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An Entity of Type : owl:Thing, within Data Space : 134.155.108.49:8890 associated with source dataset(s)

You've got the perfect plan to escape blame for your latest misdemeanor. You've come up with a logical explanation for all the events that shows you're innocent while the culprit has vanished. The argument is patently false, but it's so long, convoluted, and confusing that it can't be disproven. Even when they catch a hole in your story, you have a half-dozen backup stories and another imaginary culprit to pin it on. By the time you've finished weaving your tale, you've convinced the authorities and even the witnesses that you're just a victim in all of this and even deserve compensation for your suffering.

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  • Too Dumb to Fool
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  • You've got the perfect plan to escape blame for your latest misdemeanor. You've come up with a logical explanation for all the events that shows you're innocent while the culprit has vanished. The argument is patently false, but it's so long, convoluted, and confusing that it can't be disproven. Even when they catch a hole in your story, you have a half-dozen backup stories and another imaginary culprit to pin it on. By the time you've finished weaving your tale, you've convinced the authorities and even the witnesses that you're just a victim in all of this and even deserve compensation for your suffering.
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  • You've got the perfect plan to escape blame for your latest misdemeanor. You've come up with a logical explanation for all the events that shows you're innocent while the culprit has vanished. The argument is patently false, but it's so long, convoluted, and confusing that it can't be disproven. Even when they catch a hole in your story, you have a half-dozen backup stories and another imaginary culprit to pin it on. By the time you've finished weaving your tale, you've convinced the authorities and even the witnesses that you're just a victim in all of this and even deserve compensation for your suffering. Except for that fellow over there, who never paid attention to what you said in the first place. He's still looking at the blatantly obvious evidence of what you actually did. This is a man who's completely immune to logic traps and fallacies because he ignores anything that he can't understand in favor of what he can. It's not his only advantage. He also doesn't manage to fool himself. If something is too simple to be seen, count on him seeing it. Cutting the Knot is frequently suggested by such a character. And it's really, really, really hard to sucker him with ideological explanations. Trying to Break Him By Talking is a bad idea. He probably won't understand your attempts to undermine his confidence or self-esteem, and will merely tell you to Shut UP, Hannibal His best counterargument is to make you Talk to the Fist. Often The Fool is actually mentally disabled, though he may merely be Book Dumb. Children can also fall under this; when the Constantly Curious child comes up with an Armor-Piercing Question, this often comes into play. Frequently the Spanner in the Works and the Only Sane Man who can detect the Devil in Plain Sight. Sometimes he does not detect the sarcasm in the Sarcastic Confession. Sometimes produces the Fearless Fool and Achievements in Ignorance. It is not unknown for them to be able to ignore Schmuck Bait. May be impossible to distinguish from Obfuscating Stupidity. Often a Foil to Too Clever by Half. See also Dumbass Has a Point and Your Brain Won't Be Much of a Meal. The concept derives from the idea that the simple-minded are Closer to Earth, and the conviction that Cutting the Knot is an excellent solution to most complex problems. In certain circumstances this trope relies on the idea that a certain kind of simplicity allows one to circumvent the need to figure things out in favor of knowing what things actually are, even when this really ought to require some kind of metaphysical super-senses. This is one major way in which idiocy is turned into a Disability Superpower; sometimes found in the case of the actually mentally disabled, as well. See also Disability Immunity for where a character is similarly unaffected, but has an actual, recognized disability. Examples of Too Dumb to Fool include:
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