Truth in Television: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Once in a while, a TV show does something that actually happens in [[Real Life]]. Don't worry, it never lasts, and they soon slip back into their [[Strictly Formula|old habits]]. Rarely, other shows pick up on this, and you then get a recurring [[Trope]] that accurately reflects the real world. Listed below, for your convenience, are some examples of those.

 

 

When it's the exact opposite, you've got a bad case of [[Reality Is Unrealistic]]. If people fall for it, it's because [[TV Never Lies]].

 

 

 

There's a Sliding Scale of [[Truth in Television]] Frequency. In one end, the amount of times the said [[Trope]] is [[Truth in Television]] can be counted with fingers of one hand ([[Air Vent Passageway]] is one of these examples). On the other end of the scale, these [[Trope|tropes]] happen very frequently in [[Real Life]] (like [[Berserk Button]]).

Another way of saying the above is that a great many things happen on television that have happened at least once to someone in the world. The reason they become [[Trope|tropes]] -- and remember the principle of [[Tropes Are Not Good]] here -- is because they're used in TV (et al) a ''lot'', and generally in ways that wouldn't mesh well in [[Real Life]]. So, for instance, it's certainly the case that special agents have worn Lycra (or similar) bodysuits, that people have squeezed themselves through air ducts, and that some people are cripplingly afraid of small spaces. This does not make the protagonist with a [[Spy Catsuit]], making an [[Air Vent Passageway]] escape but hampered by her [[Fatal Flaw]] of claustrophobia an example of [[Truth in Television]]. To extend this even further, if we only ever saw those [[Trope|tropes]] being used together or in similarly improbable combinations, '''none''' of them would qualify as Truth because they wouldn't have ever been used in a way that was, well, Truthful. They've been hyperbolized, exaggerated and stretched to be much more exciting and dramatic than [[Real Life]], and in doing so hardly resemble it any more at all. Which is why they're [[Trope|Tropes]].

 

 

Also, just because something may be definitely and entirely [[Truth in Television]] does not mean we necessarily want [[Real Life]] examples of it. If a trope is listed both here and on [[No Real Life Examples]] (or says "No real life examples, please" on its page) that means that while its occurrence is definitely possible or even common in [[Real Life]], listing the examples would either be too [[People Sit On Chairs|exhaustive and pointless]] or [[Flame Bait|too controversial]] because [[Real Life]] is subjective.

* [[Above the Influence]]: Refusing to have sex with someone whose consent may be compromised is a sign of integrity, maturity, and not being a rapist. Refusing to have sex with someone who is wanting to do it for reasons that severely conflict with your own values or desires (e.g. you want love and they want money) is a sign of being a mature adult with a healthy approach to sex.

* [[Absurdly Powerful Student Council]]: Public colleges in Mexico often have an Absurdly Powerful Student Association, capable of granting all sorts of suspicious favors to those who have the appropriate connections.

* [[Absurdly Spacious Sewer]]: France has an underground community due to their delicate catacombs and sewers. There are illegal shops and theatres under there.

** Seattle has the legal version of this, sort of. No sewer, but plenty of underground shops and corridors.

* [[Alcohol Is Poison]]: Alcohol is toxic to humans, but for most adult humans, in amounts well below the [[LD 50]], the "poisoning" produces enjoyable effects and no lasting damage. Once one gets near the [[LD 50]], one can die or be permanently sickened. In pregnant women and in children, the damage can occur much faster - causing fetal alcohol syndrome or death. Same for pets. And chronic overuse even below the [[LD 50]] can lead to lasting and permanent illness or even cancer.

* [[The Alleged Car]]: Chances are, you've either owned one, or you're too young to drive.

* [[Almighty Janitor]]: Plenty of people are far more dangerous/competent than their low station would give reason to believe. Generally speaking, pissing off a secretary is a very bad idea for those seeking employment.

* [[Alpha Bitch]]: The stuck-up spoiled popular kid who won't invite you to parties unless you're "cool" enough... there's one in every crowd.

* [[Anxiety Dreams]]: Most people have a few nightmares like these. Some have many of them.

* [[Anyone Can Die]]: {{spoiler|Even you}}.

* [[Armoured Closet Gay]]: See the [[Real Life]] section.

* [[Arranged Marriage]]: Believe it or not, there are still places where this is common.

* [[Artificial Limbs]]: Existed long before it became a trope.

* [[The Art of Bra Removal]]: Bound to happen for virgins who don't practice or pay attention.

* [[Attention Whore]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9lmvX00TLY&feature=player_embedded Interior Semiotics].

* [[Auction]]: They happen every day on websites such as Ebay and Yahoo Auctions, and many days in auction houses. Charity auctions are also a common way of fundraising.

* [[Buried Alive]]: Used to happen extremely frequently because of primitive medicine. (Well, with varying frequency, depending on who you ask.) Now, it's rare. People still have this fear and request bells installed in their coffin just in case.

* [[Bury Me Not On the Lone Prairie]]: Specific instructions for the final handling of a body or ashes are far from uncommon.

* [[But I Play One On TV]]: Actors, musicians, and others are often recognized for role played or stage persona.

* [[But We Used a Condom]]: To the sorrow of many, and the existence of quite a few.

** If our product doesn't work, Happy Father's Day!

* [[Call a Smeerp A Rabbit]]: European naturalists named some animals, such as the koala bear, after other animals that kind of looked similar but weren't at all related. Example: The Tasmanian tiger, aka the thylacine.

* [[Calling Your Attacks]]: Martial arts practitioners believe that expressing certain phrases or vocalization help build up ''chi'' or ensure proper breathing

* [[The Corruption]]: Methamphetamine.

* [[Cosplay]]: More common in reality than fiction. Just go to a fan convention.

* [[Coy Girlish Flirt Pose]]: Happens, and used by men as well.

* [[Crazy Homeless People]]: Some due to deinstitutionalization or addictions, others simply due to how others perceive their behavior (e.g. to most normal people, bathing in a sink or fountain may seem crazy, but if one has no shower...) or due to the mental strain that homelessness and social isolation itself provides.

* [[Deserted Island]]: All around the world. And not just in tropical regions as in fiction, but in temperate and polar regions as well.

* [[Diagonal Cut]]: Real-life [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iaido iaido] practitioners actually cut up inanimate objects for practice, in exactly this fashion.

* [[Diner Brawl]]: It's not rare for late-night diners to see these happen from time to time. Many of these diners are in areas with a lot of nightlife, resulting in drunk patrons coming in to eat. As with the [[Bar Brawl]], drunk people gathering together in one place can sometimes be dangerous.

* [[Dinner Deformation]]: Some types of snakes eat a prey so large that it shows.

* [[Dodgeball Is Hell]]: In some schools.

* [[Dodge By Braking]]: Some planes really can do that.

* [[Domestic Abuse]]: Sadly so, and probably more common than most of us would like to think, especially if emotional and financial abuse are counted alongside beatings and rapes.

* [[Dominatrix]]: You can find one fairly easily in any major city, should you desire.

** [[Do It Yourself Plumbing Project]]: Because people don't see plumbing projects as necessarily hazardous as electrical or structural work, they're more likely to try to do it themselves with equally bad results.

* [[Doomsday Device]]: We had a whole Cold War revolving around nuclear weapons.

* [[Double Entendre]]: Practically the stock in trade of anyone who uses [[Twitter]], headline writers, and pretty much anyone in some situations.

* [[Double Standard Rape Female On Male]]: In some countries, rape is actually defined as unconsented ''male-on-female'' sex.

* [[Drowning My Sorrows]]: It doesn't work -- sorrows are excellent swimmers -- but that doesn't stop people from trying it.

* [[Drugs Are Bad]]: [[Truth in Television]] when drugs are used incorrectly or dangerously, or by someone who shouldn't use them due to age, allergies, or addiction.

* [[Dying Town]]: Extremely common in Europe and US where people move from smaller villages and towns to larger towns and cities. Also common in Australia. And India. And China...

** Mountain towns (like Viganella, Italy and Rattenburg, Austria) that are deprived of sunlight for winter are the most famous. The young will move away as soon as possible, leaving the towns inhabited by few dozen old people. Recently, mirrors have been installed to reflect the light from behind the mountains.

", or as most people would call it, a skirt. -->

* [[Even Nerds Have Standards]]: Nerds either have very low standards, or [[Extraverted Nerd|very high standards]].

* [[Everything Is Big in Texas]]: Texas is a pretty damn big state.

** [[Gem Encrusted]]: Some people can really overdo this now that Swarovski crystals are more common...

* [[Everything Trying to Kill You]]: [http://www.cracked.com/funny-163-australia/ Australia.] For the immunocompromised, life.

* [[Family Relationship Switcheroo]]: Imprinting.

* [[The Family That Slays Together]]: Organized crime tends to produce this, and some non-organized crime examples exist.

* [[Famous Last Words]]: Many people have had them, and many others have had them falsely attributed.

* [[Fan Girl]]: To an annoying degree.

* [[Hate Plague]]: Mob mentality and methamphetamine abuse are on one end of the spectrum in that while neither are actual "disease," they spread virally and produce hatred, paranoia, and violence. On the other end, for actual disease, we have [[Nightmare Fuel|rabies]] and possibly [[Paranoia Fuel|toxoplasmosis]].

* [[Hates Small Talk]]: [[Myers Briggs|Introverted people]] in general are not fans of small talk.

* [[Heads Tails Edge]]: Hey man, it ''can'' happen!

* [[He Knows Too Much]]: The reason the FBI has the Witness Protection Program.

* [[Heteronormative Crusader]]: In the nonviolent sense, [[Moral Guardians]] and some political organizations. In the violent sense, gay-bashers and people that attack transgendered people claiming "gay panic."

* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]: Known in North America as "bromance".

* [[Humiliation Conga]]: A criminal once tried to trick someone into sending him an Apple PowerBook G4 he bought at eBay. He ended up receiving a binder with keys glued on the inside covers. [http://www.zug.com/pranks/powerbook/ Read the full story here!]

* [[I Always Wanted to Say That]]: Because offline, at least, your brain comes up with that great quip far too late.

* [[I Coulda Been a Contender]]: Bill Butterfield was so bitter about his football career ending in high school that he tried to push his son into athletic success. [http://apse.dallasnews.com/contest/2002/writing/over250/over250.enterprise.fifth2.html The results weren't pretty]. Also mothers of beauty pageant girls, and parents trying to push kids into careers or better academic levels.

* [[I Hate Past Me]]: Everyone at one point or another has looked back on their life and asked at different points "What was I thinking?!".

* [[Implausible Deniability]]: Bad excuses are common everywhere.

* [[Incompatible Orientation]]: Often one of the most tragic forms of [[Love Hurts]].

* [[Induced Hypochondria]]: Dr. Google is often to blame, along with its accomplice, Dr. WebMD. Spend time reading around either and you will believe yourself to be ill, possibly dying.

* [[Industrial Ghetto]]: Because not many people capable of not living in overly industrialized areas tend to choose living there. Hence, industrial areas become restricted to industry and to those too poor to live elsewhere.

* [[In Universe Camera]]: Just look at [[YouTube]] videos of any disaster after around 2000. From 9-11 to 3-11, you will see any disaster from the inside.

* [[Is That Cute Kid Yours]]: Check the discussion page for examples.

* [[It's a Small Net After All]]: In Mexico, ''everybody'' uses MSN Hotmail, MSN Spaces, and MSN Messenger, thanks to an alliance between Microsoft and Telmex, the latter a nigh-monopolic telco led by Carlos Slim, the richest man in the world.

* [[Its Not You Its Me]]: You'd be surprised how much this line gets said in [[Real Life]] breakups. Heck, you've probably used it (or will use it), too!

* [[Killed Off for Real]]: Death, obviously. Unless one is somehow revived.

* [[Killer Rabbit]]: A great many animals are meaner, sharper, or more poisonous than they look. This is why you don't play with wild animals.

* [[Knocking On Heathens Door]]: Door-to-door proselytizing does exist, most infamously with the Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons.

* [[La Résistance]]: The French and Dutch Resistances were notoriously violent and strong, as were the Soviet and Yugoslav partisans, and the Polish Home Army.

* [[Love Hurts]]: A list of personal examples would likely be the largest and most soul-crushing page on the Wiki. or on the ''Internet''.

* [[Love Makes You Dumb]]: So, so painfully true.

* [[Loving a Shadow]]: "Loveshys" and "Involuntary Celibates (incels)". This is the problem with loving someone from afar.

* [[Luxury Prison Suite]]: The Hotel Escobar. Pinochet's exile. Elba.

* [[Mama Bear]]: Both the animal and human kind. There are documented cases of mothers rescuing their children from mountain lions and actual bears.

* [[Mama Didn't Raise No Criminal]]: The families of real life criminals do indeed live in this sort of denial sometimes, even when confronted with overwhelming evidence of criminal behavior.

* [[Maam Shock]]: Was more pronounced when "ma'am" meant an older woman. Now not as big of an issue - except for men mistaken for women on some occasions.

* [[Man in A Bikini]]: How often have you seen one, and the reaction it gets?

* [[No You Hang Up First]]: A manifestation of the "sunk cost" fallacy in that someone who is speaking in such a conversation will want to stay on as long as they can even if it would be better to stop talking.

* [[Obligatory Swearing]]: Middle and high school. The [[Music/Hardcore Punk|Hardcore Punk]] [[Heavy Metal (Music)|Heavy Metal]], [[Music/Hip Hop|Hip Hop]], and [[Visual Kei]] music scenes. Sailors and truck drivers.

* [[Oblivious Adoption]]: Oh, it happens alright. More often than we like to think.

** Fortunately, [[Happily Adopted|the other way around]] also happens.

* [[Off the Wagon]]: Not quite as often as portrayed in the [[Drugs Are Bad]] moral stories, but often.

* [[Old Shame]]: Everybody's got something they're embarrassed about.

** Simo Häyhä, a Finnish sniper during Finlands winter war (1939-1940) he scored 505 confirmed kills & 542 unconfirmed. Also 200+ kills with submachine gun. Remarkably, all of Häyhä's kills were accomplished in fewer than 100 days with a very limited amount of daylight per day. Nicknamed "Valkoinen Kuolema" in Finnish, which translates to "White Death".

* [[Only Sane Employee]]: Been there, done that, burned the t-shirt.

* [[Paedo Hunt]]: As exemplified by the cases where parents' family photos of once-innocent events have been reported to police by developers or by people who see them on [[Face Book]], by the infamous "paedophile/pediatrician" mixup, and [[Moral Guardian]] callouts of fictional media employing [[Dawson Casting]] or [[Literature|not even involving]] [[Anime and Manga|real personages at all]] for depicting relationships between teenagers.

* [[Papa Wolf]]: As if the [[Mama Bear]] trope wasn't enough, ''do not threaten or harm someone's children.''

* [[Path of Inspiration]]: [[Church of Happyology]], and other cults.

* [[Pepper Sneeze]]: It irritates the mucus membrane of the nose.

** In the USA, all [[Ambiguously Brown|"brown" people]] are assumed to be either Mexican, Indian, or Middle Eastern.

* [[Picked Last]]: Hopefully, this one doesn't happen to you.

* [[Pink Elephants]]: That said, alcohol-related hallucinations are usually due to withdrawal or alcohol poisoning (or that your drink has been spiked with something other than alcohol, if you're not in withdrawal and haven't drank more than three or four drinks at least.)

* [[The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything]]: Bosozoku and ''yankii'' in Japan, 99 percent of motorcycle clubs elsewhere in the world, punk rockers and black metallers for the most part, the list goes on. The most harm members of such groups likely do on average is creating noise, minor illicit drug use or petty fraud or shoplifting, if that. They normally get hated either for the more outrageous crimes (and incredibly rare) crimes that show up in their midst, or for being nuisances with the extent of petty crimes in a more law-oriented and business-oriented mainstream culture.

* [[Police Lineup]]: Often done with photographs more now, and somewhat fading from popularity due to misidentifications. Eyewitnesses are often considered one of the least reliable forms of testimony compared to CCTV and other video recordings, DNA, and other less partial and less easily influenced evidence.

* [[Porn Stash]]: You know what you're hiding deep within your closet, drawer, or hard drive...

* [[Powder Trail]]: It happens. Often more so with liquid than powder - this is why you avoid sparks and open flame near gasoline or other flammable liquids.

* [[Pretext for War]]: Has happened quite a few times in history.

** Thieves (and on the other side of the coin, police raids of thieves or drug dealers) also run into this trope - things stolen or acquired in a raid can range from absolutely useless even for resale, to incredibly valuable and/or rare.

** Locally, there is a tradition of getting rid of unwanted items during a move or after a yardsale by simply leaving them in a box by the side of the road. These boxeses can contain almost anything, and sometimes have amazing finds.

* [[Rapunzel Hair]]: Prior to the 20th century, this was almost mandatory for women in just about any culture. Also the natural result of a baptized Sikh's obedience to the requirement to keep kesh. There are also multiple people who just happen to have this or who are trying to achieve this. Also pretty common among [[Visual Kei]] artists, especially from earlier times.

* [[Recursive Ammo]]: The[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_independently_targetable_reentry_vehicle MIRV], for starters.

* [[Renaissance Man]]: Leonardo Da Vinci is the [[Ur Example]], but there are many.

* [[Retirony]]: Rare cases are present. See the page for examples.

* [[Ribbon Cutting Ceremony]]: Happens from time to time.

* [[Ring Ring CRUNCH]]: This is so common, there are actually products to prevent this: Meet [http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/lights/91f2/ Clocky] and the [http://www.thinkgeek.com/interests/giftsunder50/8f1a/ Sonic Bomb].

* [[Roboteching]]: Many guided weapons actually do this.

* [[Rock Beats Laser]]: Though not common, superior tactics or sheer weight of numbers have defeated superior technology. This was apparently one of the reasons the Japanese won in the Russo-Japanese war, too. There's also the Whack-a-Mole theory: wherever you wipe out insurgency one place, they'll just pop up somewhere else, ad infinitum. Iraqi insurgents, the Viet Cong, and Afghanistan over the last 50 years are examples.

* [[Runaway Bride]]: An anonymous bride left the groom at the altar ''and ran away with his witness '''who was also his best friend'''.'' And they all lived happily ever after (except the groom).

* [[Ruptured Appendix]]: Yes, it happens in [[Real Life]]. And it IS fatal if untreated (this is why, if you have severe stomach pain in the lower right side or that started there and spread, you go to an emergency room, and you DO NOT take a laxative.)

== S-U ==

* [[Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training]]: The amount of time you need to spend to become an expert on something is, on average, around 10,000 hours. That time has come from ''somewhere'' - usually socialization.

* [[Safe Word]]: Yes, people do use them.

* [[The Savage South]]: Until recent times, areas near the equator were seen by many Europeans and Americans as not only unpleasantly hot but also arid or sopping wet and full of dangerous large animals like panthers and lions. If the heat or animals did not kill you, the diseases borne by biting flies or mosquitoes would. Modern advances in dealing with disease and wild animals have resulted in a more "friendly" outlook on these places as the risks are more easily managed.

* [[The Scrappy]]: Bill collectors are one of the most hated professions out there largely in part due to their (justified) very bad reputation. Attorneys and estate agents, politicians, [[Acceptable Professional Targets|the list goes on]].

* [[Scope Snipe]]: Carlos Hathcock pulled this off during the Vietnam War, but it's near impossible to do unless under the ''exact'' conditions.

* [[Sealed Evil in A Can]]: Any drug (legal or otherwise) with a serious potential for addiction or a fatal side effect.

* [[Seinfeldian Conversation]]: It is arguable that there is ''nothing'' more realistic than this trope. Indeed, an argument over that would be the perfect example. Absolutely ''any'' conversation will turn into this if entered in the middle.

* [[Senseless Violins]]: The 2008 Northern Illinois University shooter managed to bypass the campus security by packing a pair of shotguns inside a guitar case.

* [[Serious Business]]: Unsung rule of life, the universe and everything: if it exists, somebody out there is taking it VERY seriously

* [[Signs of Disrepair]]: As a look around Fail Blog and occasionally where you live can tell you.

* [[Slave Mooks]]: Unfortunately so.

* [[Smite Me Oh Mighty Smiter]]: This is why many people are atheists.

* [[Snipe Hunt]]: A very common form of hazing or practical joke is to send someone on a search for something nonexistent.

* [[Solar Powered Magnifying Glass]]: Unfortunately, for our six-legged friends.

* [[Solid Gold Poop]]: Ambergris is whale vomit. It's also extremely valuable for use in perfumes. Guano. Not as valuable now as it used to be. For centuries, it was used to make saltpeter and phosphorous, which was used for explosives and gunpowder. Now, it's mostly used for fertilizer, and some of the world's ''best'' coffees owe their rich flavor to this particular fertilizer.

* [[Spock Speak]]: Asperger's Syndrome and legalese (though usually not [[Flanderization|to this degree]]). Justified in the legalese case, when the document has to be airtight. Still funny, though.

* [[Stage Mom]]: See [[I Coulda Been a Contender]].

* [[Stealth Hi Bye]]: It happens when you're distracted and don't notice when someone is entering or leaving the room.

* [[Stone Soup]]: Taxes. Volunteering. There are many examples. The opposite of [[Too Many Cooks Spoil the Soup]].

** Bad experiences with therapy can lead people to ''never seek help again,'' even when it is urgently and severely needed. A bad therapist can be even worse than ''no'' therapist, for this reason.

* [[The Glomp]]: Some people hug their friends like this.

* [[Theme Naming]]: The Emperor Constantine's children. The Duggars' children all have names that start with J. Multiples (twins, triplets, etc) frequently get theme named. Retired heavyweight boxing champion/electric-grill pitchman George Foreman has named all of his children of both sexes "George".

* [[This Is Not a Drill]]: Because of a phenomenon called "warning fatigue," sometimes it's very necessary to tell people that this alarm is for real and obeying it is important.

* [[True Art Is Incomprehensible]]: This is one of those annoying ones that reinforces itself.

* [[Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty]]

** Chances are, you are on a wiki walk RIGHT NOW.

* [[Ultimate Job Security]]: Having a relative at the company will make your coworkers hate you, but at least you'll never be fired.

* [[Undisclosed Funds]]: Swiss bank accounts. Also, talking about money was once viewed as crass, so people used these methods to do so.

 

== V-Z ==

* [[Vindicated By History]]: More than a few people. There are several politicians who were widely hated during their term but are now fondly remembered by history books.

* [[Violation of Common Sense]]: Happens quite often in [[Real Life]].

* [[Weapon for Intimidation]]: The reason most people in [[Real Life]] that have weapons do. On a larger scale, nuclear weapons are this.

* [[We ARE Struggling Together]]: The political spectrum is a line, not a circle. A very ''long'' line. But still a line.

* [[We Sell Everything]]: Wal-Mart and Target and other wholesellers, who are steamrolling the competition.

* [[Wild Child]]: There's a few examples: Kaspar Hauser, Genie, and a feral French boy. None of them ended up that well off.

* [[What the Heck Is An Aglet]]?: Cruciverbalists of the world have been through this all too much. Which is why there's a huge market for [http://www.amazon.com/Million-Word-Crossword-Dictionary/dp/0060517565 Crossword Puzzle-specific dictionaries].

* [[Whoa Bundy]]

** Or if society changed so that autistic children and otherwise disabled children were valued for themselves rather than seen as problems or burdens...

* [[Wiki Walk]]

* [[Will Not Tell a Lie]]: Very uncommon, but definitely real. This was ostensibly true in ancient Persia, since it was a religious edict of Zoroastrianism. They throw around the word "truth" like Americans do with "freedom".

* [[The Worf Effect]]: Used by police to break up fights and riots before they really start.

* [[Worthless Foreign Degree]]: Sadly true.

* [[Wounded Gazelle Gambit]]: Happens a fair bit online, more rarely but scarily in real life.

* [[Wretched Hive]]: Somalia. The slums of Rio in Brazil. Lagos. West Africa. A few very bad neighborhoods in the United States. Hell, look hard enough, and you ''will'' find them all over the world.

[[Category:index]]

[[Category:Truth In Television]]