Tall Poppy Syndrome, Crab Mentally, and how the UK and America have differing views on success.

Tall Poppy Syndrome is a metaphor referring to wherein a poppy field, if one poppy is taller than the others, it is cut down so that all the poppies are of a similar size. This is a metaphor relating to how people are treated when they reach a level of success. They are warnings stating that if you are able to reach success beyond others, the others will attempt to drag you back down and punish you for it. This is a commonly known phase in Australia and New Zealand where it is omnipresent. In an article relating to the 10 most successful young Australians, 8 of them refer to this syndrome and the effect it had on them. There are similar metaphors in other countries as well such as Japan's version stating "the nail that sticks up gets hammered down" and Holland's/ China's equivalent "tall trees catch much wind".

Further to this specific syndrome, there are many similar writings with the same meaning. In Denmark, there is "The Law of Jante" and in Norway the "Jentelovan" that states that any behaviour that is not conforming to society is unworthy and inappropriate. It supports the belief that individuals should not be special or important or good at things.

This syndrome links heavily with Crab Mentally. Imagine you have a bucket. And then you fill this bucket with a bunch of crabs. If a crab was left by itself it could easily climb out the bucket and escape if it wanted to. But for some unknown reason, when there are multiple crabs in the bucket, the other crabs won't let each other escape. If a crab attempts to escape the bucket it will be pulled back down by the other crabs. Rather than letting another crab escape to freedom, the group of crabs will work together to undermine the one escaping to ensure the group's collective demise. This theory is best described by the phase "If I can't have it, neither can you".

Why is Tall Poppy Syndrome and similar cultural phenomena a thing?

So why is this a thing at all and why is it present in our culture? Well, the answer is surprising and actually of good intent. It comes from an unfortunate misunderstanding/assumption about success. Tall Poppy Syndrome is found in egalitarian societies meaning societies that believe in equality. The difficulty in understanding that has caused this syndrome is the presumed comparison due to success. For example, if I say I am good at something, there is a presumed comparison that because I am good at something that it means I am better than others at that thing. This is because good has to have some kind of metric to it, we can't all be good at that thing or that would defeat the meaning of us being good (as then we would all be equal at that thing). The problem is that this is in contrast to equality as it implies people are above the normal in aspects of their lives. It suggests that some people are special and important which unfortunately has to then suggest that others are unimportant and not special.

Take the crabs for example, if they allow one crab to escape, what does that suggest about the other crabs? That they are not good enough to leave and have freedom. That the crab that escaped was special or important somehow. The crabs would rather all stay in the bucket. then have one of them stand out from the rest as it would show the other crabs as inferior to the crab that escaped.

Envy

Envy drives the Tall Poppy Syndrome. Seeing someone stand out or succeed past others is likely to create envious emotions. Envy is a destructive emotion, one of which derives negative behaviour such as feelings of jealousy or hatred towards that person because you are envious of them. But on further study, just the feelings of envy do not necessarily lead to negative behaviour. It is thought that by being envious of someone, you will create jealousy towards them and therefore try to have negative effects on their life such as halting their progress or cutting somebody back down to make you feel adequate again. This is what causes Tall Poppy Syndrome. But the other side to envy comes from seeing someone more successful than you creating motivation or understanding for where you want to be in life. It makes you look up to the person and began to try and emulate them to achieve similar success, so rather than cutting that person on a higher level back down, you bring yourself up to there's. It is shown in studies that envy usually comes from low self-esteem and a feeling of a lack of mobility (the ability to move).

Why does America not have it?

One of the most bizarre realities of this concept comes from America. You see in America Tall Poppy Syndrome is an unknown concept and it is well-studied that it rarely exists in their culture. Now, why might this be the case? Well, firstly America has created a more openly ambitious culture, in which it has been normalised to have high aspirations and talk about them. Compared to other cultures like our own in which "taking the piss" is a far more likely result from talking about your goals. In the US drive and determination are much more revered than our own with more encouragement and good wishes. The main concept at the heart of this difference is the American Dream. The US has much stronger institutions that promote merit (the quality of being good at something). Therefore, the American Dream promotes status and success through individual merits and efforts.

Compared to the UK which has institutions promoting making your own way while not preventing others from creating theirs, but this is not for higher status or success. As mentioned previously this is generally a good thing and allows for everyone to live how they want to without a desired amount of status or success needed. However, for this to work you have to reward success less as no one can be too much better than the others around them.

Blue-Sky Vision Pros and Cons

In American culture, blue-sky vision is way more prominent and much more known. This is where you think without limits aka you have a strong fantastical belief of the world, thinking that anything is possible and that your dreams will come true. This is supported by many of their institutions that promote ideas of the American Dream and the world of possibilities. This is then supported by their high levels of positive encouragement towards success and you get a culture of dreamers and motivation to push beyond your limitations. This all sounds great right, America has solved it. The key is to promote ambition and positive culture around hard work and looking upwards. Unfortunately, this thought process has also brought with it its own set of problems. You see when you tell everyone that the world is a wonderful place and that you can achieve anything. When bad things happen or dreams are unmet it causes an opposite and much more severer effect. A harsh realisation occurs at a point in many Americans' lives where that dream that they had of themselves as a kid will never be realised, that although you may work hard and dream big, there are other things that will stop you from achieving success and there is nothing you can do about it.

Conclusion

To conclude I think neither of these societal structures is better than the other and that there is no perfect balance between them. On one hand, promoting success is a very positive thing, it encourages people to become high achievers and builds a higher sense of purpose for most individuals due to increased drive. However, by promoting success you demote unsuccess, meaning the less fortunate in society are more heavily judged on that misfortune. Further, if success is your sole goal and motivator, what does that say to the people that don't want to achieve "success" in the way America sees it. I can easily imagine someone who spends time with their family, cares for the elderly and volunteers in their community being judged or shamed in society due to their lack of drive towards "success" in the way of status and wealth. Adding to that, if success is promoted and more people want to achieve it, it will increase the difficulty of achieving success; so more shortcuts will be found to become successful. If wealth and status are all that matter, it promotes "cheaters" to find ways to achieve success in any way they can, creating a more toxic culture.

By promoting Tall Poppy Syndrome and a reluctance towards success, we create a much more equal society where people are generally more content with their current status and place in the world. Where you don't have to work 100-hour work weeks to be looked at as successful and that there are more important things in life. However, for dreamers or highly aspirational/ambitious people, this will create a greater challenge toward their goals. Many potential Olympians, businessmen, politicians, painters, etc... will never reach their goals as our society has told them to stop trying. As there is no need to be successful, these individuals will face harsher criticism and hardship in achieving success. Accepting hyper-performance and the belief that you should be benefitted from it, unfortunately, comes at odds with this cultural norm. Creating Tall Poppy Syndrome as a natural dark side to egalitarianism.