Hoist by His Own Petard/Real Life: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
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* John Carman—a Freeholder from Atlantic County in [[Joisey|New Jersey]]—lost his seat in 2017 to a woman he motivated to run against him. If you are wondering what made her decide to run, it was a misogynistic image macro he shared about the 2017 Women's March.
* Ongoing, non-evil example: Many people will tell you that the level of play in the National Basketball Association is way down from its Magic/Bird/Jordan peak. It is - and it's not for lack of star power. Two decisions meant to maintain continuity are largely to blame:
** The
** A
*** Expanding the league by nearly a third (From 23 teams to 30 over the last two decades) hasn't helped, either.
** Then again, there is a lot of evidence to suggest that this is just a result of looking through the [[Nostalgia Filter]].
* Marie Curie's major claims to fame are her study of radioactivity as well as discovering radium. The dangers of radiation exposure weren't understood at the time and she ultimately died of radiation poisoning.
** Then again, if it wasn't for her studies on radium and radioactivity, we might not have fully understood radiation poisoning as well as we do, which makes her a martyr for scientific knowledge.
** Her husband Pierre as well. He didn't die of direct effects of radiation exposure:
* Similar to the above, but rather more sinister, Dr. Sabin Arnold von Sochocky, who was one of the co-founders of the [[wikipedia:United States Radium Corporation|United States Radium Corporation]], famous for its callous treatment of employees adversely effected by the radiation from the radioactive paint they produced, eventually died of aplastic anemia, caused by his own exposure to radium
* [[Maximilien Robespierre]], who was behind much of the [[Reign of Terror]] that followed [[The French Revolution]], was ultimately himself executed by the guillotine which he so adored. Along with quite a few others.
** Another irony is that several people who participated in Thermidor actually were against the guillotine, as it was too slow—they were more in favour of shooting their victims randomly with a cannon from a distance and throwing them into a mass grave to die.
** However, the rumor that Dr. Guillotin was executed on the device he had introduced (referenced in the above ''Discworld'' example) is untrue.
** It's also shown in at least one film that Louis XVI had a hand in designing the guillotine, which he ''was'' later put to death by.
* Lord Shang Yang, author of ''[[The Book of Lord Shang]]'' and notorious in ancient China for his draconian punishments, met his end under a punishment that he himself formulated into Qin law when he was convicted of treason against King Huiwen of Qin. The punishment, which was reserved for law enforcers who broke the law themselves, called for not only the offender's execution, but that of his family as well. Ouch.
** And it gets better: when he tried to hide out in a hotel in an attempt to escape the above fate, he was refused, as the strict laws he had enacted in Qin while in power made it illegal for a hotel owner to admit a guest without proper identification.
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** From the same source: Two animal rights activists were protesting the cruelty of sending pigs to a slaughterhouse in Bonn, Germany, by freeing a captive herd. Suddenly all two thousand of pigs stampeded through the gate they were opening, and trampled the hapless protesters to death.
* The infamous [[The Pope|Pope Alexander VI]] died in suspicious circumstances. While many historians attribute his death to a plague, a popular rumor claims that he accidentally drank poisoned wine intended for one of his political rivals.
* Soviet dictator [[Josef Stalin]] had maintained his grip on power for more than three decades by terrifying everyone around him. One night in 1953, Stalin stayed up drinking with his goons until about 3 or 4 AM, at which time he went to bed. When Stalin didn't come out at his usual hour, people began to get concerned, but they left him alone since they were under strict orders not to disturb him and too terrified of his wrath to risk going in to check on him. By the time one of his cronies finally mustered enough nerve to see what was going on, it was 10 PM of the next day and Stalin was dying of a stroke. Stalin lay for almost a full day, helpless and alone. Had his stooges checked on him, they might have been able to get the doctors in on time, but as it was, Stalin's own brutal tactics kept his thugs from saving his sorry hide. If that isn't [[Laser-Guided Karma|poetic justice]], I don't know what is.▼
** 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]].▼
▲*
▲**** This really applied to the USSR in general, and still does in communist countries (North Korea especially). As was remarked later "Oftentimes, the one who put someone in the gulag yesterday was sentenced to the gulag today."
▲**** 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]].
▲***** Generally, just look at photos or video of who is around the Leader to find out who is "in favor." The best example is on the cover of a book [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Soviet_censorship_with_Stalin.jpg Soviet Censorship]. Let's just say those who fell out of 'favor' were never seen again.
*** 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.
* This was staggeringly common during WWII.
**
* On one occasion
* [[wikipedia:List of inventors killed by their own inventions|That Other Wiki]] has its own article on the subject.
* NFL player Plaxico Burress served time for unlawfully carrying a gun at a nightclub. This case is special because:
** It was only made public knowledge that he was carrying a gun because he accidentally shot himself.
** He accidentally shot himself because his gun was in a style of clothing that only an idiot would wear to a nightclub.
** The NYPD only found out about this because it was on the news, which was because he was so popular, and ''not'' because he'd gone to a hospital.
* King James II of Scotland was a big supporter of the use of then-modern artillery in warfare. He was killed when one of his own cannons exploded.
* The Peacemaker Accident. The USS Princeton was the first screw propelled ship in the US navy hosted a large number of dignitaries and most of the cabinet. The opportunity was used to show off different cannons to the higher ups. One of these was named the Peacemaker. Its explosion killed 7 including the Secretary of the Navy, Secretary of State, the Captain, and the head of the construction, equipment and repairs.
* Enron's accounting fraud. A lot of the transactions used in the fraud created large amounts of extra debt, and a lot of the other transactions and investments lost value very quickly when the company was being investigated, significantly speeding up the bankruptcy.
* A Greek brass worker named Perilaus invented the brazen bull, a particularly gruesome brand of execution. The victim would be placed inside a hollow brass statue of a bull, and a fire would be lit underneath. The screams of the victim were turned, by the bull's inner workings into the roars of an angry bull. Perilaus presented it as a gift to Phalaris, a ruler of a local city-state. So disgusted was Phalaris with this invention that he ordered its creator to be its first victim
{{quote|His words revolted me. I loathed the thought of such ingenious cruelty, and resolved to punish the artificer in kind. "If this is anything more than an empty boast, Perilaus," I said to him, "if your art can really produce this effect, get inside yourself, and pretend to roar; and we will see whether the pipes will make such music as you describe." He consented; and when he was inside I closed the aperture, and ordered a fire to be kindled. "Receive," I cried, "the due reward of your wondrous art: let the music-master be the first to play."|Phalaris I}}
* On Christmas Eve of 2008, [[wikipedia:Covina massacre|Bruce Jeffrey Pardo]] went to a party held by his relatives dressed in a Santa suit, opened fire on them and killed eight, and then set fire to the house with a homemade flamethrower. His original plan was to establish an alibi and flee the country; however, the homemade flamethrower burned part of the Santa suit into his flesh, sabotaging his plans and driving him to commit suicide.
* On February 16, 2010, a man responsible for a string of terrifying holdups in Adelaide, South Australia was arrested due to the fact that not only were [[What an Idiot!|two of the stolen cars used for the robberies parked on his property]], he had in his possession a [[Rare Guns|SPAS-12 shotgun]], which was clearly identifiable on the released CCTV footage of some of the robberies, and is very rare, not to mention illegal to own in Australia.
* Thomas Midgley, Jr. is a double example: he invented leaded gasoline and CFCs, contributing to some of humankind's greatest screwups, then died when a machine he built to hoist him out of bed malfunctioned and strangled him.
* The 2009 Cincinnati Bengals played their final game of the regular season against the New York Jets. The Jets would only enter the playoffs if they won, but the Bengals already had their best position locked up and so rested their players and visibly did not play hard to win the game. The Jets won handily. The following week the Jets played Cincinnati again, and eliminated them from the playoffs.
* The urban legend of the guy who was killed by his own fart gas. The ''[[
* [http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19930211&slug=1684832 Drug suspect kills self with own shotgun booby trap.]
* In 1982, [[Universal]] Studios sued [[Nintendo]] of America on the grounds that their ''[[Donkey Kong]]'' arcade game was a rip-off of Universal's ''[[King Kong]]''. However, Nintendo's lawyer [[Did Do the Research]], and found out that Universal had previously won a lawsuit declaring King Kong was in the public domain. The judge ruled that Universal had acted in bad faith by threatening Nintendo's licensees, and Nintendo received $57,000 (plus damages and attorney's fees) as a result.
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* Happened in the [[wikipedia:Burmese general election, 1990|Burmese general election of 1990]]; the regime officially said the election was multi-party(and it was), [[Tempting Fate|but they thought they were so popular their candidates would win easily.]] Results? [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|National League for Democracy wins]] ''[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|392]]'' [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|seats (out of 492), making for a rather convincing win.]] However, the junta refused to recognize the results, and put NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest, making this more of a [[Subverted Trope]].
** Straight case happened in Poland, though, [[The Great Politics Mess-Up|around the same time]].
* In 1917 the British were having a problem with a particular German-laid minefield off the coast of Ireland. It seemed that however diligent the RN minesweepers were in their duties, ships were still being lost in this field. The Director of Naval Intelligence, Admiral Sir William Reginald Hall, deduced that the Germans were eavesdropping on the minesweepers' radio traffic, and were simply sending a U-boat out to re-lay the minefield when they heard the sweepers broadcast the 'field cleared' message. The British response? To leave the minefield intact and broadcast a false 'field cleared' signal. UC-44 sailed out to re-lay the field...and was sunk by the mines. The only survivor was her Commander, who was
** [http://uboat.net/wwi/boats/index.html?boat=uc+44 There are disagreements on this part], but the new theory is that UC-44 was blown up by her own [[Failsafe Failure|prematurely armed]] mine -- known issue even for specialized minelayers of this era -- so it fits either way.
* Jimi Heselden, owner of the Segway company, died after [https://web.archive.org/web/20120530010059/http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/6864816-segway-company-owner-dies-in-segway-accident driving one of his own products off a cliff].
* A Indonesian militant was trying to bomb a police station with a homemade bomb. [http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100930/ap_on_re_as/as_indonesia_bicycle_bomber But on his way in his bicycle it blew up before he got there.]
** More than one bomb maker has met his end while assembling a bomb, and more than one bomber has had the bomb go off before he could arrive at the target. At least a few have died from accidentally setting their bomb vests off while giving their buddies one last good bye hug. It's not a job that lends itself well to on the job training.
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* Numerous politicians have put out campaign commercials, or made speeches, attacking their opponents that have ended up hurting them far more. In one of the more notable cases in recent history, Meg Whitman, running for governor of California, made a speech about how California used to be such a better place back in the day, which was the reason she moved there, and she'd like California to be like it was then. Her opponent's campaign ''immediately'' put that portion of the speech in an advertisement, helpfully pointing out that Whitman's opponent, Jerry Brown, had been the governor during the time Whitman was pining for.
* Unblack metal is this trope applied to a musical ideology. Basically, it takes the sound of [[Black Metal]]-a genre of music known for Satanism-and pairs it with [[Christian Rock|Christian lyrics]].
* In 1964 US President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]'s administration started a bill that would end legal discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin. A southern congressman, not liking the "race" part, added "ending legal discrimination on the basis of sex" hoping that people would decide not to vote for it due to this. As a result, several female members of the House took up the bill, and the bill was passed...protecting race, color, religion, national origin, ''and'' sex.
* The Chinese philosopher, Han Fei Tzu, was imprisoned by the leader of the Chinese state of Chin due to a policy of imprisoning and/or killing scholars and intellectuals. Said policy was proposed by none other than Han Fei Tzu himself.
* In April 2011, [[Lady Gaga]], the infamous diva of odd clothing choices, tripped and nearly broke her nose while performing a concert in Atlanta, GA. What did she trip on? An article of ridiculous clothing she had ripped off as a part of the show.
* 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.
* A motorcyclist died in an accident [https://web.archive.org/web/20110902093749/http://ca.news.yahoo.com/upstate-ny-motorcyclist-dies-hitting-head-pavement-during-150809744.html while protesting helmet laws].
* 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.
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* Employee restraint clauses are supposed to help defy this by preventing companies from creating their own competitors, at least for a time. Supposed to.
* In 1976, on the eve of the West Indies [[Cricket]] team's tour of England, English captain Tony Greig (an expatriate South African) commented, "If they're down, they (the West Indians) grovel, and I (...) intend to make them grovel." The comment incensed the West Indians, who proceeded to annihilate England in the series. West Indies captain Clive Lloyd commented:
{{quote|
* A Congressman who was campaigning against a cell phone ban while driving got into a fenderbender while conducting a radio interview on the subject on his cell phone.
* The [[Comics Code]] Authority forbade ''any'' reference to drugs, even negative portrayals. When [[Stan Lee]] was asked ''by the US Government'' to do an anti-drug magazine, the CCA refused to approve it. Stan Lee just released it without CCA approval, and readers happily filled in that approval gap. Result: The CCA ended up looking clueless and eventually going out of business altogether in 2011.
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* In 2002, a 79 year-old Belgian, who apparently hated his estranged family, rigged his house with 20 deadly booby traps, from tripwire shotguns to an exploding beer crate (set to detonate when a certain number of bottles were removed). Apparently, he was smart enough to realize that his memory was going to Hell in a hand-basket, so he wrote a list of 20 enigmatic clues to remind him where the traps were. Too bad the list didn't help at all, and he ended up being shot by one of his own traps.
* It's possible that [[Charles Manson]] might have gotten away with his "Helter Skelter" murders (at least long enough to mastermind more) were it not for one of his drugged up cronies telling every detail of the crimes to two cell mates, who went and informed the police.
* During the [[American Civil War]], the South's attitudes about race being what they were, the Confederacy decided against freeing their slaves and raising troops of black soldiers. This refusal exacerbated the already considerable logistical advantages the North had, including the fact that the Union did raise black troops, and helped ensure
* The French puppet emperor of Mexico Maximillian II attempted to dissuade the Mexicans from rebelling against him by enacting a law that sentenced every rebel captured in battle to death by firing squad. When he himself was captured by the rebels in 1867, the same law was applied to him and he was executed by firing squad.
* In 2011, a group called Million Mom March protested against an issue of [[Archie Comics]]' ''[[Life With Archie]]'' in which one of the characters, a gay man, married his partner. End result? The issue selling out in record time and copies being sold higher on eBay. When they caught wind of what [[Marvel Comics]] was doing in an issue of ''Astonishing [[X-Men]]'', they did the same. Marvel's response? [[What an Idiot!|"Please, ''keep protesting''."]]
* One notable aversion was a literal petard in the 1948 Siege of Jerusalem. In a final attempt to storm the Old City the IDF used what was basically an updated petard-a shaped charge mine intended to be placed against the wall and blow a breech by remote detonator. However it was a dud so in one sense nobody was hoisted. As the attack failed in another way it was an indirect example.
* [[Donald Trump]]... Man, where to start here?
** His angry rants on [[Twitter]] have been used against him ''many'' times, [https://www.rawstory.com/2018/12/10-times-trump-got-slapped-face-tweets-2018/?utm_source=push_notifications as this article shows.] Plus, attacks and accusations he makes against political opponents often just set him up for a barrage of counter-attacks, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=9&v=TPsLijm_A44&feature=emb_title as this other article shows.]
** Trump ''and'' Senate Majority Leader (at the time) Mitch McConnell worked hard to pack the federal courts with conservative judges, often with little regard to the competence or records of such judges, which is something that hoisted both of them terribly in the events after the election of 2020. Had Trump's ludicrous claims of widespread voter fraud been tossed out only by Democrat judges, it would have been seen as purely partisan and gained Trump support in the "court of public opinion". However, when mostly Republican judges - many of them Trump appointees, including his three Supreme Court nominees - refused to hear any of his lawsuits, it further made the "court of public opinion" view him as a fool.
** And of course, the best example was the [[wikipedia:2021 storming of the United States Capitol|January 6th storming of the Capitol.]] The blatant act of terrorism caused Trump to lose much of his already waning support, and also caused the press to refer to him with words like "fascist", "traitor", and "Nazi", which they had, up to then, tried hard to avoid doing. Whatever the case, it was obvious to everyone [[Captain Obvious|it did not improve his political career or reputation]], likely ruining it and that of many others.
*** The same can be said of the actual rioters, who took this into the [[Stupid Crooks]] territory, taking selfies of themselves while trespassing and posting them online, where they were easily identified as hate group leaders; one such member actually sobbed in an online post because doing so had put him on the No Fly list after being labeled a terrorist. Another actually took a selfie of himself stealing the House Speaker's podium and later tried to auction it on [[EBay]]. At least one of them actually defecated in a lawmaker's office. ([[Sarcasm Mode|Yeah, really funny, huh?]] Until whoever did it finds out he left DNA evidence that can and will be used at a trial and will likely have result in him having to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life). In the end, this hurt Trump and his supporters far more than it ever could have helped them.
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