Line #126 Main/TallPoppySyndrome


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10	->''"All our best men are laughed at in this nightmare land."''
11	-->-- '''Creator/JackKerouac'''
12
13	"The tall poppy gets cut down" is an aphorism used in much of UsefulNotes/TheCommonwealthOfNations to describe resentment of those whose accomplishments elevate them in prominence above their peers. Tall Poppy Syndrome is when a character or characters act to achieve parity with another character who is presented or perceived as "better" not by improving themselves but by bringing the other guy down to their level. This may be through insults, sabotage, or other means.
14
15	Common in social ghettos and other places where institutionalized categorism (e.g., racism) results in {{aggressive\|Categorism}} and {{internalized\|Categorism}} categorism, with people of a certain category (e.g., race, ethnicity, class, caste, gender, sexual orientation, species, mutant, etc.) believing—even on a subconscious level—that they are inferior and should act in a certain way, and hence pull down and demean anyone who manages to (or even aspires to) act differently, rise to greatness, or escape the social ghetto.
16
17	The term comes from a story about Tarquin, last king of {{ancient Rome}}. Tarquin's son Sextus had captured a city, and asked his father how he should rule the place. Rather than reply, Tarquin drew his sword and sliced the heads off the tallest poppies in his garden. Sextus took this to mean the most prominent men should be put to death, so he had the local leaders rounded up and executed. The idea, however, is even older: [[Literature/TheHistories Herodotus describes]] Thrasybulus, the tyrant of Miletus, doing the same thing in a grain field as advice to Periander, who had just seized power in Corinth.
18
19	Though the wording remained the same, over time the expression gradually evolved to mean it was bad to stand out ''in general'', and not just because some power-hungry dictator might kill you. The idea became that one shouldn't think they're ''better'' than their peers just because they've accomplished something. In practice, this can run the gamut from being a reasonable warning against arrogance to being toxic and tearing down others' accomplishments out of resentment.
20
21	This attitude is present to some degree in many of the world's cultures, to the extent it could be considered a generally human trait, and is particularly prevalent in collectivist and hierarchical societies. Specific cultural examples include the UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}ese proverb ''Deru kugi wa utareru'' — "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down," which not only refers to success or ambition, but to ''anyone'' who fails to conform to uniform standards. This proverb was imported into English as a calque, sometimes with the additional adjective "the proud nail." There's the Scandinavian concept of ''Janteloven'' ("the Law of Jante"; see in Literature below) and the [[UsefulNotes/TheNetherlands Dutch]] proverb ''boven het maaiveld uitsteken'', "standing above the level at which the field is mowed." In Chinese, "The tall bird must be shot at." In Korean, "An angular stone is bound to be chiselled." A UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}n proverb is, "Вот радость — у соседа корова сдохла" (''Vot radost' -- u soseda korova sdokhla'' "What joy -- the neighbor's cow has died"), although that is more akin to the phrase, "Misery loves company" -- collective misery being prized more than individual happiness.
22
23	Tall Poppy Syndrome is a major reason for someone to engage in ObfuscatingStupidity, ObfuscatingDisability, or DeliberateUnderPerformance.
24
25	Compare DoWellButNotPerfect, TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong, and TooQualifiedToApply. A common FreudianExcuse for TheUnfavourite. Contrast TheSocialDarwinist ("because I'm tall, I can do whatever I want to the short poppies"), BullyingADragon (where trying to cut a tall poppy will have dire consequences), and BewareTheSuperman (where a poppy getting too tall really does endanger others). YoureJustJealous is when somebody ''thinks'' this trope is in play, but their critic actually has a valid point. TheParagon actively tries to avoid this trope by bringing others up to their level, rather than letting themself get pushed down. Contrast also the aphorism "the squeaky wheel gets the grease".
26
27	See also AmbitionIsEvil; EnemyMine; ItsPopularNowItSucks; ThrivingExCrush; and EnemiesEqualsGreatness (where having enemies is a status symbol of some kind). This is one of ThePerilsOfBeingTheBest. OffendedByAnInferiorsSuccess is like this trope but with a character being resented by someone of higher rather than equal status.
28
29	----
30	!!Examples:
31	[[index]]
32	* TallPoppySyndrome/AnimeAndManga
33	* TallPoppySyndrome/ComicBooks
34	* TallPoppySyndrome/FanWorks
35	* [[TallPoppySyndrome/LiveActionFilms Films — Live-Action]]
36	* TallPoppySyndrome/{{Literature}}
37	* TallPoppySyndrome/LiveActionTV
38	* TallPoppySyndrome/VideoGames
39	* TallPoppySyndrome/WesternAnimation
40	[[/index]]
41
42	[[foldercontrol]]
43
44	[[folder:Advertising]]
45	* In one Cheerios commercial, a father with a pair of little twin girls is trying to read his newspaper when one of them complains that the other has more Cheerios in her bowl than she does. To even things up, he digs a spoonful out from the other twin's bowl and eats it... only to decide upon tasting it that he "needs" to take some more scoops from either bowl to make them equal. Numerous scoops later, he leaves exactly ''two'' Cheerios in each bowl. "There. Now they're equal." The twins stare at their bowls for a while, and then the other one says [[IgnoredAesop "She's got]] [[HereWeGoAgain more milk."]]
46	* Mocked in a commercial for Cadillac.
47	-->'''Martin Henderson:''' You can practice risk avoidance. You can aspire to blend in quietly. You can live in, drive, wear social camouflage. And you can believe in the philosophy that the nail that sticks out gets hammered down...or...you can be the hammer.
48	[[/folder]]
49
50	[[folder:Comedy]]
51	* There's a joke where a dead guy of [insert acceptable target here] is in Hell and is escorted past the cauldrons that hold members of various nationalities, each one with a devil or multiple devils standing guard to push back in the ones trying to get out. At the cauldron for his people, there are no devils.[[labelnote:Explanation]][[DontExplainTheJoke The people inside are all pulling each other back in.]][[/labelnote]] A particularly common [[RussianHumour Russian one]]--possibly the original--has Jews in a cauldron with hundreds of devils furiously spearing them, Poles in another cauldron with only a few devils who are largely idle, and [[SelfDeprecation Russians]] in the last one with no devils.
52	* Another joke: A man sits in his room and complains about his bad life. Then, an angel appears and tells him: "{{God}} cares about you, so He decided you get one wish - but whatever you wish for, your neighbor will get twice of it!" The man thinks about it: "So if I wish for a house, he'll get two? If I wish for a million dollars, he'll get two?" The angel nods. Then the man states: "I want to be blind in one eye!" The angel leaves weeping.
53	** A more subtly spiteful joke has the [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist protagonist]] use his only or [[RuleOfThree third]] wish to donate a kidney. Other common variants include the man wishing to "be beaten half-dead", to have half his property be destroyed or to have a "mild heart attack".
54	** Similarly, this one from the Soviet Union: A man is visited by a genie, who offers to grant him a wish. The man responds that his neighbor has a cow, but he himself has no cow. The genie asks if the man wants a cow of his own too. The man says no, that he wants his neighbor's cow to die.
55	* One of Creator/LouisCK's two daughters broke one of her toys, so she went to him and, rather than ask him to simply buy her a new toy to replace it, instead ''demanded'' that he break one of her ''sister's'' toys "to make it fair". What horrified him the most was that he actually did it, while she was watching with a SlasherSmile of sadistic glee on her face.
56	[[/folder]]
57
58	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
59	* One of the major themes of ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1'': This idea is discussed in regards to superheroes being forced to give up their crimefighting activities and live as normal people. Originally this was because of a series of lawsuits due to injuries and destruction the heroes caused and increasing public outrage and mistrust of supers in general; years later, this means Dash isn't allowed to participate in sports because he'd be too good with his Speedster powers (and too competitive to not use them), as well as potentially exposing him and his family as supers. The villain, Syndrome, wants to make all of his "superhero" inventions and weapons available to the public so that "when everyone's super, no one will be". Syndrome's philosophy is actually the antithesis of this trope — raising everyone else so the people who naturally excel are average. Not a bad idea in principle, but there are three major problems with his implementation:
60	** Syndrome is motivated by megalomania and revenge, and his fondness for dangerous weapons means that "making everyone super" could result in catastrophic destruction.
61	** He's murdered dozens of superheroes in the process of improving one of these weapons, the Omnidroid, so it will be powerful enough to kill Mr. Incredible; the focus of his revenge and - from what we're shown - one of the best superheroes in the world.
62	** He explicitly states that he's only going to hand out all of his advanced technology ''after'' he's "grown old and had [his] fun", meaning that ''he's'' going to be more special than everyone else until he decides to retire.
63	** Dash meanwhile is ultimately allowed to join the Track team, but is forced to limit himself to a "close second". The chance to do something and get a little glory without exposing his powers is more than enough for him, and he seems happy.
64	** An additional layer of nuance is in how the people most advocating for their disdain of this is Mr. Incredible and Syndrome, both of whom are shown to be in the middle of their own respective crises. The former desperately wishes to be valued and allowed to help people. The key is that their advocacy of Tall Poppy Syndrome has an undertone of rationalizing their selfishness, with the former's desires resulting in him putting his own family in grave danger with his antics, while the latter is lashing out in his own horrific way as a Superhero SerialKiller. It's only when the former realizes the error of his behavior that he finds a better balance between his desire to be exceptional without causing more harm as a result, while the latter ends up taking his cruelty to its logical conclusion and eventually pays the price for it.
65	[[/folder]]
66
67	[[folder:Game Shows]]
68	* On ''Series/{{Taskmaster}}'' series 13, Creator/ArdalOHanlon will become overly and pedantically critical of the other contestants attempts at a task whenever he knows that ''he'' did poorly on it by comparison. He does it often enough that Creator/{{Alex\|Horne}} actually calls him out on it on Episode 4, after he heavily criticizes Chris Ramsey and Sophie Duker's "stirring speeches for the Taskmaster".
69	--> '''Alex:''' I would say also, this has happened on shows before this series, where Ardal has criticized a lot of people's attempts, partly building up to what ''I'' know he's done. You just bear this in mind.
70	[[/folder]]
71
72	[[folder:Music]]
73	* In {{UsefulNotes/Italy}} there is a really popular song about "tall, tall poppies", which are meant to resemble preminent politicians and how a farm girl should definitely not look after them.
74	* Referenced in "Lobster Bucket!" by Music/TheAquabats.
75	-->''People too, me and you\
76	Can also be like lobsters in buckets\
77	It's all just one big mess\
78	Please don't be a lobster, friends are best''
79	* From Music/AniDiFranco's "32 Flavors":
80	-->''And god help you if you are a phoenix\
81	And you dare to rise up from the ash\
82	A thousand eyes will smolder with jealousy\
83	While you are just flying past''
84	* "The Trees" by Music/{{Rush\|Band}} is this trope by way of Creator/AynRand, although lyricist Neil Peart claims the song [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical wasn't intended to have a political interpretation]].
85	-->''Now there's no more oak oppression\
86	For they passed a noble law\
87	And the trees are all kept equal\
88	By hatchet,\
89	Axe,\
90	And saw''
91	* The first verse of ''Son of a Scoundrel'' by Creator/ShelSilverstein gives this impression when the narrator disapproves of his neighbor suddenly acting more stereotypically high class after coming into money, noting that Australians are all 'children of convicts' and loudly questioning the neighbor's parentage when he passes in the street. This notion of bringing down people acting above their station (IE, better than everyone else, making the narrator out as TheEveryman) is also used to rebut a ParentalMarriageVeto in the second verse and backtalk a judge attempting to shut down a brothel in the third verse.
92	* This is why critics in the U.K. hated ProgressiveRock so much. A lot of music critics on both sides of UsefulNotes/ThePond think that anybody who strives for anything more ambitious than ThreeChordsAndTheTruth is "pretentious." For critics, "experimental" is not a compliment.
93	* Briefly discussed in Music/GangStarr's "Moment of Truth" with these lyrics:
94	-->''See when you're shining, some chumps'll wanna dull ya''\
95	''Always selfish jealous punks, will wanna pull ya''\
96	''Down, just like some shellfish in a bucket''
97	* Nineties roots-rock band The Badlees riffed on this with their song "I Liked You Better When You Hated Yourself", about a former friend who embraces the self-help lifestyle, although it's not completely one-sided; it sounds like the song's subject is suffering from some AcquiredSituationalNarcissism.
98	-->''Last time I saw you, you were on Donahue\
99	Discussing your book and everything you've been through\
100	Now you've got your glamour, your fame and your wealth\
101	But I still liked you better when you hated yourself''
102	* The Norwegian ProgressiveMetal band Music/{{Leprous}}' debut album is literally named ''Tall Poppy Syndrome'', and the TitleTrack is about this trope.
103	* When both Music/KylieMinogue and Music/JasonDonovan rose in popularity due to their pop careers, they had both also received hatedoms due to their popularity (the latter's hatedom has worsened after he sued a magazine for accusing him of lying about his sexuality in 1992). Thankfully, this trope dies down as their careers go by, but there are still some people who hate on them to this day. Both of them have explained this trope in some interviews by a unique cycle: People love them, then hate them, then felt bad for them, then loved them again.
104	* In Music/TheUltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny, the MemeticBadass status of Creator/ChuckNorris backfires on him. After he effortlessly takes out both Franchise/IndianaJones and Characters/{{Batman\|TheCharacter}}, an entire army[[note]][[WaxingLyrical Specifically:]] [[Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium Gandalf the Grey and Gandalf the White]] and ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail's'' Black Knight and UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini and [[WesternAnimation/YellowSubmarine The Blue Meanie]] and [[Series/PeeWeesPlayhouse Cowboy Curtis and Jambi the Genie]], Franchise/RoboCop, Film/TheTerminator, [[Franchise/StarTrek Captain Kirk]], and [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Vader]], [[Film/BigTroubleInLittleChina Lo-Pan]], Characters/{{Superman\|TheCharacter}}, every single [[Franchise/PowerRangers Power Ranger]], [[Film/BillAndTedsExcellentAdventure Bill S. Preston and Theodore Logan]], [[Franchise/StarTrek Spock]], [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]], [[Characters/MarvelComicsOttoOctavius Doc Ock,]] and Wrestling/HulkHogan[[/note]] immediately gathers just to get him out of the way.
105	* Music/KendrickLamar is heavily aware of this trope [[DiscussedTrope and frequently addresses it in his music]]. He became a critical darling among the {{Alternative\|HipHop}}[=/=]ConsciousHipHop scene in large part due to his self-awareness of his place within music culture, as well as his ability to translate the views it allows for [[{{Deconstruction}} to make thoughtful dissections of larger cultural and political implications]] in his later art. From as early as 2015's ''Music/ToPimpAButterfly'' (his first major album after his BreakthroughHit ''Music/GoodKidMAADCity''), ThePerilsOfBeingTheBest were already starting to hit Kendrick, with ''TPAB'' and later albums frequently discussing [[CelebrityIsOverrated his insecurities of being hailed as a champion of the artform and perhaps society at large]], coming to terms with both the rising praise and [[HypeBacklash the expectant backlash]] that comes with being a big artist. His 2022 album, ''Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers'', is effectively his confession that [[UnwantedFalseFaith he's exhausted of being hailed as a savior representative of perfection and hope]], and ultimately wants to just be [[WartsAndAll the normal, flawed, but decent man that he is]], transparently admitting that to [[BeYourself be himself]], he has to choose himself over his audiences.
106	* "Warning" by Music/TheNotoriousBig, is about one of his boys warning him about a group of guys he used to run the streets with, whom are now planning to kill him out of jealously, because he became a famous rapper and left them behind.
107	-->'' They heard you're blowing up like nitro, now they want to take a knife to your windpipe slow.
108	[[/folder]]
109
110	[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
111	* Wrestling/{{Carl\|itoColon}}y Colon, who was nearly an overnight success in WWC, was hit by a case of this notable enough to get a newspaper article on the subject when he got a Wrestling/{{WWE}} developmental deal. Granted, that paper was The Sun and he's long since become popular again.
112	* In response to hearing the [[FanCommunityNickname RoHbots]] thank Eddie Edwards during their departure, Wrestling/JimmyJacobs and Wrestling/RoderickStrong attacked, later joining with BJ Whitmer: three wrestlers who had been "loyal" to Wrestling/RingOfHonor for a decade who were tired of seeing celebrations for those going to larger companies. This degenerated into Decade attacking people returning from larger companies ([[Wrestling/ChristopherDaniels The]] [[Wrestling/FrankieKazarian Addiction]] from [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]], {{commuting\|onabus}} between larger companies (Wrestling/AJStyles bringing in the IWGP heavyweight title and Wrestling/BulletClub from Wrestling/{{New Japan\|ProWrestling}}) and then attacking "rookies" who they suspected of using ROH to get to larger companies (Adam Page, [=TaDarius=] Thomas, Andrew Everett, Cedric Alexander, ACH)
113	* Much of the mid-card in Wrestling/{{WWE}} involves what's referred to 50-50 booking where wrestlers in a feud would exchange wins and losses with no clear winner so that no one looks weak. However, no one ever looks strong, either and don't really develop a strong following amongst casual fans. Only the few wrestlers at the very top don't suffer from this. This leads to situations where a champion will often lose non-title matches, but win when the belt is on the line.
114	* It's also common in Wrestling/{{WWE}} for a wrestler who manages to get popular with the crowd when Wrestling/VinceMcMahon doesn't want this to happen (either because he wants them to be a {{Heel}} or because he doesn't see them as main event material even though the audience clearly does) to get punished with humiliating angles and/or gimmick changes, or just forced to [[{{Jobber}} lose a lot]] in hopes that fans will stop cheering them. In rare instances a wrestler is just ''[[Wrestling/DanielBryan so]] [[Wrestling/BeckyLynch popular]]'' that Vince has no choice but to give them the push that fans are demanding. But most of the time...just look what was done to Wrestling/RusevAndLana.
115	[[/folder]]
116
117	[[folder:Religion and Mythology]]
118	* Straight from ''[[Literature/TheFourGospels the Gospels]]'', and thus OlderThanFeudalism: ''No man is a prophet in his own land'' (on how UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} Himself is panned in his own home village, Nazareth, when he tries to deliver His message). This trope is pretty much WordOfGod, for some.
119	[[/folder]]
120
121	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
122	* In any game with three or more players and mechanics that allow them to attack each other or otherwise impede each other's progress, anyone who pulls ahead of the pack is likely to be targeted by the others.
123	* ''TabletopGame/ArsMagica'': House Mercere is unique in MagicalSociety that most of its members aren't magi, but {{Muggles}} or people with [[UnequalRites lesser supernatural talents]]. Mercere magi are expected to put their House before themselves and are shamed if they seem to be flaunting their gifts -- in some cases, even by casting a vote at Tribunal (as un-Gifted Mercere act as TeamSwitzerland) or by using too much magic in public.
124	* ''TabletopGame/{{Atmosfear}}'': In certain scenarios the player who is winning can end up banished, with the comment "Nobody likes a showoff!"
125	* As the Draconis Combine is [[RecycledInSpace Space]] UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan in ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'', they openly bide by conformist "''Deru kugi wa utareru''" proverb (mentioned in the ''Franchise/BattleTechExpandedUniverse'' novel Close Quarters). There is also the popular ''yakuza'' and military corollary: "Better to be the hammer than the nail." While the Combine values martial prowess, it is not so big on individuality.
126	* This is one of the dangers in ''TabletopGame/{{Diplomacy}}''. Anyone who seems to be in a position of power has just painted a target on their back - ''and'', paradoxically, reduced their own chance of winning; since an attack ''must'' be supported by another player to succeed, the person in the lead may find it hard to convince others to assist them, since that would just extend their lead.
127	* If you're one of the "lesser" evils (i.e., fiends), so to speak, in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', everybody above you keeps bullying you just for kicks (and everyone below you keeps trying to take your job). The top-level guys have no one looking down on them, at least not honestly (as archdevils and demon lords often don't think much of each other, but they're on more or less equal footing) but on the other hand, they're surrounded by legions of [[TheStarscream Starscreams]]...
128	[[/folder]]
129
130	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
131	* Dennis from ''VisualNovel/DoubleHomework'' tries to beat the protagonist at the dating game not by improving his own sex appeal, but by undercutting the protagonist’s.
132	* The protagonist of ''Season of the Sakura'' was hit hard with this in middle school. His natural talent in sports caused so much resentment that all his friends abandoned him and he became so depressed he considered running away. This caused him to not want to stand out in high school, as he feared the same thing would happen. Luckily, his friends in high school are kinder people, who actually encourage him to embrace his talents, rather than hide them.
133	[[/folder]]
134
135	[[folder:Web Animation]]
136	* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNVqRC4mcSI The Box]]'' is full of miserable creatures, but one of them doesn't belong there. It makes itself stand out and when it's subsequently literally hammered back to its place the rest of its kin can't help but collectively laugh. Played with, in that it's implied the different creature isn't inherently different, it just [[spoiler:hasn't been hammered down yet]]. Also {{defied}} at the end, when it gets so angry, its [[RedEyesTakeWarning glowing eyes flicker back on]], promptly rips its way out of the roots binding it, and [[HoistByTheirOwnPetard climbs out of the box using the hole made by the hammer]], leaving the other creatures staring stupidly at the spot in the ceiling where the hole appears.
137	* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': Marzipan's 'pre-school' in a Strong Bad Email about coloring that makes fun of this trope. [[GranolaGirl Marzipan]] gives Homestar, Strong Mad, and Homsar crayons that don't actually color, "so that no one Life Blossom shines brighter than any other".
138	* In ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', Ruby got chosen as the leader of Team RWBY. This greatly upsets [[AcademicAlphaBitch Weiss]], who in class next day tries to talk one of the teachers into making her the leader and demoting Ruby. Said teacher called out on her spoiled brat attitude and told her to be [[AnAesop the best member a leader could ever have]] instead. [[DefrostingIceQueen She takes this lecture to heart]] and apologizes to Ruby later that night.
139	[[/folder]]
140
141	[[folder:Webcomics]]
142	* One of the reasons the ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'' [[DoesNotLikeMagic hates magic so much]] is because of petty jealousy. A few beings are gifted with supernatural talents others do not have, which most of the Court feels is unfair. One of the conditions to make it into the Court's inner ranks is to give up or stop using any etheric talents one may possess so as to avoid hurting the feelings of their other members. Their ultimate goal is to "free" humanity from the "tyranny of the ether".
143	* ''WebComic/QuentynQuinnSpaceRanger'': The Empire of the Seven Stars can give near-eternal life, a near-endless supply of energy and resources, and a general end to poverty. But even if you give everyone "a magic box that provides anything you can think of", there will always be those who embrace dystopia with them at the top and the poppies at the bottom frequently snipped, or those who envy the relatively-prosperous ''past'' of their neighbors [[TakingYouWithMe and would foolishly ruin themselves just to destroy their neighbors' boxes, homes, and lives]]. After the protagonist gave replication technology to a planet on the brink of the apocalypse, the Oligarchy 'freaked' and tried to regulate replicator technology with military force to prevent them from losing control of their hierarchy to the most artistic of peasants, despite the obvious utopian profits for everyone involved. [[DidNotThinkThisThrough Naturally, they got usurped by the resistance and their mass-produced replicator weapons]]. And unfortunately for everyone, the Sho'faxti, a religious terrorist nation plagued with famine and civil unrest, refused to use a single replicator to feed their starving nation in favor of churning out weapons and hacking devices to achieve the revenge on the rest of the 'prosperous' world, performing a ColonyDrop which killed billions and caused the rest of the world [[NukeEm to respond in kind]] before they could go even further. The lesson here is that an egalitarian utopia is impossible because the past is a record of how tall you grew before everyone could became equal, and thus constantly used as an excuse for ''everyone'' to get snipped (oligarchs getting less snipped than others, but still stupidly snipping themselves), but that also means you should try to let the past go and live better than you did before.
144	* ''Webcomic/WeakHero'':
145	** Stephen is relentlessly excellent at anything that he puts his mind to. This causes a sense of resentment not only in his homeroom teacher- who doesn't like the busywork his pro-activism causes- but in his fellow students who mock him for acting like a saint. This leads to Stephen being bullied by his peers, which then culminates in him being thrown off the school roof and put in a coma indefinitely, which is the incident that [[BrokenBird broke the protagonist]].
146	** Jeongmu's own lack of talent leads him to seek those who do have it just to destroy all of their hard work. If he can't climb to where others are, then he'll just drag them back down to his level. Gerard proving himself to be a superior fighter causes Jeongmu to become obsessed with ruining his life.
147	[[/folder]]
148
149	[[folder:Web Original]]
150	* ''Website/{{Cracked}}'''s article "[[http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/the-crazy-sociology-experiment-buried-in-russian-game-show/ The Crazy Sociology Experiment Buried in a Russian Game Show]]" notes that, in the Russian version of ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire'', contestants "quickly became wary of asking the audience anything, because they'd almost always give the wrong answer." The theory is that the Russian audiences were deliberately sabotaging the contestants, to prevent them from rising above their peers.
151	-->In Russia, the audience viewed the million-ruple prize as a reason to mourn the fact that there's one less person to share the rampant poverty and despair with. That's harsh, Russia.
152	* Common in the UsefulNotes/FurryFandom with the demonisation of 'Popufurs', which are furries who have a relatively large following in the fandom (and maybe even outside of it). There are some people who will look for anything they can use to ruin said people in an attempt to make themselves more popular, even [[MaliciousSlander making things up out of whole cloth]]. However, this rarely works; most of the time, people see right through the attempt. And even if it results in the "popufur" being taken down, [[AllForNothing the one who took them out rarely sees any recognition or a boost in popularity for it]].
153	* On an early episode of ''WebVideo/GameGrumps'', Arin complained of Jon's ability to figure out how to play Nickelodeon's ''Guts'' videogame. Arin got legitimately mad at Jon for knowing how to play the game[[note]]timing button presses to throw a ball into a net while jumping[[/note]] while he himself couldn't get the timing down and ''demanded'' he be told how to play better so as for it to be fair, despite the fact they both went into the game with the same level of knowledge of how to play (i.e., none).
154	* The "milkshake duck" phenomenon on social media is a manifestation of this. The term, which describes the almost-inevitable exposure of the dark background of viral social media users, comes from [[https://archive.is/NSzQu a 2016 tweet]] by "pixelatedboat", who summarized it thus:
155	-->The whole internet loves Milkshake Duck, a duck that drinks milkshakes! 5 seconds later We regret to inform you the duck is racist.
156	* Similarly, "maplecocaine" on Twitter [[https://twitter.com/maplecocaine/status/1080665226410889217 wrote]]:
157	-->Each day on twitter there is one main character. The goal is to never be it
158	* ''Website/TheOnion'': [[https://youtu.be/8d6cdcNKJRY "Friends Don't Understand How Man Not Depressed"]].
159	* On websites that show a user's karma score, such as Website/{{Reddit}}, users with high karma often attract hatedoms just for having high karma.
160	[[/folder]]
161
162	[[folder:Real Life]]
163	* This kind of thinking is very prevalent in societies around the world, and it happens in many different forms and ways.
164	** East Asian cultures especially stress the ideas of social harmony, which has been historically documented to be potentially abused to a fault at its worst. They do celebrate exceptional individuals.... if it fits what society needs, such as ranking number one on test scores. On the other hand, Western cultures, and especially America, can also be known for being fundamentally racially and cultural imposing, contrary to the long touted ideas of freedom, equality, and liberty, claiming anything that doesn't fit the social and cultural quilt as "not western/white/American enough" until it's shaped or rid of "undesirable qualities" for their liking. In general, this can all be viewed as "tyranny of the majority" on a cultural and social scale.
165	** Even then, standing out individually regardless of ''any'' culture, scene, subculture, or race is probably enough to earn you resentment and bullying. Talk to people long enough, and chances are, you'll come across someone with stories about how they were the target of bullying or discrimination for their talents or personality or something that made them stand out even just a bit in their social environment and make ripples to draw in ostracizers and conformists of all kinds. If [[BeYourself being yourself]] would have an arch-nemesis, Tall Poppy Syndrome would be it.
166	* The Kung people in southern Africa have a practice called "insulting the meat." If a hunter were to get a sizable kill, and bring it back to camp boasting about it, other people would insult it, claiming it was worthless. When an anthropologist found this out the hard way, an elder explained to him that it was done in order to prevent a skilled tribe member from walking around like he owned the place, which would lead to trouble.
167	* The origin of this trope may be that humans have a great sense for when outcomes are unequal, which doesn't mean the outcome is unfair. This is coupled with a sense of indignation when we're on the short end of the stick.
168	** In one of the early experiments on game theory at RAND, two scientists were asked to play a prisoner's dilemma scenario against a "bank" (ie: they could simply win money from a third party). However, the prize money was purposefully imbalanced so that in order for Player A to maximize the amount of money they would get, Player B would have to get twice as much. Rather than maximize his own profit by cooperating, he kept tanking them both because he felt the game was unfair, defecting about 30% of the time. Player A really has no reason to screw Player B. Neither of them are losing anything; they're both just getting free money. However, because Player A felt the division of money was unfair, he preferred that ''both'' of them get ''nothing'' rather than both get something but it be inequitable.
169	** This is the criticism politicians like UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher had regarding Socialism. Thatchet argued that, if given the choice, socialists would rather everyone was equally poor rather than unequally rich.
170	** In another experiment, two participants play a game called Ultimatum. They flip a coin, and both are offered a sum of money by a third party. The winner of the coin flip can offer any amount to the loser, but the loser of the flip must approve the deal or neither gets any money. It's rational for the loser to accept any deal that gives them something, but a deal usually can't get much worse than 60-40 before most participants wind up rejecting it. Most players who win the coin toss also intuit this, and while they take a majority of the money, they give a substantial portion to the loser. Contrast this with Dictator, where the winner simply divides the money and keeps as much as they want, while the loser has no choice in the matter. The Dictator rarely gives away much of their windfall.
171	* The {{Trope Namer\|s}} is a plant, but actual plants like poppies and trees have evolved the way they did because of an aversion. When there's a tall tree, it casts a shadow over the shorter plants near it, so that they don't get as much sunlight. A short tree would be best off if it didn't have to build a longer stem (so long and thick that it's worthy of the name "trunk") to catch up, so it would benefit if it could either cut off the tall tree or talk to it and convince it, saying "Hey, let's all take it easy and be short." Then no tree would have to put all its resources into a giant trunk. But those things can't happen, so the only outcome is that these plants can't survive if they are too much shorter than the average height for their neighbors.
172	* Many of the basic rules of basketball -- the shot clock, goaltending, three-point shots, and the width of the lane -- were introduced to minimize the advantage that some players have by just being really tall. Quite a literal trope example.
173	* Another name for this phenomenon is "crab-in-a-bucket mentality" or just "crab mentality", referencing the way crabs act when thrown in a bucket after being caught. They'll try to climb out of the bucket, but if there's more than one crab, none of them will be able to get out. The crab that tries to break free will be pulled back down by the others in the bucket, ensuring that they'll all stay trapped. The expression is used when someone is acting on a mentality of "if I can't have it, nobody can". [[note]]Contrary to what the saying implies, this is not actually caused by the crab being jealous. It's because crabs don't have enough brainpower to realize that the thing which is above them and might help them climb out is another crab.[[/note]]
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Context Main / TallPoppySyndrome