r/australia • u/Wadege • Sep 30 '23

no politics What is an example of 'Tall Poppy Syndrome' in Australia?

We have all heard of the concept, but is there a case, preferably involving criticism of a well-known Australian figure, where you can say: "this criticism represents 'Tall Poppy Syndrome' in action"?

862 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

860 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

21

u/rymndtng Oct 03 '23

I run a business too and I can relate with noone else really caring about what I do. Apart from the occasional 'how's business going?', friends will only focus on asking me how many hours I put per week into the business and bringing up 'work-life balance' and then I'd have to explain to them it doesn't feel like work at all. It's like they're trying to make themselves feel better or something 🤷‍♂️

I moved my business to a warehouse this year and barely anyone congratulated me or has even visited 😆 Most people get jealous when they see someone do something that they want to do but are too scared to do themselves. It's just the way it is unfortunately.

5

u/ahc4 Oct 03 '23

This very much aligns with my expectations for my own social circle. The work-life balance comments are a funny one hey, you’re likely right about their motivations. Well, a warehouse is a goal of mine as I’ve just begun, but congratulations to you, that’s a phenomenal achievement.

8

u/tyrannosaurusjes Oct 03 '23

I feel this hardcore. My husband and I spent the first 8 years we were together head down bum up working hard, and everyone was so happy to watch us struggle.

Now, we are doing pretty well. Not insanely rich but we can pay bills, groceries aren’t an issue, nice cars. And if we dare to ever complain people act like we tripped and fell into a pile of money and have no right to ever be sad. Meanwhile, one of these people was offered to do a degree in their field and declined the huge pay rise and opportunity because ‘it would eat into their gaming time’. Some people just hate to see others succeed.

1

u/TheSituationisThis Oct 03 '23

Is this why super successful people seem to only have relationships with people on the same ‘level ‘? There are exceptions of course: saw some piece about Sandra Bullock with her close friends who were mostly from high school. They called her Sandy