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Aug. 17th, 2004 05:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ceebeegeeI don't get the Tall Poppy Syndrome. I remember reading about this during the last Summer Games in Sydney--how Australians resented it if they felt you were holding yourself too high. What is too high--and how does that affect anyone else? It just reads as insecurity and envy to me--"you think you're so smart!" I guess I have more in common with Ayn Rand than I thought.
I'm musing on this because I'm thinking about the reaction Michael Phelps got when he announced his ambition to score 8 golds (and now is trying for 8 medals). Ambition is good--right? If we didn't strive to better ourselves, we'd stagnate--right? If Phelps had been arrogant in his pursuit of this goal, if he'd trash-talked or denigrated his opponents, that would be objectionable but he didn't do that--he simply announced this was what he was trying to do, and then set about trying to do it. How can anyone have a problem with this? And why would they try to stand in his way (other than, of course, his opponents in the water who are trying to swim faster)? I just don't get it. If it offends you somehow, then let it challenge you to be a better swimmer. But to try to squash ambition--it's pathetic.
I'm musing on this because I'm thinking about the reaction Michael Phelps got when he announced his ambition to score 8 golds (and now is trying for 8 medals). Ambition is good--right? If we didn't strive to better ourselves, we'd stagnate--right? If Phelps had been arrogant in his pursuit of this goal, if he'd trash-talked or denigrated his opponents, that would be objectionable but he didn't do that--he simply announced this was what he was trying to do, and then set about trying to do it. How can anyone have a problem with this? And why would they try to stand in his way (other than, of course, his opponents in the water who are trying to swim faster)? I just don't get it. If it offends you somehow, then let it challenge you to be a better swimmer. But to try to squash ambition--it's pathetic.
