Historical or literary examples of misguided or botched attempts to help that end up causing harm

Question

I'm looking for examples from history, folklore, literature, movies, or pop culture, of situations in which a person or group attempted to do something helpful but, due to their own poor judgment, incompetence, or naïveté, ended up causing harm to the people, project, or cause that they intended to help. The main idea is that the erstwhile helpers are to blame for the damage they caused, to such an extent that the fact that they meant well is no excuse.

I'm asking this for the purpose of having a vivid, emotive example to use in a piece of persuasive writing, in which merely stating the fact that harm was caused is not sufficiently impactful.

Answer 1

The quintessential exclamation from the person receiving this sort of "help" would be:

With friends like these, who needs enemies?

It's also possible that you'd find that

The cure is worse than the disease

In that accepting their assistance is worse than just living with your original situation.

You might also say that

I can't afford any more help like this.

Probably the shortest charitable way to describe such assistance is to say that it was "well-intentioned" or "well-meant", as seen from this entry at m-w.com for "well-meaning":

: having or showing a desire to do something good but often producing bad results

Answer 2

There's an English proverb that goes:

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

It's pretty broad in its scope of application, but it would certainly apply here.

There's another saying that might fit this situation:

No good deed goes unpunished.

Answer 3

There are several synonymous variants of a phrase that seems to suit your purpose:

• more hindrance than help
• more a hindrance than a help
• more of a hindrance than a help
• less help than hindrance
• less a help than a hindrance
• less of a help than a hindrance

Of these, the most common seems to be "more of a hindrance than a help", though I seem to recall that the "more of a" construction is chiefly American, so I imagine that British English speakers would probably prefer "more a hindrance than a help".

Answer 4

A term from spy-craft and international politics is "blowback". E.g. you spend years training insurgents to fight your enemy, and then they turn around and attack you. If you're looking for a real-world example, the late and not lamented Osama bin Laden is a good one.

Answer 5

Too many cooks spoil the broth Wiktionary says

If too many people participate in a task, they spoil everything

Perhaps the "helpers" all had good intentions but in the end, the result was disasterous.

Answer 6

Your question reminds me of these verses from The Fool's Prayer by Edward Rowland Sill:

"These clumsy feet, still in the mire,   
  Go crushing blossoms without end;  
These hard, well-meaning hands we thrust     
  Among the heart-strings of a friend.   

"The ill-timed truth we might have kept—     
  Who knows how sharp it pierced and stung?  
The word we had not sense to say—    
  Who knows how grandly it had rung?

I don't know how many people would get it if you made a reference to the poem or these verses. Sill is one of my favorite poets, but the fact that I was recently able to buy a 120-year-old book of his poems in good condition for about US$10 suggests that he's perhaps not the most popular poet in the world...

In any case, I think well-intentioned is the best way to express this idea. This is an example of damning with faint praise, as you wouldn't mention the merit of the intention if the attempt were actually helpful.

Answer 7

I thought of some metaphors for good intentioned help that goes harmfully wrong.

Medical inspired:

• He amputated the wrong organ.
• He made a hole in its head to remove evil spirits.

Variants based on existing idioms/proverbs:

• He lent a barbed hand.
• He helped pave the road to hell.
• He accidentally led the bull into the china shop.

Hope it helps.

Answer 8

Thanks for nothing!

Urban Dictionary

A sarcastic expression of frustration or displeasure at someone/thing.

More literal definition: I have no thanks for you because you aren't doing what I want or did something I didn't want.

Cambridge Dictionaries Online

used to show you are annoyed when someone has done something you are unhappy about or has failed to help you in some way:

---

Beware of Trojans bearing gifts!

A turn on the expression Beware of Greeks bearing gifts:

Meaning: Don't trust your enemies.

Origin

An allusion to the story of the wooden horse of Troy, used by the Greeks to trick their way into the city. It is recorded in Virgil's Aeneid, Book 2, 19 BC:

"Do not trust the horse, Trojans. Whatever it is, I fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts."

Of course that English version is a translation. Another translation, by John Dryden, has "Trust not their presents, nor admit the horse."

The same thought was also recorded by Sophocles (496 - 406 BC), in Ajax:

Nought from the Greeks towards me hath sped well. So now I find that ancient proverb true, Foes' gifts are no gifts: profit bring they none.

The Classics are no longer widely taught or read, so this phrase is now little used, although it was resurrected in a sideways reference during a 1990s copyright dispute. There was considerable discussion then, in Internet chat rooms etc., regarding the company Compuserve, which owned the copyright to the GIF image format, and their possible intentions to restrict its use. Some people feared that they might be taken to law by Compuserve if they received and viewed GIF images without permission. The phrase "beware of geeks bearing gifs" was coined to sum that up.

When your friends come to help but end up harming you, the "Trojan horse" is homemade, so beware of Trojans bearing gifts means:

You can't trust your friends when they come to help.

Answer 9

Sod's law is what it might be called in Britain.

Answer 10

How about 'to do someone a disservice'? The Swedish language has the word 'björntjänst', literally 'bear service', meaning a disservice, but I don't know any such term in English with suitably quaint origins.

The idea perhaps being something like:

• A tree has a beehive in it
• A man falls asleep under the tree
• Honey drips onto the sleeping man
• A wandering bear licks the honey off the man but accidentally ends up eating him

Answer 11

• "The Midas Touch" of King Midas who, e.g., turned his loved ones into gold statues after his wish was granted
• "Panglossian," e.g., panglossian efforts of the missionaries; from the character in Voltaire's Candide
• Don Quixote and quixotic

Answer 12

Going down with the ship? Very tough question to be honest.