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Excuse Boomerang

 Excuse Boomerang
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FeatureClass
 Excuse Boomerang
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Excuse Boomerang
 Excuse Boomerang
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ExcuseBoomerang
 Excuse Boomerang
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The culprit has been caught red-handed and is about to receive a well deserved punishment. But, he objects, it wasn't his fault. He had no control over his actions. He had to commit the crime.
Unfortunately for him, the authority figure also has no control over his actions, and has to deliver the punishment.
An Excuse Boomerang is used as a rhetorical shortcut. Rather than argue with the culprit about whether or not the culprit can be held responsible, the authority simply claims that for the same reason he can't be held responsible for the punishment he is about to deliver.
Related to Ironic Echo, Culture Justifies Anything, Just Following Orders, Original Position Fallacy, and Appeal to Inherent Nature.
 Excuse Boomerang
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2024-01-22T18:32:33Z
 Excuse Boomerang
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2024-01-22T18:32:33Z
 Excuse Boomerang
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Dropped link to CultureJustifiesAnything: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Excuse Boomerang
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Dropped link to OlderThanFeudalism: Not an Item - CAT
 Excuse Boomerang
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Dropped link to RealLife: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Excuse Boomerang
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DBTropes
 Excuse Boomerang / int_261c8d3f
type
Excuse Boomerang
 Excuse Boomerang / int_261c8d3f
comment
The Simpsons: In "Homer And Apu", Apu is fired when his habit of selling spoiled food is publicly revealed. He protests that selling spoiled food is actually the company's policy, and his superior retorts that blaming all PR disasters on someone else is also company policy.
 Excuse Boomerang / int_261c8d3f
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1.0
 Excuse Boomerang / int_261c8d3f
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Simpsons
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Excuse Boomerang / int_261c8d3f
 Excuse Boomerang / int_400469e
type
Excuse Boomerang
 Excuse Boomerang / int_400469e
comment
Calvin and Hobbes: Similar to the Zeno of Citium story, Calvin claims that he can't be held accountable for his actions because he was fated to do them. Hobbes proceeds to trip him, claiming Calvin was fated to fall. Calvin then declares that this only applies to himself.
 Excuse Boomerang / int_400469e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Excuse Boomerang / int_400469e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Calvin and Hobbes (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Excuse Boomerang / int_400469e
 Excuse Boomerang / int_455e3038
type
Excuse Boomerang
 Excuse Boomerang / int_455e3038
comment
Unsuccessfully attempted by Hank in King of the Hill, in the episode "Junkie Business". A new employee turns out to be a drug addict and gets his lawyer to invoke the Americans with Disabilities Act to keep his job and demand special accommodations. This inspires other employees to claim to suffer from a variety of outlandish disabilities and demand inconvenient and time-consuming accommodations with the help of the same lawyer. Hank tries to get a handle on the situation by claiming he suffers from "Good Worker Syndrome", which allegedly makes him sick to his stomach unless everyone around him is giving 110 percent. The lawyer accuses him of trying to abuse the system.
 Excuse Boomerang / int_455e3038
featureApplicability
1.0
 Excuse Boomerang / int_455e3038
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1.0
 King of the Hill
hasFeature
Excuse Boomerang / int_455e3038
 Excuse Boomerang / int_58d80a4a
type
Excuse Boomerang
 Excuse Boomerang / int_58d80a4a
comment
In Jingo:
 Excuse Boomerang / int_58d80a4a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Excuse Boomerang / int_58d80a4a
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1.0
 Jingo
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Excuse Boomerang / int_58d80a4a
 Excuse Boomerang / int_817acecf
type
Excuse Boomerang
 Excuse Boomerang / int_817acecf
comment
Fables: When the Arabian fables are being integrated into Fabletown society, they insist on being allowed to maintain their ancient tradition of keeping slaves. Old King Cole agrees but says that the Western fables will maintain their ancient tradition of putting all slave-owners to death wherever they find them. Probably based on the Real Life Charles Napier example below.
 Excuse Boomerang / int_817acecf
featureApplicability
1.0
 Excuse Boomerang / int_817acecf
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1.0
 Fables (Comic Book)
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Excuse Boomerang / int_817acecf
 Excuse Boomerang / int_8dfbdff2
type
Excuse Boomerang
 Excuse Boomerang / int_8dfbdff2
comment
Law & Order (and its various spin-offs) will often have something like this happen when an Amoral Rules Lawyer has some scheme backfire and get their words thrown in their faces. A particularly satisfying example happened in "Manhunt", an episode of SVU, when a Serial Killer facing a bullet-proof capital punishment case for his crimes in the USA was arrested in Canada, whose constitution forbids extradition on capital charges. When a Canadian judge questioned his defense attorney about the risk of Canada becoming a haven for capital offenders if they set this precedent, he smarmily replied "I prefer not to speculate on a hypothetical situation which may or may not result from the high court's ruling". Alex Cabot's response is to amend the extradition charge to possession of stolen property, which is not a capital charge. When the defense attorney says that his client is obviously going to be charged with the capital crimes the second he's back on American soil (which Cabot doesn't even bother denying), the judge uses his exact words to justify extraditing the murderer on the charges actually brought, barely concealing how much he enjoys it.
 Excuse Boomerang / int_8dfbdff2
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1.0
 Excuse Boomerang / int_8dfbdff2
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1.0
 Law & Order
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Excuse Boomerang / int_8dfbdff2
 Excuse Boomerang / int_b8c8f953
type
Excuse Boomerang
 Excuse Boomerang / int_b8c8f953
comment
There was an early PvP strip in which Cole attempted this unsuccessfully. His employees were in the habit of neglecting their jobs to play video games. At one point, he told them that he was too busy playing a certain game to finish the payroll, only to decide a moment later that he actually should get it out of the way.
 Excuse Boomerang / int_b8c8f953
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1.0
 Excuse Boomerang / int_b8c8f953
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 PvP (Webcomic)
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Excuse Boomerang / int_b8c8f953
 Excuse Boomerang / int_f3ef0f86
type
Excuse Boomerang
 Excuse Boomerang / int_f3ef0f86
comment
In the first tome of Artemis Fowl, when Mulch tries to claim he cannot help himself burgling Mudpeople's houses, Holly retorts that LEP officers can't help arresting thieves.
 Excuse Boomerang / int_f3ef0f86
featureApplicability
1.0
 Excuse Boomerang / int_f3ef0f86
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1.0
 Artemis Fowl
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Excuse Boomerang / int_f3ef0f86

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Excuse Boomerang
processingCategory2
Index Backfire
 Fables (Comic Book) / int_4ff08dc6
type
Excuse Boomerang
 Jingo / int_4ff08dc6
type
Excuse Boomerang
 PvP (Webcomic) / int_4ff08dc6
type
Excuse Boomerang
 Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (Webcomic) / int_4ff08dc6
type
Excuse Boomerang