Hoist by His Own Petard/Real Life: Difference between revisions

**** To add insult to injury, interior minister Lavrentiy Beria mocked Stalin after his apparent death. When Stalin showed signs of consciousness, Beria crouched down to kiss his hand, and when Stalin went unconscious again, Beria spat upon his body. Beria would later gloat that [[The Starscream|he killed Stalin with poison]].

*** Stalin's policy of cleansing the "worker's paradise" of intellectuals (i.e. people smarter than him) often backfired, as it meant the Soviet Union would end up with inferior technology thanks to all the smart people being sent to Siberia. Additionally, he would often shut down technological breakthroughs that were ahead of their time and wouldn't be discovered (or implemented) again for at least a decade. For example, his aircraft designers during [[World War Two]] had many innovative ideas for jet fighters and bombers, which Stalin quickly suppressed, making the scientists work on designing cheap, fast-produced planes. Once the tide in the war had turned, he didn't feel the need to improve on what was already working. Now imagine [[What Could Have Been]] if he would've had a little more foresight.

* On one occasion late in his life, Sir Robert Watson-Watt, considered by many to be the "inventor of radar," reportedly was pulled over in Canada for speeding by a radar-gun toting policeman. His remark was, "Had I known what you were going to do with it I would never have invented it!"

* [[wikipedia:List of inventors killed by their own inventions|That Other Wiki]] has its own article on the subject.

* The [[wikipedia:Lapua Movement|Lapua Movement]] was a radical right, anti-communist political movement in Finland in the early 1930s. By pressuring the Finnish government through kidnappings and assaults, the Movement managed to pass several anti-communist laws, including the Protection of the Republic Act, nominally meant to ban "anti-government entities". After the Movement [[wikipedia:Mäntsälä rebellion|attempted to overthrow the government,]] the Lapua Movement was banned under the Protection of the Republic Act, the very legislation the Movement helped to legalise.

* The Khmer Rouge turned Cambodia into a huge death camp from 1975 to 1979. When Vietnam got fed up with them, the Khmer Rogue had so devastated their own country that they were in no shape to resist. [[Curb Stomp Battle|The war was over in two weeks]]. Oh, and what was one of the big things that caused Vietnam to say "enough is enough"? Cambodians fleeing into Vietnam to escape the Khmer Rouge. It should say something about how badly communism failed in Cambodia that the monarchy was restored.

* In the 2011 Women's World Cup Quarterfinal between Brazil and the USA, Brazil held a 2-1 in extra time. In the final minutes of extra time, one of the Brazilian women [[Theatrics of Pain|faked an injury]] to draw out the medical team and went off on a stretcher. Seconds after being carted off, she hopped off the stretcher and rejoined the game with no difficulty - drawing a yellow card for her flagrant diving. However, her stunt led the ref to award 3 minutes of injury stoppage time, and the USA scored the equalizing goal in the 2nd. The USA would then advance on penalty kicks.

* Pablo Escobar, the kingpin of the notorious Medellin Cartel, kept attempting to kill those who opposed him politically. Ultimately, many of these hits lead to his defeat because they angered the wrong people and lead to a massive manhunt against him that ultimately lead to his downfall.