Tall poppy syndrome

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Tall poppy syndrome (TPS) is a pejorative term used in Australia and New Zealand to describe what is seen as a levelling social attitude. Someone is said to be suffering from tall poppy syndrome when his or her assumption of a higher economic, social or political position attracts criticism, being perceived as presumptuous, attention seeking or without merit. The process can be linked with anti-intellectualism, especially with public criticism by the media or community leaders of particular academics or members of the intelligentsia.

The term originates from accounts in Aristotle's Politics (Book 5, Chapter 10) and Livy's History of Rome, Book I. Aristotle wrote: "Periander advised Thrasybulus by cutting off the tops of the tallest ears of corn, meaning that he must always put out of the way the citizens who overtop the rest." In Livy's account, the Roman tyrant, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, received a messenger from his son Sextus asking what he should do next in Gabii, since he had become all-powerful there. Rather than answering the messenger, Tarquinius went into his garden, took a stick, and symbolically swept it across his garden, thus cutting off the heads of the tallest poppies that were growing there. The messenger, tired of waiting for an answer, returned to Gabii and told Sextus what happened, who realised that his father wished him to put to death all the most eminent people of Gabii, which he then did.

A kind of reverse snobbery, this syndrome may have originated in Australasia as a rejection of the British class system.^[1] Immigrants to Australia and New Zealand often adopted an egalitarian attitude, viewing people as admirable for what they themselves could do and rejecting the notion that some people are "naturally" superior to their peers by right of birth.

This phenomenon is often interpreted by foreign observers as a resentment of others' success^{[citation needed]}. Those who subscribe, however, see themselves as attacking targets which take themselves too seriously or flaunt their success without due humility.^{[citation needed]} Apparent cases of tall poppy syndrome can often be explained as resentment not of success but of snobbery and arrogance; many Australasians have achieved success and wealth without attracting such hostility, such as Dick Smith and Stephen Tindall.^{[citation needed]}

In modern Australasia, tall poppy syndrome is frequently invoked as an explanation when a public figure is on the receiving end of negative publicity — even if such publicity can be seen as a result of that person's own misconduct.^{[citation needed]}

Belief in the strength of this cultural phenomenon, and the degree to which it represents a negative trait, is to some extent influenced by politics. Conservative commentators, particularly city-based ones, often criticise Australians for their alleged desire to punish the successful. Sometimes, tall poppy syndrome is claimed to be linked to the concept of 'The Politics of Envy'. Critics of the tall poppy syndrome sometimes compare Australia unfavourably to the United States in this respect, in the belief that Americans generally appreciate the successful as an example to admire and attempt to emulate.

Some commentators^{[citation needed]} have argued that tall poppy syndrome may well be a universal phenomenon, accentuated in some cultures. The concepts of janteloven, or "Jante law", in Scandinavia, and A kent yer faither (English: I knew your father) in Scotland, are very similar. Similar phenomena are said to exist in Canada the Netherlands, and the American South. (The humorist Leo Rosten told a joke in which a man surnamed "La Fontaine" is bluntly reminded that his name had been modified, over several generations, through Shpritzwasser from the original "Moishe the Pisher".) The Japanese proverb "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down" is particularly well known, although this proverbial phrase applies more to conforming to social conventions than to high achievement and the accumulation of wealth.

[edit] References

• Feather, N. T. (1989) Attitudes towards the high achiever: The Fall of the Tall Poppy. "Australian Journal of Psychology, 41," pgs.239-267

[edit] See also

• Handicapper General
• The Jante Law
• Social Model
• Cultural cringe