Hoist by one’s own petard!

There must be a perverse streak in me! I can’t say I enjoy it but I will admit to deriving some satisfaction in seeing someone get their “come-uppance”; in the squirming embarrassment not to say humiliation of the high and mighty forced to acknowledge their own failings.  Rather than offending others by telling them how to behave or what they should do, we need to get our own house in order first – to lead by example – from the front. And what an example we have shown to the world!!!! I am sure those involved will duck and weave and deny that it is a widespread practice – but isn’t this what the Indonesians said in 2010 when we complained about some of their abattoirs?

I bet the Indonesians are chortling into their beers or glasses of rice wine, or whatever they drink there, over the revelations that the “do good” Australians have been “hoist by their own petard”. That their own abattoirs are far from “clean” that there are practices in Australia that are in clear breach of any concept of what may be considered the “humane” treatment of animals.

While I have nothing but utter contempt for the abattoir workers, the management and the owners of the Hawkesbury Valley Abattoir, for allowing such cruel practices to take place, we Australians need to be careful and to learn to practice what we preach. We need to be sure that the moral high ground we try to talk from is not actually quicksand.

Note: For those not familiar with the term “Hoist by one’s own petard” it refers to being injured by a device intended to injure others. A petard was an explosive device on the end of a pole used during the Middle Ages for attacking fortified positions. The explosives used at the time were very unstable and unpredictable and tended to detonate unexpectedly – injuring or killing the unfortunate user. Hence the term hoist (blown up) by one’s own petard (device).

In this case there is a pleasing element of poetic justice in the phrase.