History Main / DramaticallyMissingThePoint

-->-''[[Film/OsmosisJones Osmosis Jones]]''

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' had this trope being the reason why [[BigBad Buddy Pine AKA Syndrome]] was never able to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a superhero. While he clearly was a gifted inventor with great ambition and enthusiasm and could have become a capable crimefighter as a ScienceHero, his failure to achieve his goal was because he focused entirely on the "super" aspect of being a superhero that involved having extraordinary powers and abilities and never gave any thought towards the "hero" part of it that motivated his ex-idols to use their powers for the greater good. As a child, he believed Mr. Incredible's refusal to accept him as his sidekick was due to him lacking any legitimate superpowers rather than being an over-impulsive, reckless youth who kept putting himself in harm's way despite Mr. I's efforts to dissuade him. This mentality persisted all the way to adulthood, as shown when Mr. Incredible calls him out for murdering retired superheroes so he can pretend to be one, he rebuffs that his technology made him real enough to capture the entire Parr family and get as far as he did rather than acknowledge how he was willing to become a mass-murdering lunatic for the sake of living out his self-centered fantasy.

->'''Shane Detori:''' (When Frank, her father, is about to eat an egg that was in a chimphanzee's mouth, and picked up from its straw-filled cage) Dad, that's ''filthy''!
->'''Frank Detori:''' Honey, 10-second rule. Once you pick it up within 10 seconds, you can eat it. ([[{{Squick}} And then starts eating the contaminated egg]], much to Shane's disgust.)[[labelnote:And also....]][[IdiotPlot Kicks starts the plot involving a deadly virus going to kill Frank!]][[/labelnote]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* The events of the second chapter (or the second segment of the first episode) of ''Manga/AsteroidInLove'' is basically caused by Ao, as she [[ShyBlueHairedGirl freaks out]] from the profuse stream of text messages Mira sends her on the day [[ChildhoodFriends they]] reunited, decides to consult a book on ''business'' emails to help her reply the texts. Ao's very formal response to Mira's texts makes Mira mistakenly think Ao [[OldFlameFizzle doesn't like her anymore]].
* ''Manga/{{Bakuman}}'':
** After learning that Nakai said that he'd only draw for Aoki if Aoki becomes Nakai's girlfriend, Fukuda confronts Nakai and punches him, angrily saying that he's forgotten his promise to compete with the other members of "Team Fukuda." Nakai, who's lost sight of his goals, angrily complains about Fukuda meddling in his love life.
** In the "PCP Copycat arc," someone imitates a "perfect crime" mentioned in PCP- breaking into a bank vault and leaving behind a note, thus causing MoralGuardians to come down even harder on the series. The point that both are missing is that while PCP are pranksters by nature, they only do "perfect crimes" that don't cause harm to others- when the crime was proposed in the manga itself, the characters decided against it, since someone breaking into the vault would cause the security company's reputation to suffer.
* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', the New Captain Amagai Arc has a villain whose motivation is that Head Captain Yamamoto killed his father. The only other clue he had is that the father's dying words were "Bakkoto," the {{MacGuffin}}s and Empathetic Weapons featured in the arc. It turns out that the father's last words were actually [[spoiler:"Beware the Bakkoto" and that Yamamoto killed him because he was possessed, making the entire arc a ShootTheShaggyDog Story as had he not sworn revenge, the original villain's schemes would have still outed him as a villain and Amagai (who committed suicide out of remorse after losing to Ichigo and learning the truth) would still be alive]].
** In Uryu's introductory arc, he starts a "hollow hunting contest," between himself and Ichigo to see whether Soul Reapers or Quincies are superior, since he's bitter about the Soul Reapers abandoning his grandfather. Not only does this endanger many innocent people, but it also misses the point of what his grandfather was trying to accomplish- he wanted Soul Reapers and Quincies to ''cooperate''. It's fairly telling that Ichigo gets the point the first time he's told the story, despite not having paid attention to it.
* In ''Manga/BloomIntoYou'':
** Many adults sing Touko's praises as being an ideal StudentCouncilPresident who takes after her late sister, not realizing that Touko was putting up a façade, [[spoiler:as was her sister]]. In Chapter 10, after hearing one of the teachers say something to this effect, Yuu, one of the few who's aware of Touko's insecurities, makes a brief internal monologue noting how much the teacher missed the mark.
** While in middle school, Sayaka was once in a relationship with her senpai, only for the older girl to break off their relationship, thinking that they're getting too old for the RomanticTwoGirlFriendship, leading Sayaka to transfer out and go to Toomi East High School. In a side chapter, Sayaka's ex sees her again, and apologizes for making Sayaka interested in girls in the first place. Sayaka, who has come to terms with her sexuality and fallen in love with Touko, is deeply hurt by her ex's comments, and [[StealthInsult after reassuring the older girl that she no longer loves her]], subtly expresses that she's still a lesbian by leaving arm-in-arm with Touko.
* ''Anime/CodeGeass'': In episode 21 of R2, [[spoiler:when Lelouch points out that he only wanted to exact vengeance so that good may result, for others' sake, whereas his father committed crimes for his benefit (he would have thrown away his children's lives without hesitation) and only cares that he wins (declaring how people feel as a result of another's actions a worthless delusion), [[SocialDarwinist Charles]] [[EvilCannotComprehendGood doesn't get it]].]]
** In fact, it's not just that he would've thrown his children's lives away; he '''did''' throw his children's lives away. Lelouch [[spoiler:tries to get his parents to understand that it's not right for them to have done that and argue that he had no right to disagree just because the things they'd planned to reunite the dead with the living happened to turn out well, but they refused to understand how evil it was that they would've let their children die (without even knowing whether their plan would succeed or not), and, worse still, self-serving; and, then, [[NeverMyFault Charles continues to blame God when he's been the one responsible for making the world as awful as it is]] (Lelouch points out that, regardless of the innocent lives that would be lost for Britannia's benefit, even with his children in exile, he was still bent on conquering Japan, and, according to Suzaku in the episode prior, he could've saved Euphy)]].
* This comes up in Teru Mikami's backstory in ''Manga/DeathNote''. As a child, Teru did what he could to protect his schoolmates from bullies, and while he enjoyed some initial success, in high school, the bullies retaliated against him, prompting his mother to advise him to give up on his crusade. The narration points out that she did so out of concern for his well-being, but Teru decided that his mother had no sense of justice, and actually rejoiced when she was killed along with a few of the bullies in an auto accident.
* In ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'', this is played with in Rui's backstory. After he turned into a demon and killed a human, his parents were planning to [[OffingTheOffspring kill him]] [[MurderSuicide and then themselves]] as a way of atonement, only for Rui [[SelfMadeOrphan to kill them instead]] and conclude that they never loved him. Despite that, Rui understood what they were trying to do on some level, and the only way he could live with what he had done was to lie to himself that his parents had never loved him.
* ''Manga/FoodWars'': Much of the drama instigated by the antagonists in the story is due to them falling into this:
** Both Erina Nakiri and her father Azami admire Joichiro Saiba as the ultimate chef, yet somehow they've made themselves a false image of him being [[ThePerfectionist a perfectionist who is obsessed with victory and does not admit failure]]. This is specially jarring in Erina's case, as flashbacks show that Joichiro outright tells her that the chance of failure is part of the fun of crafting a new dish. In Azami's case, he wants "revenge" on the culinary world who caused Joichiro to hit burnout due to people constantly pressuring him and overlooking the hard work he put into his dishes, not realizing, one, [[MoralMyopia that he himself is acting the]] ''[[MoralMyopia same]]'' [[MoralMyopia way as the people who ruined his idol]], and two, that Joichiro had long moved on and found happiness again in running a humble diner with his wife and son.
** In the final arc, Asahi Saiba, Joichiro's disciple and surrogate son of sorts, decided to take Joichiro's advice "the secret to becoming a great chef is meeting a woman that makes you want to give all the food you make to her." as meaning [[AndNowYouMustMarryMe he has to marry the ultimate female gourmet, Erina, to cook for]]. Obviously, Joichiro meant it as [[HerosMuse finding someone he actually wants to cook with all his heart for]], but Asahi doesn't realize this until he faces Joichiro's biological son Soma in the BLUE, who asks him [[ArmorPiercingQuestion why he wanted to marry Erina in the first place]]. [[spoiler:Worst of all, the girl he was trying to court was his ''half-sister'', which would have had [[SurpriseIncest serious consequences]] had he succeeded]].
* ''Manga/FruitsBasket'': What drives Kyo and Yuki's MutualEnvy:
** Yuki resents Kyo a lot because he thinks Kyo has the life with parental love and friends he desperately wants. While it's true Kyo has a good adoptive father in Kazuma, he has been very badly traumatized by his mother committing suicide and his biological father treating him like a disgusting monster. While the peers outside of the Sohma clan can act more natural around Kyo because he doesn't put on a perfect front like Yuki, Kyo is still unable to bond with people and pushes them away because of all the anger he has in him over the unfairness of his treatment from the Sohma clan and no one being able to understand him until he meets Tohru.
** On the other side, Kyo resents Yuki for being the Rat, the first of the Zodiac animals and the one closest to God, whereas he's been unfairly ostracized and abused for being the Cat his entire life. What Kyo doesn't realize is that being accepted by the Zodiac isn't necessarily a good thing; his greedy mother saw him as nothing but a MealTicket and sold him to Akito, who horrifically abused and scarred him in numerous ways, his parents and older brother abandoned him to such a fate, and he couldn't make friends because of [[LonelyAtTheTop his higher status in the Zodiac and curse alienating him from the other kids]].
* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', a downplayed example happens when Ed and Al's alchemy teacher Izumi learns that they violated a central taboo of alchemy by trying to transmute their mother back to life, and expels them as their pupils. Ed and Al are so dejected by their teacher casting them out that they miss the subtext- that she no longer sees them as students but as equals- and Izumi's husband Sig has to point it out to them.
* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency'', when Joseph and Caesar climb the Hell Climb Pillar, Joseph notices that Caesar's hanging on by his fingertips, and assumes he's about to fall off. Joseph forgot something Caesar had told him before, about how Hamon is best concentrated in the fingertips, meaning that Caesar was actually climbing properly. Joseph then remembers Caesar's advice, gets the hint and eventually manages to get the hang of climbing the pillar.
* In ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'', Shirogane says that Princess Kaguya's beloved was guilty of this in ''The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter''. The man had destroyed the elixir of immortality Kaguya had given him due to not wanting to live forever in a world without Kaguya. According to Shirogane, the elixir Kaguya's way of promising to see him again, even if their reunion would take longer than a human's lifetime.
* In ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'', Arf tells Fate that seeing her sad and in pain from her quest for the Jewel Seeds is driving her insane with grief and begs her to stop. Fate's response is that she'll just have to repress her feelings to avoid upsetting Arf and try even harder to finish her mission. Fate eventually gets the point after her mother makes it clear that she never thought of Fate as her daughter, and regrets taking Arf's loyalty for granted and causing her pain by persisting in this painful and hopeless quest.
** In ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers'', Teana, [[WeakButSkilled who's quite competent despite not having much magic power or many rare abilities]] initially assumes that the only appropriate response to any mistake or inability to adequately contribute is to try even harder, which in turn leads to more problems. During the mission to protect the hotel, she and the other Forwards, who are essentially the last line of defense, don't see much action, so Teana tries to let loose with a magical barrage rather than hold out until Vita arrives, nearly injuring Subaru if not for Vita's intervention. After getting a harsh scolding from Vita and a calmer lecture from Nanoha, Teana pushes herself in training for several days, and tries a reckless combination attack against Nanoha during a training exercise, resulting in Nanoha blasting her into unconsciousness (which is implied to be partly the result of exhaustion). When Teana wakes up that night and is temporarily taken off active duty out of concern for her health, Teana protests and states her desire to be useful until Signum punches her in the face. After learning Nanoha's backstory and more of her training plans, Teana gets the point and decides to use what magic she has strategically.
* In ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', [[{{Jerkass}} Endeavor]] believes that the only thing between him and the title of #1 Hero is that he isn't as strong as All Might, never thinking that it's related to the fact that he is an awful person who scares and is a huge jerk even to his own fans (later chapters reveal he has gathered a large {{Hatedom}} in-universe), while All Might is an IdealHero whose main interest is to make citizens feel safe and protected and inspires hope to the people. Endeavor becomes painfully aware of what he's lacking when [[spoiler:All Might is forced into retirement, and Endeavor becomes the #1 Hero by default, even though he can't be the Symbol of Peace that All Might had been. He's forced to clean up his act as a hero and a father, albeit with mixed results]].
* The New Fishman Pirates of ''Manga/OnePiece'' idolize Fisher Tiger, a fishman adventurer who attacked Marijoa, center of the human-run World Government, believing it to be retribution for the FantasticRacism fishmen suffered, and practice anti-humanism to such a degree that they have no problem enslaving human pirates that sail towards Fishman Island. What they didn't seem to pick up on is that Tiger hated slavery in general, and attacked the city to free as many slaves as he could, regardless of race.
* In ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', Kuwabara gets very angry with Yusuke for not telling him about [[spoiler:Genkai's death]], after having learned about the event in question in perhaps the worst way possible, but Kurama then tells Kuwabara that Yusuke didn't tell anyone else about it. Yusuke says it's because he was having trouble accepting it, and admitting what had happened would force him to accept reality. Kuwabara, who's often rather dense, replies as follows.
-->'''Kuwabara''': Why didn't you just say so, then?\\
'''Kurama''': [[LampshadeHanging Weren't you listening? That's just what he couldn't do]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10733441/1/Another-Chance Another Chance]]'', while most of the rest of Manga/FairyTail is attacking Lucy for hurting Lisanna, Natsu's confused as to why Gajeel, Juvia, Wendy and the Exceeds aren't helping out, especially Happy, given the history he and Natsu share with Lisanna. The point that Natsu's missing is that Lucy's the victim of a painfully obvious WoundedGazelleGambit by [[RonTheDeathEater Lisanna]], and if Makarov can smell the makeup that Lisanna is using to pretend to be injured, Natsu, as a Dragon Slayer with enhanced senses, should have been able to do so.
* In the first ending of ''[[https://miraculous786.tumblr.com/post/615293567779454976/cracks-are-all-it-takes-to-shatter Cracks Are All It Takes to Shatter]]'', [[TheHeroDies Marinette dies]] after her classmates [[FailedASpotCheck fail to notice]] that she's been akumatized into a porcelain doll for ''months'', breaking apart when Alya rips her sketchbook apart. A VideoWill is discovered where Marinette revealed her SecretIdentity as Ladybug and declared that, if anything happened to her, she wanted Alya to replace her. Rather than [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone recognizing how badly she wronged her former best friend]], Alya fixates on the idea that she gets to be the new Ladybug, smiling through her tears. This outrages Chat Noir enough that he furiously attacks her, screaming about how "'''You're the reason we need a new Ladybug!'''"
* ''[[Fanfic/FeralnetteAUBigFatBreak Feralnette AU]]'':
** Alya gets [[RuleOfThree three of these]] in rapid succession during the ''Enough Rope'' arc right after witnessing Marinette resist akumatization:
*** Firstly, she ignores how her '[[WithFriendsLikeThese best friend]]' is suffering and Lila's insistence that they should [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere escape]] in favor of snapping pics for her Ladyblog, gushing about what a fantastic scoop this is.
*** When Chat Noir and Ladybug react hostilely to Lila accusing Marinette of working with Hawkmoth despite having ''just'' witnessed her fighting off his influence, Alya leaps to her defense, claiming that it's just her '[[BlatantLies lying disease]]' acting up and that she's not actually doing any harm.
*** When Ladybug then [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech spells out for her]] just how her thoughtlessness has [[NiceJobBreakingItHero endangered everyone at the fair]], her immediate takeaway is to fret about her ''reputation'' taking a hit rather than [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone recognizing her mistakes]].
** Miss Bustier notices Marinette having a panic attack and requests that she see her after class, intending to scold her for making a scene, not getting enough rest, and not 'setting a good example'. Felix hustles her out before Bustier can corner her; the teacher's takeaway is to wonder "[[ItsAllAboutMe Am I really such an unapproachable teacher these days?]]"
** When Marinette [[WhatTheHellHero calls out Bunnyx]] for acting like her experiences don't matter because she's not the same as ''her'' Marinette, Bunnyx insists that "We can fix this!" Marinette then asks why, if she cares so much about helping her, she won't reveal Hawkmoth's SecretIdentity; Bunnyx refuses, as that's not how things went in ''her'' timeline and [[ExpendableAlternateUniverse that's the only one she cares about]].
* In ''Fanfic/FusionImpression'', Priyanka accidentally implies that fusion is Steven's way of taking advantage of Connie. He does not take it well.
* In ''Fanfic/TheHavocSideOfTheForce'', Jedi Master Ki-Adi-Mundi hears that for all the problems his arrival caused, pretty much everyone who actually talks to Harry Potter agrees that he's a decent if mischievous fellow. Mundi decides that Harry's brainwashing and enslaving them, including two Jedi Masters (Sinube and Qui-Gon Jinn), just by meeting them. [[spoiler:Later chapters reveal that Anakin's harmless prank of staining Ki Adi's head is causing a chemical reaction that increases his paranoia]].
* In ''Fanfic/HellIsAMartialArtist'', Hild goes from manipulating Ranma for her own amusement to genuinely caring about him and once he hits the DespairEventHorizon, she rewrites reality to make him her son. Urd, unable to see any good in her mother, drives herself up the wall trying to figure out her mother's angle and notes that even if she sent the request from Nidhogg, it'd still require Yggdrasil's approval and comes to the conclusion that Yggdrasil's been hacked, rather than realizing that God agreed with Hild.
* In ''Fanfic/AHeroRises'', Bakugo insists that being a Pro Hero is entirely about fighting villains, not saving people, going so far as to declare that saving hostages isn't his job. When All Might attempts an ArmorPiercingResponse by pointing out that by Bakugo's logic, he should've left the boy to die at the hands of the Sludge Villain, Bakugo simply insists he didn't need any help.
* ''FanFic/InfinityTrainBlossomingTrail'':
** When Chloe confronts Goh and her father about how their obsession with Pokémon and obliviousness to her feelings have made her feel neglected and left behind, Goh lashes out in return in a way that only strengthens her stance. Specifically, he declares that his quest to find Mew has given him a GoalInLife that she lacks, unintentionally implying that her lack of interest in Pokémon is, in fact, a critical flaw in his eyes.
** Similarly, Professor Cerise starts praising Chloe for battling Ash... but that makes Chloe feel like her father will only notice her if she gets involved with Pokémon.
** When Atticus asks Chloe why she can't get along with Ash if their Pokémon can, she replies that there's no way for them to be friends since Ash already has Goh. Not only does it cause her number to go back to where it was before, she starts blaming Ash for causing that.
** Even with Chloe spelling out her issues with both of them directly during her big blow-up, both Goh and her father still struggle with understanding what's eating her. Goh naively believes that they just need to find her to fix everything, while her father gradually backslides as he finds other things to blame her running away on.
** When Parker suggests that Chloe's interest in horror runs along the same lines of his father's interest in researching Pokémon, Professor Cerise completely blows him off.
** When Chloe finally responds to Goh's texts, she explains to him that she can't leave the Train yet -- and even if she ''could'', she's not ready to return home and is tired of [[WeUsedToBeFriends trying to fix their friendship]]. Goh responds by begging her to come back, [[NoListeningSkills completely ignoring everything she's saying]]... and when she asks him to pass on some messages for her, eagerly asks if she'll come back after he does that for her.
* ''Fanfic/TheKarmaOfLies'':
** Due to his LackOfEmpathy, Adrien fails to understand why Marinette is so upset to learn that their friends/classmates are donating all the clothes she made for them to one of Lila's FakeCharity drives. He promptly 'reassures' her that "They're just clothes!" and that she can ''easily'' make more.
** When Plagg tries to explain to Adrien that [[RichInDollarsPoorInSense not everyone is as rich as the Agrestes]] and his classmates might not be able to replace the things Lila swindles away from them, Adrien blithely declares that they'd ''never'' give up anything they can't afford to lose.
** Chat Noir has a ''disastrous'' interview wherein Ladybug spells out that she's never been interested in him, and only endured his unwanted advances for fear of one of them getting akumatized. He also turns the public against him by callously underplaying how much Hawkmoth terrorized Paris. Afterwards, he complains to Plagg that Ladybug should have tried ''harder'' to let him know that she wasn't interested (despite her repeatedly telling him just that and going ignored), and acts as though the public is being ''ungrateful'' for everything he did for them.
* ''Fanfic/LeaveForMendeleiev'':
** Adrien/Chat Noir has this problem. No matter how many times it's explained to him how dangerous it would be for him to know Ladybug's SecretIdentity -- and that Ladybug neither wants him to know or is interested in any of his 'romantic advances' -- he refuses to stop trying, insisting that it will all be fine because [[EntitledToHaveYou they're 'meant to be together']].
** After Lady Wifi mistakenly 'exposes' Chloe as Ladybug, Adrien doesn't understand why Ladybug keeps insisting [[CassandraTruth that's not true]]. On top of taunting her with the idea that everyone knows who she is now, he gets annoyed when she ducks into a closet to detransform and stands outside, insisting that she doesn't have to keep up the pretense of hiding her identity and that it's 'safe' to show him who she is... acting like ''she's'' the one being unreasonable for getting upset.
** Even after being forced to recognize that she's not Chloe after all, he continues to insist that he doesn't know why the idea upsets her so much. When she spells out to him that Chloe is a SpoiledBrat AlphaBitch who's always [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections abusing her father's position as the mayor]], and about as far away from hero material as you can ''get'', he completely blows all of that off to focus on the idea that [[SayingTooMuch Ladybug unintentionally hinted that she]] ''knows'' Chloe.
** Adrien's complete refusal to grasp the importance of keeping secret identities ''secret'' leads to him casually outing [[spoiler:Lila's false identity as Volpina ''while she's being held hostage by Mime'']], utterly failing to see how he's just made the situation significantly ''worse''.
** When Ladybug stresses to him that relationships take time, effort, and mutual investment, he grasps her hand and tosses out a smarmy line about "Good thing we're already there," completely ignoring her complete disinterest in getting together with him.
* ''Fanfic/LetTheGalaxyBurn'': When it turns out that the Longbow Network, a satellite defensive network developed by a company owned in part by the Tarlys, which is an economic rival to the Tyrell-Redwyne-Hightower alliance, was what allowed the defenders of Southshield to beat the Ironborn back while suffering few casualties, one of the Hightowers muses that they ought to start doing propaganda to offset any good publicity the Longbow Network has earned.
* In ''Fanfic/MarigamiStories'', everyone assumed that Marinette was with Kagami - or "the ice queen" as Alya calls her - as a form of payback when the rest of them ignore her for "mistreating" Lila.
* In ''Fanfic/NeitherABirdNorAPlaneItsDeku'', Izuku discovers his Kryptonian SuperStrength a little over an hour after being declared Quirkless. His sheer excitement over powers at all makes him forget that Quirks are inherited from one's parents. Thus it should be impossible for him to have superhuman strength since his parents have [[BreathWeapon fire-breathing]] and [[MindOverMatter the ability to attract small objects]] respectively. He only puts two-and-two together after his Super-Hearing manifests while his parents argue with Dr. Tsubasa in the hospital, forcing Inko and Hisashi to tell Izuku the truth about his origins.
* Alya is unfortunately prone to this in the ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' fic ''FanFic/TheOneToMakeItStay'':
** After Alya posts a video of Chat Noir [[LoveConfession confessing his feelings]] to Ladybug, [[ManipulativeEditing carefully editing it]] to support her ship, she fails to understand just why Ladybug is so upset. The only complaint she doesn't brush off is when Ladybug points out that Hawkmoth probably reads the Ladyblog too, and might try to use that misinformation to his advantage. Aside from that, she doesn't appear to care about Ladybug's feelings at all, and protests being punished for the breach of trust.
** Alya also interrupts Marinette, Luka and Manon's outing at the museum and attempts to drag her away to force her into spending more time with Adrien. When Marinette protests, saying that she doesn't ''want'' to confess to him (as she's already dating Luka), Alya thinks she means that she's still too intimidated to do it without help.
** When Marinette spells out to Alya that she's already in a relationship with Luka, Alya continues to insist that she ''must'' still have feelings for Adrien, even accusing her of only dating Luka as part of an OperationJealousy scheme.
* ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/11473760/ An Orchid Beside The Red Heaven Way]]'' lampshades a common misconception about Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet, as [[Manga/RanmaOneHalf Akane]] calls it [[MisaimedFandom "the most famous romance in the world"]], only for her friend Ran to correct her.
--->'''Ran''': I don't want to burst your bubble but Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy.\\
'''Akane''': Well, they do die at the end, but...\\
'''Ran''': No, you're not getting it. It's a tragedy. Two silly kids raised by oblivious parents in a city full of stupidity. They take several rash actions on the spur of the moment, try to run away and hide from the consequences and end up killing themselves for nothing. Everyone is hurt, and everyone is to blame. That's why it's a tragedy.
* In ''FanFic/OriginOfANonHero'', Izuku and Ochaco's son Shikinori wants absolutely nothing to do with Pro Heroism after seeing how much it cost their family. Despite repeatedly making clear to his father that he has no interest in heroism, he still feels pressured to [[FollowInMyFootsteps follow in their footsteps]], to the point that he wants to have his Quirk ''removed entirely'' just so they'll stop asking. Ultimately, when Izuku believes that [[spoiler:he's gone through with it]], his response is to [[spoiler:consider giving him One For All... even though that would just add to his son's sense that he wanted him to become a Hero no matter what]].
* ''FanFic/OfPatienceAndPettiness'':
** Kagami attempts to help Adrien understand how he mishandled the Lila situation by asking him whether he would ever lie to her or Marinette. When he insists that he'd never do so, she then asks why it was okay for ''[[ManipulativeBitch Lila]]'' to trick everyone, only for Adrien to insist that she only lied because [[IJustWantToHaveFriends she was trying to impress others]]. But since they're ''already'' friends, he doesn't have any reason to lie to Kagami or Marinette.
** When Marinette calls him out on his failure to support or even check up on her while she was dealing with Lila, Adrien attempts to [[NeverMyFault pin the blame on her]] by declaring that he DID try, only to get rebuffed. This ignores several details: the fact that he only did so ''after'' she [[LiarRevealed exposed Lila]], intending to scold her for standing up for herself, and that he was Chat Noir at the time -- he never attempted any intervention ''as Adrien''. [[spoiler:This results in Marinette realizing they were one and the same, [[WhatTheHellHero much to her disgust]].]]
** Adrien [[RuleOfThree does this again]] when Nino encourages him with a pep talk about how they can't change the past, but can make the future better, using his desire to rebuild his friendship with Marinette as an example. The fact that he's talking about learning from their mistakes and making better decisions sails clear over Adrien's head; instead, he decides to 'fix' things by [[UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo pursuing a romantic relationship with her]].
* ''Fanfic/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse:'' During ''Tales of Ponyville'', Trixie sees Raindrops out enjoying the rain. Since Raindrops is usually a grouchy sort, Trixie assumes she's an imposter, drags her inside and tries "exposing" her, forcing Raindrops to take a highly embarrassing truth potion to confirm that yes, she ''is'' Raindrops.
* ''Fanfic/RecklessnessMiraculousLadybug'' has this as one of Alya's {{Fatal Flaw}}s:
** While she realizes that Marinette likely won't ''approve'' of her plan to use a Wish to [[MundaneUtility learn who Hawkmoth is]], she fails to grasp '''why''', and instead tries to avoid confrontation by stealing the Miraculi she needs while she's sleeping. When Marinette wakes up and resists, she doesn't understand why she's fighting back, insisting she knows what's best and accusing her of not wanting anyone to be stronger than her.
** After her efforts inadvertently [[spoiler:get Adrien akumatized and Marinette ''killed'']], Alya focuses on how this lets her get the other Earring she needs easier, brushing off the horrified and tearful reactions of witnesses as 'pointlessly dramatic'. After all, her Wish will [[RealityWarpingIsNotAToy rewrite reality]], so what does it matter if they don't ''know'' that and are reacting to [[spoiler:the bloody demise of an innocent girl/their LoveInterest/''their own daughter'']]?
* In ''FanFic/RedactionOfTheGoldenWitch'', the Protagonist of the 1996 sections is deeply uncomfortable with how their Witch Hunter friends treat the whole matter of the [[VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry Rokkenjima Incident]], and hopes that they'll come to recognize that the tragedy was a very real incident, with real victims, and that the fandom they've built up around it is... really kind of creepy and exploitive. Time and again, the darker implications and impact of their actions is lost upon them.
* ''Fanfic/RobbReturns'': [[spoiler:The message from the Seven, delivered via their statues turning Northwards, was intended to warn their followers against the Others, but many of their followers either misinterpret or choose to believe that it's warning them against the North and the Old Gods instead.]]
* In [[IntrepidReporter Alya's]] chapter of [=ChaoticNeutral's=] ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/20689988/chapters/49524416 Salt Series]]'', her reactions to the web seminar are a mixture of this and denial. As she watches one of her idols systematically deconstruct and criticize every mistake and misstep in her journalistic efforts, Alya attempts to dismiss and excuse as much as possible. For instance, when Victoria points out how she violated Chloe's right to privacy chasing an easily disproven hunch, her immediate reaction is to think that it doesn't matter because it was [[AssholeVictim Chloe]]. Similarly, she tries to justify her stealing the textbook Ladybug dropped as chasing a lead rather than theft and potential {{Blackmail}}.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11639574/1/Sorting-Sideways Sorting Sideways]]'', the [[Literature/HarryPotter Sorting Hat]] is worried students are more focused on trying to fit into the House they want rather than find a House that fits them. So he deliberately sorts an entire year into the House that represents what they most lack and/or need. For example, Hermione lacks humility and Draco doesn't see the value of hard work so both are sent to Hufflepuff. Meanwhile, Ron wants to prove himself but is daunted by his brothers' accomplishments so being in Slytherin will help him to greatness, though not easily.
* In ''Fanfic/TheStalkingZukoSeries'' this essentially sums up Aang's position on sparing Ozai, something that most of the characters and the author believe is a grave mistake. For example, after turning Ozai over to the Fire Nation to be imprisoned, Aang is honestly confused that Ozai ''isn't'' grateful to Aang for sparing his life.
* ''Fanfic/WrongRoadToTheRightPlace'': [[spoiler:After Dinah Lance confesses she let Sara get on the ''Gambit'', she thinks Laurel's anger and pain is because Laurel blames her for Sara's death. Oliver needs to outright tell her that Laurel realizes Sara's death is not her fault, and she is angry because Dinah betrayed her.]]
[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory4'' builds its ending around this trope throughout most of the film. After having spent weeks not being played with by Bonnie, Woody fears he's lost his purpose, but still maintains loyalty to his owner in spite of the fact. His actions to prove his loyalty to her constantly end up causing him and his friends trouble, even if he never meant to. When he reencounters his old flame Bo Peep, she spends much of the time trying to convince him he needed to move on with his life, but he doesn't quite seem to get it, content with staying as Bonnie's toy. It takes a disastrous rescue mission and Bo walking out on him afterwards that Woody realizes that he's been largely unable to move on from being Andy's toy, and that Bonnie doesn't appreciate him the same way as Andy did. Thus, [[spoiler: he decides to stay with Bo and live life as a lost toy]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' had this trope being the reason why [[BigBad Buddy Pine AKA Syndrome]] was never able to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a superhero. While he clearly was a gifted inventor with great ambition and enthusiasm and could have become a capable crimefighter as a ScienceHero, his failure to achieve his goal was because he focused entirely on the "super" aspect of being a superhero that involved having extraordinary powers and abilities and never gave any thought towards the "hero" part of it that motivated his ex-idols to use their powers for the greater good. As a child, he believed Mr. Incredible's refusal to accept him as his sidekick was due to him lacking any legitimate superpowers rather than being an over-impulsive, reckless youth who kept putting himself in harm's way despite Mr. I's efforts to dissuade him. This mentality persisted all the way to adulthood, as shown when Mr. Incredible calls him out for murdering retired superheroes so he can pretend to be one, he rebuffs that his technology made him real enough to capture the entire Parr family and get as far as he did rather than acknowledge how he was willing to become a mass-murdering lunatic for the sake of living out his self-centered fantasy.
* In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'', the Dragon Scroll is said to impart enormous power upon those who read it and is the ultimate reward for the one chosen to be the Dragon Warrior. However, [[spoiler: it would turn out that the power is all spiritual. The scroll itself is just a shiny surface acting as a mirror, showing the reflection of the one looking at it because all the power, skill and value is within them, not the scroll]]. It's telling that Tai Lung and Shifu did not understand the meaning behind it and misunderstood what the Dragon Warrior was supposed to be all along. Tai Lung even says [[spoiler: when looking at his own reflection]] that it's nothing.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Encanto}}'': Alma sees the magical "gifts" as something that her family must prove to be deserving of and never take for granted. Except a gift isn't a reward, it's an unconditional gesture of love. [[spoiler: By believing it will preserve the magic to have her children and grandchildren live to benefit others, leading to rampant emotional instability, Alma unwittingly took the true gift, her family's safety and happiness, for granted.]]

* In ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'', Henry didn't realize the way he was treating his son was driving a wedge between them. Indy states this when CallingTheOldManOut.
* ''Film/MoulinRouge'': Christian leaves before the finale of ''El Tango De Roxanne'', depressed at the thought of [[spoiler: Satine sleeping with the Duke]], in doing so missing the point of the song; the Argentinian was playing the part of ''The Duke'', not Christian, during the song; it was a warning that he (The Duke) was going [[spoiler:to do anything, [[RapeAsDrama including rape]], to be with Satine.]]
* ''Film/SecretsAndLies'': Cynthia thinks that Maurice and Monica don't have children because Monica doesn't want any while Maurice does. Going by the way she tries to cut her mother off when she confronts Monica, Roxanne has probably already cottoned on to the real reason.
* ''Film/OverTheEdge'': After [[spoiler: Richie is shot by Doberman for pointing an unloaded gun at him]], Jerry calls a PTA meeting, but his discussion is less about how to deal with the problem of delinquency, and more about how to maintain the town's property values. This causes Fred, his own business partner, [[WhatTheHellHero to angrily call Jerry, himself, and every parent in the meeting out for neglecting their children]].
* ''Film/InterviewWithTheVampire'': Louis (the titular vampire) spends the whole of his interview with a reporter named Daniel discussing how he was sired by Lestat and the years he has spent as a vampire. He describes his unlife and the blood lust that came with it as [[WhoWantsToLiveForever a torturous existence that has been nothing but painful]] with [[CursedWithAwesome any supposed benefits]] being far outweighed [[BlessedWithSuck by the negatives]]. Daniel, however, becomes so enamoured with the idea of living forever as a supernatural being that he asks Louis to make him a vampire. Predictably (and understandably), Louis flips out.
* Done subtly in ''Film/TheSandlot''. At the end of the movie, Scotty and Benny meet the CoolOldGuy Mr. Mertle, a [[RetiredBadass retired baseball star]] who supposedly once knew Babe Ruth personally, and always dreamed of beating the Babe's home run record before he was forced to retire when a wayward baseball left him blind. After hearing his life story, Scotty assumes that he never got to beat the record because he lost his eyesight. Of course, an older viewer will probably deduce the real reason: he's a middle-aged African-American man in the 1960s, and he would have played long before baseball teams were desegregated. In all likelihood, he was never allowed to achieve his dream because he was never allowed to play against White players.
* In ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', [[spoiler: when 2014!Thanos sees that even five years after managing to complete his grand scheme of "solving" the OverpopulationCrisis by wiping out half the population of the universe, everyone still remembers and are recovering from the event, the Avengers killed his future self for it, and are in the process of trying to undoing it. Instead of realizing that his solution was the wrong one from seeing these things, he decides everyone else are simply ungrateful and decides instead that he will wipe out ''the entire population of the universe'' and build a new one where no one will know the atrocities he committed and [[ItsAllAboutMe everyone will be grateful towards him]]]].
* ''Film/TheHunt2020'': The hunters attempt to make their hunt a long-running homage to ''Literature/AnimalFarm'', complete with a pig and nicknaming them after the animals in them. They seem to utterly miss that it's a story about leftist revolutionaries becoming as bad as the people who they revolted against. Nor does Athena seem to realize that Crystal isn't who she should dub "Snowball" after the Trotsky character in the story. Crystal notes that going by what Athena believes, she should give that to ''herself'' as a nickname.
* ''Film/ThePaperChase'': Near the end of the law school year, Bell lords an ''800-page'' course outline over the other members of the study group as the pinnacle of what a great outline should be. However, law school course outlines are supposed to be around 50-80 pages in length, because they're a summary of the year-long class. Given that most textbooks are around 800 pages in length, an 800-page outline isn't "summarizing" anything and would be worthless as a study aid. You might as well just read the textbook itself.

* ''Literature/TheCollector''. Clegg stalks and abducts Miranda, a young woman he's grown obsessed with. After numerous escape attempts on her part, [[spoiler:Miranda becomes severely ill and dies because Clegg refuses to let her out of captivity to see a doctor.]] The lesson Clegg learns from all of this? Things went badly because ''he was too lenient a captor,'' and the book ends with him stalking another girl, eager to put his new knowledge to use.

* One in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'''s backstory is shown in the Literature/HorusHeresy novel ''Betrayer''. In the Night of the Wolf, Leman Russ and the Space Wolves confronted Angron about his practice of using forbidden technology to turn the World Eaters into raving berserkers, and the two legions came to blows over it. Angron always said that he won, that he thrashed Leman Russ in close combat until the Wolf had to crawl away. Decades later, Lorgar of the Word Bearers explained that Angron won the duel, but Russ won the battle - Angron's bloodlust led him to be surrounded by Russ' bodyguard while the rest of the World Bearers fought on oblivious, therefore proving Russ' point that [[SoldierVsWarrior Russ' soldiers were greater than Angron's warriors]]. The only reason Russ spared Angron was in hope that the Primarch learned something.
* ''Literature/TheTravelersGate'': Naraka Travelers are supposed to be completely dedicated to justice. Unfortunately, Naraka defines justice as "punishing the guilty." They don't much care about side effects of their punishments, or even about preventing crimes. A Naraka Traveler can commit a crime, undergo proper penance for it in the form of pain, and then go right back to committing the same crime again.
* ''LightNovel/AscendanceOfABookworm'': Myne describes her previous life mother's attempts to save water and electricity to be this. She would turn water off while brushing her teeth but not while doing dishes and unplug the television while it was not in use only to regularly fall asleep while it was on.
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
** Anyone who possesses the three Deathly Hallows is said to become the "Master of Death". Many people theorize that this means giving their owner some sort of immortality. The various people who undertake the search for the Hallows believe as such, including Xenophilius Lovegood, Gellert Grindelwald, and a young Albus Dumbledore. Only later in life did Dumbledore realize that "mastering Death" doesn't mean conquering death and becoming immortal, but ''accepting'' that death is inevitable, much like how Ignotus Peverell, creator of the Invisibility Cloak, greeted Death like an old friend. During their meeting [[spoiler:in the AfterlifeAntechamber]] at the end of ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]'', Dumbledore calls Harry a true Master of Death, because he did not use the Hallows as a way to deny his mortality.
** The point about the Master of Death is actually stressed as the ''main'' {{Aesop}} of "The Tale of the Three Brothers", included in [[Literature/TheTalesOfBeedleTheBard a children's book]] that is widely read in the wizarding world. Strange that very few people get it.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/BlackMirror'': In the first episode, [[Recap/BlackMirrorTheNationalAnthem "The National Anthem"]], everyone seems to be way more interested in the sensationalism of the ridiculous demands of the princess' kidnapper to actually think about her well-being. It's enforced with her release at the point of no return, making it clear that the kidnapper's actions were nothing more than a statement.
* Brenda in ''Series/TheCloser'' is many times blindingly oblivious to her hypocrisy when she calls out other people for being manipulative, arrogant, ignoring the rules, lying to her, or ignoring her authority even when others specifically try to make her realize this. It eventually comes back to bite her in the final season and she does start to realize that a series of murders the unit has had to deal with, not to mention the professional difficulties they've had that season, are largely her fault.
* ''Series/TheCleanerUK'': This turns out to be the reason why the Widow finally snapped and killed her husband. She wanted to go to Italy on vacation to visit the Dolamite mountains, something she dreamed of since she was a child. She gave her husband plenty of hints of what she wanted and felt that he owed it to her for all the years of going to modeling conventions for their vacations. Her husband got her hints but decided that instead of a vacation he would build her a large model of the location. This finally broke the woman and she stabbed the husband to death for being so self absorbed and blind to her needs.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E1PartnersInCrime "Partners in Crime"]] has an unusual, spoilery example related to the Series 4 StoryArc, one that is disguised by making it look like another character is ComicallyMissingThePoint. [[spoiler:It turns out that when Miss Foster's employers told her that their breeding planet was lost, she didn't realize they meant it completely literally: the planet had vanished into thin air. It's clear she assumed the planet to have been "lost" in the metaphorical sense, as a nation might lose territory in a war.]] The writer was clearly trying to trip the audience up with this one, as [[spoiler:the conversation initially seems like the Doctor is misinterpreting what Foster said by assuming the planet to have disappeared, when he's correctly figured out what she misinterpreted.]]
--->'''Miss Foster:''' [[spoiler:I've been employed by the Adiposian First Family to foster a new generation after their breeding planet was lost.]]\\
'''The Doctor:''' [[spoiler:What do you mean, "lost"? How’d you ''lose'' a planet?]]\\
'''Miss Foster:''' [[spoiler:Oh, the politics are none of my concern. I'm just here to look after the children on behalf of the parents.]]
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E12ThePandoricaOpens "The Pandorica Opens"]]: When the Doctor relays the myth of the Pandorica; any fan can grasp the implication that it's [[spoiler:the Doctor the myth is referring to, especially after he trumps up his countless victories over all the alien races present as just a single unarmed man with no plan. Interestingly enough, he does talk indirectly about himself regarding it, namely that it was sealed by a good wizard tricking it.]]
--->'''The Doctor:''' There was a goblin, or a... trickster. Or a warrior. A nameless, terrible thing, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos. And nothing could stop it, or hold it, or... reason with it. One day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world.
* ''Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier'': A central issue with John Walker is his fundamental misunderstanding of Captain America and what it means to take up the mantle. John believes he's worthy of the title because he's physically capable and always follows orders, and that's what makes someone Captain America. But Steve Rogers earned the title because he was a good man before he was a good soldier: he always did what he believed to be the right thing, which in many instances put him [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight in direct oppositions with orders from the higher-ups]]. This disconnect between the image of being Captain America in Walker's head and the reality is a major contributor to his mental decline and it's only when he finally gets the point in the end does it stop.
* ''Series/TheFlash2014'' After kidnapping Caitlin, Zoom is attempting to get her to experience StockholmSyndrome for him [[spoiler:so that she'll fall in love with him again]]. He fails to recognize that it won't work [[spoiler:because she didn't fall in love with Hunter Zolomon, the serial killer from Earth-2, but Jay Garrick, the hero of Earth-2. But "Jay" was never real, and Hunter is nothing like what she fell for.]]
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
** In [[Recap/GameOfThronesS1E7YouWinOrYouDie Season 1, Episode 7]], Jon is incensed that he was named as Mormont's steward, when he expected to be a ranger because of his fighting abilities. Sam points out that he's essentially being made personal assistant to the Lord Commander, right out of training, which gives him a very rare opportunity to work with and learn from the man, and very likely means that Mormont is grooming him for command.
** In [[Recap/GameOfThronesS5E2TheHouseOfBlackAndWhite Season 5, Episode 2]], Cersei and Jaime Lannister learn that their child Myrcella is in danger in Dorne. Cersei loudly and angrily threatens vengeance if "our daughter" is harmed. Jaime tries to quiet her and reminds her that no one can be allowed to hear that Myrcella is their daughter. Cersei reprimands Jaime quite venomously and tells him "then don't call her your daughter," somehow failing to realise that HER previous angry rant is why Jaime spoke up in the first place.
* ''Series/GoodOmens2019'': The angels sometimes fail to understand that the point of being good is to be ''good'', not just to oppose the demons.
-->'''Aziraphale:''' There doesn't have to be a war.\\
'''Gabriel:''' Of course there does. Otherwise, how would we ''win'' it? ''[gives "duh" look]''
* Arthur in ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'' is convinced that he's created a golden age of equality and justice where all men are respected. In many ways he has, as he's married a peasant girl who was worthy to be Queen, knighted the commoners who helped him take back his kingdom, and established the Round Table. However, he has remained oblivious to the people that need equality most: the magic-users, who were shunned and persecuted during his father's reign. [[spoiler:This comes back to bite him hard when it is what eventually turns Mordred, until then a loyal knight, on him.]]
** He's also claimed his strength is in the support of Camelot, and that he is much wiser for accepting the advice of others. The one person he does not accept the advice of? Merlin, who is [[TheGoodChancellor the]] [[WiseBeyondTheirYears most]] [[TheSmartGuy deserving]].
* Happens in episode 61 of ''Series/MimpiMetropolitan''. When Bambang tells Melani about how insecure he feels from people not believing Melani is his girlfriend, Melani asks him why is he listening to other people. Melani's point is that Bambang should just listen to her then, but Bambang thinks Melani wants him to stop listening to people altogether and angrily tells her it's impossible. Melani storms away out of frustration and only tells Bambang her point after they make up in the ending.
* In one episode of ''Series/{{NUMB3RS}}'', an internal affairs officer working with the FBI sends a uniformed LAPD officer -- a ''male'' officer, no less -- to transport a woman who had just been raped by a police officer. Even when she's called on it, she doesn't quite understand the issue.
-->'''Megan:''' You put a woman who was attacked by a cop in a car with a cop?\\
'''IA Officer:''' Nobody wants to get this guy more than we do.\\
'''Megan:''' [[LampshadeHanging That's not the point.]]
* In the seventh season of ''Series/{{Psych}}'', Juliet discovers that Shawn has been lying about being a psychic, and this implodes their relationship. He spends the following episode mulling things over and tells her that "If I hadn't given you my jacket, everything would be okay." No, Shawn, it wouldn't, and that's the point.
** It even seems to be part of his character that he can't stop himself from missing the point. Just before that scene he has a full dream about how to properly handle the situation from completely listening to Juliet's feelings to acknowledging and apologizing for his mistakes...Once he wakes up however and is immediately faced with the same situation he proceeds to do everything in the opposite way leading to the quote above which completely torpedoes the situation.
** Juliet's own face says it all. Shawn knows her dad was a con artist and thus Juliet absolutely ''hates'' liars and the like. And here's Shawn clearly thinking it's ''how'' Juliet found out the truth that's upsetting her, ''not'' that Shawn has been lying to her all these years like her father did.
* ''Series/{{Soap}}'': Burt's doctor calls him in to tell him that he's got a rare disease.
-->'''Burt:''' OK, then what's the treatment?\\
'''Doctor:''' Burt, there is no treatment.\\
'''Burt:''' So, what, it just goes away by itself, huh?
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': Well into the Dominion War, Weyoun notices that Damar has actually started showing up to work sober. He takes it as a good sign that Weyoun has turned the corner on his despair and has renewed confidence in Dominion victory. In fact, Damar's newfound sense of purpose came from his decision to foment a rebellion against the Dominion.
* [[invoked]] In Creator/{{HBO}}'s ''[[Series/Watchmen2019 Watchmen]]'' SequelSeries, [[JerkassWoobie Rorshach]] had his journal posthumously published by ''The New Frontiersman'' in the hopes of it revealing that [[MadScientist Adrian Veidt]] was responsible for the deaths of over 3 million innocent people and traumatizing countless more in [=11/2=]. Unfortunately, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome it was promptly dismissed as the mad ravings of an]] AxCrazy SerialKiller by general society, and only found a MisaimedFandom in the [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain white supremacist]] [[RightWingMilitiaFanatic Seventh Kavalry]], who began to use it as a paper-thin justification for their actions as WesternTerrorists against minority groups. Now, Rorshach was certainly a PoliticallyIncorrectHero, but it's still painfully obvious that he would be utterly revolted by his desire to have justice served against a mass-murdering {{Narcissist}} instead be misappropriated by TheKlan as an excuse for killing countless InnocentBystanders.
* ''Series/TheXFiles''. In "Never Again" Scully [[ThisIsMySide complains that she has to share Mulder's desk]]; this and some {{Jerkass}} behaviour from her partner causes her to go off and engage in a number of OutOfCharacter behaviors like getting a tattoo and engaging in a one-night stand. At the end of the episode Mulder says, "I don't understand...all this over a desk?" Scully just replies: "Not everything is about you, Mulder." [[spoiler:The truth is Scully had just discovered she had cancer.]]
[[/folder]]

-->'''Valjean''': "My sister's child was close to death, we were starving--"
-->'''Javert''': "You'll starve again!"

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/Persona4''
** When Mitsuo's Shadow is defeated, and disappears, Mitsuo starts gloating, acting as though he'd defeated it. In reality, this means that he failed to come to terms with the personal flaws that gave rise to it, in stark contrast to the heroes, who'd used those powers to defeat it.
** In Chie's Social Link, one of Chie's old friends, Takeshi, is infatuated with Yukiko. At Rank 8, he complains to her about how Yukiko had a "funky laugh" the last time he saw her, and points out that he thinks she "was better off gloomy." Chie points out that's how Yukiko naturally is, and it's subtly indicated that [[CharacterDevelopment she gradually gains the confidence to be herself around people other than Chie]]. Contrasting this earlier was after saving Yukiko and seeing her open more to the others, Yosuke notes he wants to know more of her like this as a person.
** Kanji says that a great deal of his efforts to be a man at first, such as beating up biker gangs and hiding his interest in handicrafts, were a result of trying to follow his late father's advice to "become strong," out of the belief that [[WellDoneSonGuy his father didn't think he was strong enough]] (to be fair, he was a kid when he lost his father.) Kanji ultimately realizes that he had the wrong idea of what it means to be strong, and so decides to be true to himself.
* ''VideoGame/Persona5''
** Early on in the game, if you talk to two girls at Shujin, they will remark about how Ann's best friend Shiho often meets with Kamoshida, her volleyball coach, for one-on-one sessions, and leaves feeling depressed. Rather than realize that Kamoshida is physically abusing Shiho [[spoiler:and later rapes her]], the girls are offended that Shiho is sad after monopolizing Kamoshida's time.
** On Christmas Day, Ryuji enthusiastically greets Makoto, Futaba and Sojiro in [=LeBlanc=] and wonders why the three of them seem saddened, clearly unable to read the mood. [[spoiler: Ryuji did not realize the protagonist had turned himself in to the police.]]
* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', during the fight with Murozond, leader of the Infinite Dragonflight, the party can use the Hourglass of Time to reverse time, resetting all their health and cooldowns to their state at the start of the battle, and causing Murozond to arrogantly say that the Hourglass does nothing to him. He's right, but fails to notice that his health isn't being reset- by using the Hourglass to repeatedly use your strongest abilities and clear the voidzones left by Distortion Bombs, it's possible to defeat Murozond.
* The ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' character [[DarkAndTroubledPast Yuna]] has always believed that the fayth want her to die, and spends quite some time arranging her death and making sure it will happen in a way that benefits Spira. She's correct that the fayth want her to learn about tragedy, but it's not for the purpose she thinks: she's not supposed to join the dead, just to '''listen''' to them, and use the knowledge gained to lead Spira into a brighter future. Yuna takes this realization badly for two reasons; one, because her capacity to deal with negative feelings relied solely on the hope that she would someday be able to commit suicide, and two, because it [[spoiler:happened during the untimely death of yet ''another'' of her loved ones]].
* The BigBad of ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'', Comstock, just doesn't get that [[spoiler: baptism is supposed to metaphorically make you a new person unaffected by the sins you have committed, and believes that his baptism has justified his past sins into not sins, therefore making them admirable deeds.]]
* Happens to Injustice!Superman in ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'':
** When Batman points out that Superman was beginning to have his FaceHeelTurn and are scaring people, Superman justifies himself by saying that the bad guys ''should'' be afraid, not understanding that Batman was referring to [[BewareTheSuperman people in general]].
** He repeatedly justifies that everything he is doing was for Lois's sake, including wanting to bring an alternate Lois to his universe. When Prime!Superman confronts him and says how horrified and disgusted Lois would be of him, he instead claims that she would be alive.
* ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' veteran E. Honda claims that his motivation is to show people that SumoWrestling is a legitimate martial art, and sumos are the best fighters on Earth. However, [[DumbassHasAPoint no less than Dan Hibiki]] pointed out a problem with this: Honda modified his wrestling style to compete with other martial artists, including adding various moves that would generally be illegal in sumo (sumo doesn't allow you to kick, for instance). Therefore, his own actions prove the opposite: traditional sumo wrestling has no place in an actual fight, since otherwise, Honda wouldn't need to change anything.
* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'', Lucina's B support with her sibling[[note]]Either Male Morgan, Cynthia, Kjelle, Brady or Inigo[[/note]] has her realize that the latter may be able to wield Falchion, a weapon that only a handful in Ylisse's bloodline can wield, such as Lucina and her father Chrom, and insists on putting it to the test should it become necessary. The sibling asks if this is in case Lucina is busy, prompting Lucina to clarify that she means that it's in case she dies. It's played with a bit in that the sibling isn't necessarily dense, per se- s/he is understandably disturbed by the idea of his/her older sister dying and how willing Lucina is to discuss the possibility.
* In ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'', two merchants- an Oseram and a Carja- decided to merge their businesses as a "symbolic gesture" of racial unity that would attract them more customers. But they didn't stop disagreeing with each other, all the time, about '''everything''', making it impossible for any buyers to get a word in edgewise. The lesson being that no amount of representation will save a business if the people behind it just ''suck at selling things''.
[[/folder]]

* In ''VisualNovel/SpiritHunterNG'', the reason Kubitarou [[OffWithHisHead collects heads]] is because she misinterpreted a children's song that she thought could heal her younger brother. The opening line is "Head to the Great Tarou Kintoki"; because of her sub-standard education, Kubitarou took it to mean "''Bring a head to'' the Great Tarou Kintoki".

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In the final season of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', Fire Lord Ozai asks Zuko (who spent most of season 2 WalkingTheEarth) how best to take care of the [[TheRemnant the remaining pockets of resistance in the Earth Kingdom]]. Zuko thinks that the resistances are stubborn like rocks and won't give up as long as they have hope, which Azula and Ozai take to mean that they should just [[KillItWithFire burn it all to the ground]], whereas Zuko was going to suggest a more diplomatic approach.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': In "Arthur's Big Hit", Arthur gets [[WhatTheHellHero a lot flack from his parents and peers]] for hitting D.W. in retaliation for breaking his model plane. He focuses entirely on the fact that he constantly reminded D.W. not to touch it, failing to realize their point is that hitting his sister is still not an appropriate response. It took Binky (who was pressured by the Tough Customers) hitting him that [[JerkassRealization makes realize his mistake]].
* ''WesternAnimation/ABoyNamedCharlieBrown'' has Charlie Brown, who feels he is a complete loser as a spelling bee competitor, fails to realize he not only won the state Spelling Bee championship but he came in second in the National championship. His friends miss the point as well, as the closest thing he gets to support is Linus telling him he didn't need to be worried because everything is okay despite his failure, totally missing the point that both winning the state championship and coming in second at the National championship is actually an incredible level of success.
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': In [[Recap/GravityFallsS2E12ATaleOfTwoStans "A Tale of Two Stans"]], [[spoiler:During Stan and Ford's final argument before the latter is sent into an alternate universe, Stan angrily accuses Ford of “selfishly hoarding” his grant money rather than helping out Stan or their parents. However, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome that’s not how grant money works, and Ford’s expenditures would’ve been]] ''[[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome very]]'' [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome closely monitored so as to make sure that they didn’t get abused in any such way]]. On the other hand, this is [[JustifiedTrope justified given Stan dropped out of high school]] and may not know this. On the other hand, he is actually correct in a more general sense; namely that Ford had spent his life in pursuit of his ambitions rather than help those who got him there, especially since Ford would end up causing a lot of trouble for it, (especially [[GoMadFromTheRevelation McGucket]].) When he finally contacted Stan, it was over a decade and ask him for a favor, not bothering to see how Stan himself was]].
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': In Episode 17, Kaeloo [[ForcefulKiss forces several kisses on Mr. Cat]] offscreen and she thinks it's okay because "kissing isn't violent". She tries to explain this to Mr. Cat... who is sitting in TroubledFetalPosition with a disturbed facial expression, clearly feeling violated.
* In ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'', Shining Knight (a time-displaced Aurthurian knight) faces off against the KnightTemplar General Ellis, and tries to get him to come to his senses and realize that following orders isn't always the right option by relating a story of when Arthur gave him a SecretTestOfCharacter by ordering him to destroy a village, which Shining Knight disobeyed because he knew that would be an evil act and not something [[TheGoodKing Arthur]] would have wanted. Ellis retorts that Shining Knight is clearly not a good soldier, ignoring the point that what Arthur wanted was to make sure that Shining Knight would, of his own accord, make the right choice in a ToBeLawfulOrToBeGood situation.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** In ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E25TwilightsKingdomPart1 Twilight's Kingdom Part 1]]'', since Twilight's Element of Harmony is Magic, both she and Rarity [[WrongGenreSavvy assume]] that the [[AnAesop lesson]] Twilight would have learned to get her [[PlotCoupon key]] involved a difficult magical task, and not ThePowerOfFriendship... [[AesopAmnesia even when Twilight acknowledges that the Magic in the Element of Magic is the Magic of Friendship from the beginning of the show]].
** In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E24OwlsWellThatEndsWell Owl's Well That Ends Well]]", Twilight lectures Spike about all the trouble he's been causing because he's jealous of Owlowiscious, telling him "This is not the Spike I know and love!" A dejected Spike interprets this as meaning Twilight doesn't love him anymore, and prompts him to run away from home.
* ''WesternAnimation/RocketPower'': In "Radical New Equipment," the gang encounters a group of winter sports athletes with different physical impairments, such as blindness and paralysis. Reggie is particularly impressed by Lizzie, a girl with a prosthetic leg, and tries to strike up a friendship, only to treat her like a helpless child. Hoping to help Reggie understand that Lizzie is not helpless because of her disability. Reggie's father, Ray, and honorary uncle Tito tell her a story about their friend Leonard "The Lizard" Brady; he used to be the best surfer around until he lost his eyesight. All his friends felt sorry for him because he could not surf anymore, until one day at night, he was able to surf in the dark with no problem. Tito explains that Brady did not let anything stop him from living his life to the fullest. He even uses his blindness to his advantage. Reggie got that Lizzie is making the best of a bad situation, and left before Ray and Tito explain the real lesson that she should've learned.
* ''WesternAnimation/SantaInc'': Candy wants to be the first female and elf to become the new Santa, and to that end she's fixated on that goal. However, she's also very rude, irritable and uninterested in getting along with others, which hurts in the one area most important. [[spoiler:As being Santa means being a FriendToAllChildren, Candy's guaranteed success was shot down when Santa saw she hated being around kids and scared them away to Devin, who's genuine good relationship with them gave him the position. She fails to understand why this is so important until Santa told her that getting along with kids is the number one aspect he needed in a successor. Candy's insistence she can learn makes it clear she sees it more like a standard job requirement like learning a skill rather than just genuinely being a good person. When Santa instead offers her the role of being the brains of the Santa Inc while Devin becomes the face as the new Santa, she rejects and acts like she was treated wrongly.]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Kenny Dies" (with a semi-parody tone), where the boys are told Kenny is diagnosed with a terminal disease. "[[ChildrenAreInnocent But he's gonna get better, right?]]" inquires Stan. Somber music plays in the background as the adults exchange saddened looks.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': In [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS3E10GhostsOfGeonosis "Ghosts of]] [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS3E11GhostsOfGeonosisPartII Geonosis"]], the rebels exploring the titular GhostPlanet find a surviving Geonosian. When they ask him what the Empire was doing at the planet, all he does is draw a circle inside of a circle, clearly representative of [[EarthShatteringKaboom a]] [[ThatsNoMoon certain]] {{superweapon}}. Due to the LanguageBarrier, however, the rebels can only misinterpret the images, ultimately concluding that Klik-Klak was drawing the poison gas canisters they find at the bottom of a shaft.
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'':
** The Homeworld Gems have performed experiments with [[FusionDance fusion]] as a means to strengthen their forces. Unfortunately, they see it as nothing but a power boost instead of a relationship. [[spoiler:By forcefully mashing together Gem shards]], all they have created are misshapen pitiful horrors. [[spoiler:So then they went "screw it" and used the results of their research to make a "fusion" out of ''millions'' of shards called the Cluster and stuck it in the Earth's core so that it will destroy the planet upon awakening.]]
** In [[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E3OffColors "Off Colors"]], [[spoiler:Lars saves the Off Colors from the Shattering Robonoids by blocking their scanners with his body and beating them with a rock. He finishes off the last one by jumping on top of it and jamming a pointed rock in its "eye", causing it to [[MadeOfExplodium blow up]]. He gets flung into a wall with a nasty ''"CRACK"'' and falls thirty feet to the ground. The Off Colors immediately start celebrating and praising his bravery while Steven panics because ''[[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath Lars isn't moving]]''. He immediately checks Lars's vitals, and [[TearJerker starts to sob]] when [[HeroicSacrifice he can't find a heartbeat]]]].
** In "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E19NowWereOnlyFallingApart Now We're Only Falling Apart]]", Sapphire is distraught upon finding out that [[spoiler:[[TwoAliasesOneCharacter Rose Quartz was actually Pink Diamond]], as she ended up believing that Rose was the [[BadBoss cruel]], [[DirtyCoward cowardly]] [[EvilOverlord tyrant]] the Crystal Gems assumed they were supposed to shatter along with the other Diamonds, and she never looked into Rose or any of her intentions because she trusted Rose that much. Steven and Pearl eventually get her to realize how backwards Sapphire was thinking when Pearl explains why Pink Diamond did what she did to spare the Earth.]] Pearl's following flashback story reveals that when [[spoiler:Pink Diamond told Blue Diamond she wanted to save life on Earth from the damage Pink's colonization was causing, Blue created a PeopleZoo and put a few humans in, believing that that would appease her.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseFuture'':
** In "[[Recap/StevenUniverseFutureS1E4Volleyball Volleyball]]", Pearl thinks that White Diamond is the cause of Volleyball's scar, and refuses to believe that it was Pink Diamond.
** The episode "[[Recap/StevenUniverseFutureS1E10PricklyPair Prickly Pair]]" has Steven venting his bottled-up feelings to a sentient cactus, [[NotInFrontOfTheParrot causing problems when it starts parroting Steven's words]]. Steven realizes that using his pet as an emotional punching bag was a mistake... But what he takes away from this experience is that he shouldn't talk about his problems ''at all''.
* ''WesternAnimation/InfinityTrain'' has an example in the form of Amelia. During the final episode it's revealed that much like the protagonist, she found herself aboard the train after a traumatic event. (the death of her husband), but rather than use the many environments to work through her emotional issues as is implied to be the train's very purpose, she asked the conductor to make a train car for her in which her husband was still alive. The conductor refused [[spoiler: so she rebelled and took control of the train herself.]] The number that denotes her progress has ascended so high that it's unlikely she'll ever be able to leave alive.
* In ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' episode "Stormy Weather 2", Nathalie, Gabriel Agreste's assistant, reveals in an InternalMonologue that she admires Gabriel's commitment to his family. Of course, this is ignoring that Gabriel is an emotionally abusive ControlFreak whose "commitment" is damaging to everyone involved.
[[/folder]]

** Of course the BrokenAesop nature means that this also applies to everyone else. Everyone completely ignores the fact that Arthur told D.W. numerous times not to touch his plane - yet she threw it out a window and repeatedly blames Arthur for the fact that it broke. D.W. can get a little bit of a pass for her NeverMyFault attitude, considering her age, but neither their parents nor any of Arthur's friends acknowledge that D.W. is also in the wrong. Plus they treat Arthur getting hit by someone else in an unrelated situation as an appropriate punishment, again entirely missing the point of the argument that "hitting people is always wrong".
* ''WesternAnimation/ABoyNamedCharlieBrown'' has Charlie Brown, who feels he is a complete loser as a spelling bee competitor, fails to realize he not only won the state Spelling Bee championship but he came in second in the National championship. His friends miss the point as well, as the closest thing he gets to support is Linus telling him he didn't need to be worried because everything is okay despite his failure, totally missing the point that both winning the state championship and coming in second at the National championship is actually an incredible level of success.

* ''WesternAnimation/SantaInc'': Candy wants to be the first female and elf to become the new Santa, and to that end she's fixated on that goal. However, she's also very rude, irritable and uninterested in getting along with others, which hurts in the one area most important. [[spoiler:As being Santa means being a FriendToAllChildren, Candy's guaranteed success was shot down when Santa saw she hated being around kids and scared them away to Devin, who's genuine good relationship with them gave him the position. She fails to understand why this is so important until Santa told her that getting along with kids is the number one aspect he needed in a successor. Candy's insistence she can learn makes it clear she sees it more like a standard job requirement like learning a skill rather than just genuinely being a good person. When Santa instead offers her the role of being the brains of the Santa Inc while Devin becomes the save as the new Santa, she rejects and acts like she was treated wrongly.]]

'''The Doctor:''' [[spoiler:What do you mean, "lost"? How d'you ''lose'' a planet?]]\\

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' had this trope being the reason why Buddy Pine/Syndrome was never able to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a superhero. While he clearly was a gifted inventor with great ambition and enthusiasm and could have become a capable crimefighter as a ScienceHero, his failure to achieve his goal was because he focused entirely on the "super" part of being a superhero that involved having extraordinary powers and abilities while never giving any thought towards the "hero" part of it that motivated his ex-idols to use their powers for the greater good. As a child, he believed Mr. Incredible's refusal to accept him as his sidekick was due to him lacking any legitimate superpowers rather than being an over-impulsive, reckless youth who kept putting himself in harm's way despite Mr. I's efforts to dissuade him. This mentality persisted all the way to adulthood, as shown when Mr. Incredible calls him out for murdering retired superheroes so he can pretend to be one, he rebuffs that his technology made him real enough to capture the entire Parr family and get as far as he did rather than acknowledge how he was willing to become a mass-murdering lunatic for the sake of living out his self-centered fantasy.

->'''Frank Detori:''' Honey, 10-second rule. Once you pick it up within 10 seconds you can eat it. ([[{{Squick}} And then starts eating the contaminated egg]], much to Shane's disgust.)[[labelnote:And also....]][[IdiotPlot Kicks starts the plot involving a deadly virus going to kill Frank!]][[/labelnote]]

->'''Frank Detori:''' Honey, 10-second rule. Once you pick it up within 10 seconds you can eat it. ({{Squick And then starts eating the contaminated egg}}, much to Shane's disgust.)[[labelnote:And also....]][[IdiotPlot Kicks starts the plot involving a deadly virus going to kill Frank!]][[/labelnote]]

-->''[[Film/OsmosisJones Osmosis Jones]]''

-->''[[AnimatedFilm/OsmosisJones]]''

-->''[[FilmAnimated/OsmosisJones]]''

->'''Frank Detori:''' Honey, 10-second rule. Once you pick it up within 10 seconds you can eat it. ({{Squick And then starts eating the contaminated egg}}, much to Shane's disgust.)
-->''[[WesternAnimation/OsmosisJones]]''

->'''Frank Detori:''' Honey, 10-second rule. Once you pick it up within 10 seconds you can eat it. ([[Squick And then starts eating the contaminated egg]], much to Shane's disgust.)

->'''Frank Detori:''' Honey, 10-second rule. Once you pick it up within 10 seconds you can eat it. ({{Squick And then starts eating the contaminated egg}}, much to Shane's disgust.)

* A good chunk of suffering and death in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse is due to ComicBook/{{Thanos}} madly trying to earn Death's favor by killing people. Death apparently reciprocates those feelings, but she sometimes seems wary of Thanos' "offerings". At one point she bluntly told him that more death is the ''last'' thing she needs. This hasn't stopped Thanos' killing spree.

* In ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', [[JerkAss Endeavor]] believes that the only thing between him and the title of #1 Hero is that he isn't as strong as All Might, never thinking that it's related to the fact that he is an awful person who scares and is a huge jerk even to his own fans (later chapters reveal he has gathered a large {{Hatedom}} in-universe), while All Might is an IdealHero whose main interest is to make citizens feel safe and protected and inspires hope to the people. Endeavor becomes painfully aware of what he's lacking when [[spoiler:All Might is forced into retirement, and Endeavor becomes the #1 Hero by default, even though he can't be the Symbol of Peace that All Might had been. He's forced to clean up his act as a hero and a father, albeit with mixed results]].

* A good chunk of suffering and death in the MarvelUniverse is due to ComicBook/{{Thanos}} madly trying to earn Death's favor by killing people. Death apparently reciprocates those feelings, but she sometimes seems wary of Thanos' "offerings". At one point she bluntly told him that more death is the ''last'' thing she needs. This hasn't stopped Thanos' killing spree. He isn't called the [[AxCrazy "Mad"]] Titan for nothing.

* In ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/23032696/chapters/63990949#workskin A Hero Rises]]'', Bakugo insists that being a Pro Hero is entirely about fighting villains, not saving people, going so far as to declare that saving hostages isn't his job. When All Might attempts an ArmorPiercingResponse by pointing out that by Bakugo's logic, he should've left the boy to die at the hands of the Sludge Villain, Bakugo simply insists he didn't need any help.