. When he sees preserved dinosaurs, he only thinks of how much money he can make by using them as attractions. [[spoiler: Though by the end of season 1 it's revealed that he knows a lot more than that as he's been gathering the secrets of the books to unlock something]]. When Dipper presents evidence in the form of his book, Stan makes a few jokes about it reads it and gives it back, thinking them funny stories [[spoiler: when in reality he used the books for his machines and photo copied the contents.]] When Dipper unleashes zombies in season 2 [[spoiler: Stan fights them off, and reveals he's known all along about the supernatural, having lived in the town for years. He pretended not to notice because messing with that stuff is dangerous and could get the kids killed.]]

** An unusual example is in ''Discworld/{{Mort}}'', where the titular character changes history by saving the life of a princess doomed to die, and everyone in the kingdom except a wizard find themselves unconsciously acting as though she had died, and feeling upset and nauseous when confronted with the fact that she still lives, then revert back to believing her dead once away from her.

* Averted in the ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'' fan-game ''TabletopGame/GeniusTheTransgression'': the rules explicitly state that nothing about Mad Science clouds men's minds. [[BrownNote Causes insanity]] yes, but if you resist that (and it doesn't kill you before you can tell anyone) there's no censor.

* The Mat Dickie game ''TheYouTestament'' has this with its citizens. It's not uncommon to watch citizens greet others, turn around and attack them, steal items, run around with ''missing limbs'', hug a person, then turn around and attack them... you try to do any of this stuff, [[CantGetAwayWithNuthin you're gonna get caught.]]

* ''{{Narbonic}}'' partially subverts this by showing that, while Dave Davenport's brother Bill is unable to see such things as talking gerbils or dancing androids, Dave proves equally blind to Bill's flaws as compared to himself, determined to see Bill as having a better life than he does. Also, when the clone-Dave is under the effect of the [[MadScientist Mad Science]] cure, he too is affected by the WeirdnessCensor, even while in the midst of a running battle.
** Elaborated on in the sequel, ''SkinHorse''. Although censors don't appear to be universal even among the regular population, those who have one make for good employees or middle-men in secret projects: one is guaranteed not to spill the beans when one is not aware there are any beans to be spilled.

* Most of the populace of Generictown in ''TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'' appears to have this trait to one degree or another (especially Mr. Bystander). Even Bob himself often refuses to acknowledge just ''how'' bizarre the situations are that he finds himself in. The only castmember completely free of this trope is Jean, leading her to exclaim at one point, [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20071006.html "Ye gods! I'm the only sane person in town!"]]

* In ''SlightlyDamned'', for most mortals the sight of a Demon and an Angel walking around together instead of fighting each other is so unthinkable everyone assumes that's just some people in costumes.

* Present in ''{{Thunderstruck}}'', where supernatural entities of all descriptions operate right under the nose of the general populace -- partly through passive Weirdness Censoring among the general populace, and partly through active [[{{Masquerade}} Masquerading]]. Children lack Weirdness Censors, though -- in fact, they're actually ''drawn'' to the supernatural.
* In ''EverydayHeroes'', it seems at first that Uma and her father are just using the standard PaperThinDisguise of wearing glasses to pass as human. Later, they mention using an [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/H2G2/ptitlex7dt39fg "Adams Field"]], implying that the glasses have some sort of WeirdnessCensor built into them.

* This seems to happen occasionally in ''{{Rhapsodies}}'' most notably after Dielle [[http://rhapsodies.wpmorse.com/?p=2088 hitches a ride]]
* In ZebraGirl, the lagomorphic Sam explains that he can stroll into any bar to have a drink without worrying about his appearance because most people will actively dismiss him out of hand even if he's sitting right there.

* In ''GunnerkriggCourt'' we are introduced to the Realm of The Dead from Kat's perspective where the organization and it's facilities seems to take the form of some kind of children's haunted house with her companions Annie and Mort completely mystified by her ability to treat it as such. When we finally get a look at [[EldritchLocation what they see]] it's hard not to sympathize. Whether it is this, InvisibleToNormals, or something else is not clear yet, though.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Justified in ''TheOrderOfTheStick'', where failing Listen or Spot check die rolls mean [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0003.html the characters can't see or hear enemies]] even if ''they're standing right in front of them''.
-->'''Goblin ninja:''' Ummm... we're like RIGHT here.
-->'''Belkar:''' Rats, I think I just failed a Listen check.
* In Webcomic/ElGoonishShive, the aliens, when [[AlienAmongUs walking among humans]], use a system of disguise that involves wearing shirts bearing the label 'human'. Despite their natural forms looking like LittleGreenMen, this method somehow successfully convinces anyone who has not been explicitly informed of their existence.

* Taken to extremes in the surrealist {{BBC}} Three Sketch Show ''TheWrongDoor'' when no-one seems to find a woman dating an Albertasaur odd at all, merely commenting on his age. Even when he eats one of their friends in front of them no one bats an eyelid.

* The Mat Dickie game ''TheYouTestament'' has this with its citizens. It's not uncommon to watch citizens greet others, turn around and attack them, steal items, run around with ''missing limbs'', hug a person, then turn around and attack them... you try to do any of this stuff, [[CantGetAwayWithNuttin you're gonna get caught.]]

* In ''Manga/SailorMoon [=SuperS=]'', a gigantic evil circus tent appears right in the middle of Tokyo, in obvious plain view. Among the other random massive evil fortresses and demonic whatnots that show up in the middle of that same city in other seasons. Part of what makes this one stand out in the show is a lack of this problem in most cases: the evil base in the first season was underground in Antarctica, the base is second season was on a distant planet in the far future, the base in the third season is a covert underground lab, and in the fifth it appears to be located in another dimension. The circus thing was actually [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by [[MonsterOfTheWeek the Lemures]] immediately after its appearance - they mocked the citizens for not noticing it.

* ''[[LightNovel/BludgeoningAngelDokurochan Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan]]'' {{lampshade}}s this in the first episode. She introduces herself to the class as an angel (after turning a classmate into a monkey and making another one completely vanish) despite Sakura's insistence that she keep it a secret, but they just nod and accept it fully. In fact, Sakura is the only one who seems the slightest bit weirded out by the situation. "This should really bother you! Say 'Ahh! Angels exist?!' or something!"
* The citizens of the Anime/DragonBallZ universe seem to quickly get over the fact that several towns and cities suddenly explode when a MonsterOfTheWeek comes by. In one episode, Nappa is seen destroying a naval fleet sent out to stop him, but after that, the military is never seen retaliating against future villains other than against Perfect Cell.

* In ''IkkiTousen'' nobody seems to care that students attack each other's high schools and commit openly visible acts of extreme violence. You'd at least expect that the police would try to intervene - or that the army would be called in to do something about the genocide that's taking place.

* In ''WindyTales'', almost nobody notices the huge amounts of cats that ''fly around'' on air streams, not even when they're cluttered together in a huge ball consisting of dozens of them during a typhoon.

* In Chapter 12 of the ''{{Hellsing}}'' manga, a group of tourists witness {{Alucard}} and [[ChurchMilitant Anderson]] preparing to fight to the death, and dismiss them as [[AllPartOfTheShow performance artists]]. You could say it was {{lampshaded}}, since they were inside a museum when that happened.

* In ''{{Mononoke}}'' almost no one takes notice of the Medicine Seller's FacialMarkings, CuteLittleFangs and PointedEars. Only once does anyone remark upon his unusual clothing. Usually, the most anyone notices about him is that he's very attractive.

* Much of the humor in ''BusoRenkin'' stems from the fact that the author took all the usual components of sci-fi superhero series, reached over to switch labeled "Weirdness Censor" and flipped it to "off." All of this is completely unknown to the main cast (except Tokiko, who lampshades it occasionally) who behave as flamboyantly as possible, fully believing that the Weirdness Censor is in full effect.
* This is often played for laughs in the typically bizarre world of ''OnePiece''. Particularly because the captain of the Strawhat Pirates, who is ''literally'' [[RubberMan made of rubber]], and who has recruited a large cast of truly freaky charaters into his crew, finds extremely random things to be weird. For example, he has a talking reindeer as his ship's doctor, but is shocked and baffled to meet a talking bear on another crew.

* Used liberally in the 80's ''Series/WarOfTheWorlds'' television series. The population at large believe that the 1938 invasion (as described in the Orson Welles radio broadcast) was a hoax, and have suffered a form of [[LaserGuidedAmnesia mass amnesia]] about the events of the 1953 film. This continues into the second season, albeit differently: several characters (including a military general and a main character) are killed off, and the army refuses to assist the surviving main characters in any way, even though said deceased characters had ties to a secret government project concerning extraterrestrial invaders.

* Used liberally in the 80's ''Series/WarOfTheWorlds'' television series. The population at large believe that the 1953 radio broadcast (and the events of the original film) were a hoax, and (as main character Harrison Blackwood says) have suffered a form of mass amnesia about the event. This continues on into the second season, albeit differently: several characters (including a military general and a main character) are killed off, and the army refuses to assist the surviving main characters in any way, even though said deceased characters had ties to a secret government project concerning extraterrestrial invaders.
* The same technique was used by Anthony Bourdain on the Washington, D.C. esisode of ''NoReservations'', when a spy guest demonstrated how spies in the Cold War hid things in drop-off points. In one particular instance, Bourdain feigned public urination to keep eyes off of him as he hid a "tip" in a discreet spot.

* Averted in the ''AssassinsCreed'' games, when bystanders will basically go "WTF?!" when they see Altiar, Ezio and so on climbing up a wall, and so on.

* Similarly, it's said you can tell who's a foreigner and who's not at Christmas parades in the Netherlands that feature performers disguised as Zwarte Piet ("Black Pete"). That is, mischievous clown figures in {{Blackface}}, imitating the folk character who (to the Dutch, at least), is Santa Claus's black servant. [[ValuesDissonance Since the Netherlands has always had a very small black population, and since Europeans don't tend to associate characters like Zwarte Piet with racial inferiority]], nobody complained that the parades were offensive until quite recently, and even then there was massive backlash when the Piets were made up in all different colors to avoid being offensive.) Among the crowds lining the streets for these parades, the Dutch are the ones smiling, laughing, or just passively taking in the spectacle. The foreigners - ''especially'' the Americans - are the ones with their jaws on the ground.

* In GunnerkriggCourt we are introduced to the Realm of The Dead from Kat's perspective where the organization and it's facilities seems to take the form of some kind of children's haunted house with her companions Annie and Mort completely mystified by her ability to treat it as such. When we finally get a look at [[EldritchLocation what they see]] it's hard not to sympathize. Whether it is this, InvisibleToNormals, or something else is not clear yet, though.

* In ''Film/{{Beetlejuice}}'' the dead are InvisibleToNormals because the living ignore the "strange and unusual." However Lydia can see the Maitlands because, as she says "I myself am strange and unusual."

* In Cognitive Psychology, the concept of a weirdness censor exists as a natural effect of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_bias "memory bias"]]; a tendency to rationalize, dismiss, or otherwise distort memories that are unpleasant, unusual, or inconvenient enough.
* NewYorkCity is notorious for this, and for good reason. [[Film/{{Thor}} Loki]] is invading a StarbucksCoffee? [[http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lykus3n4dl1qeeuteo1_500.jpg Not even enough to get the locals to stop checking their smartphones]]. (And this wasn't even on a day with a con nearby!)
* Everyone has a form of weirdness censor called change blindness. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voAntzB7EwE This video]] is designed to highlight the viewer's weirdness censor in action.