Re: Tall poppy syndrome

Posted by R. Berg on August 09, 2001

In Reply to: Tall poppy syndrome posted by Bruce Kahl on August 09, 2001

: Tall poppy syndrome

: If you tend to your garden and are successful in growing some flowers you will take the tallest, strongest specimen, cut it down and bring it indoors to be displayed.
: It is also a tendency in some cultures to attack and "cut down" visibly successful people.

"Tall poppies" comes from an anecdote about an ancient monarch who sent a message by doing something rather than saying something. One version is in Rabelais, "Gargantua and Pantagruel"; if link below is missing, the URL is
http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/adventure/GargantuaandPantagruel/chap211.html
: As long as diversity of values exists, there will always be people criticizing those icons that are held up as the "model" that we should inspire to be like.

• Tall-poppies story

• Poppies: correction--ignore previous version R. Berg 08/09/01