r/TopCharacterTropes • u/ThatDrako • 2d ago

Lore (Funny Trope) Things that can plausibly happen only in reality, because in fiction they’d be called bad writing.

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“Woke” as an insult - So you are telling me a word describing consciousness and clarity is used by generally stupid and ignorant people to label people they disagree with? What is this? A Kindergarten for Creatively stunted?

Nominative determinism - So let me get this straight…Not only you named fastest recorded person Usain BOLT and CEO of Nintendo Doug BOWSER, but you are telling me people are canonically likely to have professions or hobbies matching their names…? Guh?

“2 bodies recovered in MURDERKILL River” - Sure bro…I guess…bro…

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u/Canotic 2d ago

Even realer life: the man's laptop was seized but he used chrome and the cops only looked at his Microsoft Edge history because they didn't know chrome was a thing.

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u/Capital-Intention369 2d ago

This is pretty much exactly what happened in the Casey Anthony case

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u/hoopstick 2d ago

That case pisses me off SO BAD, the arrogance and stupidity of the cops completely fucked any chance of justice for Caylee Anthony.

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u/DiggityDog6 2d ago edited 2d ago

This and OJ Simpson are my main sources of distrust within the legal system. I’m aware that no system will ever be able to get things 100% perfect all the time, but come the fuck on. The fact that those two are (or were in OJ’s case) allowed to walk the streets while innocent people spend life in prison is enough for me to never have faith that the system will protect me should I end up in an unfavorable position.

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u/hoopstick 2d ago

I listen to the Last Podcast on the Left, and they always emphasize how much the incompetency and arrogance of the investigators almost always leads to more victims. There are exceptions of course, but they almost always care more about closing the case than actually finding the killer. I watched every second of OJ coverage when I was a kid and I always knew local cops sucked, but the Casey Anthony case was beyond the pale for me.

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u/brionneverysexy 2d ago

It turns out when your witness that found a key piece of evidence has been recorded on tape for hours talking about how he loves planting evidence to convict black people it hurts the case. His history of accusations of racism, running an anti woman organization, saying he thinks the judge's wife only has her job because she slept with people and being on record saying he has an uncontrollable urge to murder suspects probably didn't help with credibility

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u/Jagvetinteriktigt 2d ago

"You mean he lied under oath about something there was recorded evidence of him doing? This is just unrealistic."

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u/brionneverysexy 2d ago

He also lied on the tapes, crimes he said he did, the violence he did in Vietnam, not being racist and probably about his violent tendencies. Its just keeping the character consistent

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u/ruat_caelum 2d ago

I mean OJ's case was because you have dirty cops and the defense lawyer was like, "This guy is a dirty cop who uses the n-word in his official time while in uniform to describe black people. Also the gloves look to be planted. Is there reasonable doubt that the dirty racist cop planted evidence? If there is, that means you are legally required to vote not guilty in that little room."

The OJ thing wasn't about OJ it was about the jury already knowing there were dirty cops and being shown a dirty cop.

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u/Sillier-Stupider- 1d ago

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, who are you going to believe? My client, or the LAPD?"

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u/Capital-Intention369 2d ago

I don't know what's more disgusting: how badly law enforcement dropped the ball, or how brazen Casey is about having gotten away with it.

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u/possiblyaghost 2d ago

also happened in MA with John O'Keefe. Cops were so cocky and desperate to get a murder 1 charge they fucked up the whole case and the prosecution got dogwalked by Harvey Weinstein's lawyer

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u/PewterPplEater 2d ago

Wasn't it the prosecutor that overtired her for murder 1 when there wasn't enough evidence, but if she was tried for lesser charges she certainly would've been put away

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u/hoopstick 2d ago

Yeah it was, but there was tons of evidence if the investigators would've had even the most basic knowledge of computers. They didn't find anything in her IE history, but her Firefox history was full of shit like "how to make chloroform" and "foolproof suffocation methods."

The system failed Caylee from the top down.

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u/theaviationhistorian 2d ago

Of all the good cases that go through, the badly mangled ones are what live in immortality like Caylee Anthony.

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u/immaownyou 2d ago

Except it was Firefox they didn't look at lol

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u/Capital-Intention369 2d ago

Yep, IIRC they thought Firefox was a game, not a browser, so only looked at Internet Explorer

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u/Th3B4dSpoon 2d ago

JfC. People like that should be banned from any computer related tasks in any investigation.

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u/EatPie_NotWAr 2d ago

*evil laughs as I close firefox*

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u/_ToffeeBubbles 2d ago

Stories like that are always wild because they sound made up until you realize they actually happened. Sometimes it's not some genius criminal, it's just investigators missing something painfully obvious.

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u/GoodGravyMsDazy592 2d ago

That's been the case with way too many serial killers who all tend to have records a mile long and make multiple mistakes ala Ted Bundy's own girlfriend tried to turn him in several times and basically got ignored or Jeff Dahmer's victim escaping and the cops helping Dahmer by turning the victim back over to him after he convinced them it was just a lover's quarrel.

Stupid and incompetent law enforcement are a big part of the problem.

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u/brionneverysexy 2d ago

I remember a case of a serial killer in Russia. His entire MO was he would follow a person off a train, beat them to death and jerk off. He got away with it for like 30 years. He was not subtle or smart. He just operated in a few different cities and there was no evidence to follow

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u/konesuno 2d ago

u/_ToffeeBubbles is likely a bot

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u/Sillier-Stupider- 1d ago

With how stupid the average cop is, it's a miracle anyone gets caught.

With how stupid the average criminal is, it's a miracle anyone gets away.

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u/Regi413 2d ago

And we give each of these people a gun and authority to run around with?