Are you talking about "Somebody else's problem"? From the books: "An SEP [somebody else's problem] is something we can't see, or don't see, or our brain doesn't let us see, because we think that it's somebody else's problem.... The brain just edits it out, it's like a blind spot. If you look at it directly you won't see it unless you know precisely what it is. Your only hope is to catch it by surprise out of the corner of your eye."

Apparently, this term is now actually used in Psychology to describe actual phenomena, according to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somebody_elses_problem