Australia. What's Up with Tall Poppy Syndrome?

Question

It's inappropriate when you are chopped down because you are good or successful at something.

Answer 1

Nothing.

It still seems to be alive and well. The media and to a degree the Australian public still like bringing down a peg or two those Australians who stick their heads up above the mediocre crowd.

Answer 2

It's not that Australia doesn't like achievers, we just hate elitist  outspoken ones with their own agendas to push.  

Australia is an egalitarian society where the underdogs and battlers of society get the nods.   We do have exceptional people with exceptional talents - we call them "quiet acheivers".  They don't try to big note themselves, they get on with the job, doing amazing things, and leave us to figure out how they did it on our own.

Americans in particular would find it difficult adjusting to Australian society as theirs is almost a polar opposite to the way ours works.    America rewards individual efforts with social status and much fanfare.  In Australia it is social suicide to put yourself on a pedestal above all others, especially in a social setting.   It is not uncommon for our quiet achievers to go about in Jeans and T-shirts just like the Snodgrasses next door, in spite of their multi million dollar income.   It is not a bad thing to do well,  but it is if you flaunt it in the face of your battling neighbours who may not be doing so well.    

The classic example would  Alan Bond vs Robert Holmes a Court - the most well known Australian businessmen of the 1980's.    Alan Bond was the money behind Australia II's push to win the America's cup from the New York yacht club.  He was also known for buying businesses and stripping them of their assetts to make his fortune.   He is probably universally loathed as a "Tall Poppy".  There seemed to be no limit to his personal excess or his ability to make a public display of it.      Robert Holmes a Court was what we call a "quiet achiever".  The only time you ever heard about him was when he bought up some business about to go down gurgler, which he then proceeded to build up and make into the best of its industry.  He and his surviving family members are noted for putting their money into buying Australian Artworks and putting them permanently on show in Australia's public Art Galleries.  They also quietly back all kinds of events and institutions that work for the betterment of Australian society at all levels.  Thats the difference between being a Tall Poppy and a Quiet Achiever - we definitely love the latter.

post edit:

The issue here is not what clothes anyone chooses to wear or what stuff they choose to buy.  It is the rubbing their success in other peoples faces just to make themselves  look good that is the problem.    Remember that in Australian society you are just as likely to meet a president as you are your local butcher at important social occasions (even on a national level).   It  would be considered very rude to overtly put someone in a different pay scale to yourself into a light that would make them seem unworthy to be there.  In Australia everyone is equal, we like people to feel that way when we are around them no matter how much we earn or how famous we get.    This is why famous American actors love working here.  When they walk down the street for a loaf of bread or the newspaper absolutely everybody pays scant attention to them.   When they make a driving mistake on our roads, they are just as likely to cop a mouthful of abuse as any other user out there.   Nobody gets special favours here.  That's how egalitarian this place really is.    It may not be your cup of tea,   but it is a big part of the culture here and a very real reality.   This is one reason why I smirk whenever I hear people say Australians are just like Americans.  For in many ways we are absolutely nothing like them.

Answer 3

~~~It's not that Australia doesn't like achievers, we just hate elitist outspoken ones with their own agendas to push~~~

CC of OZ has summed it up pretty well ... we love people to do well .. but to have them also remember where they came from and who helped them on their way... When they start showing signs of forgetting that .. Aussies just like to remind them a little

Answer 4

A 'Tall Poppy' is not necessarily a high achiever, it just means that a person has presented themselves as a target by standing out from the crowd.

Often its people that have developed a perception that they are better than others, not always that they are.