bad part
Hijacking of once great Australia day to what it has become now.
Good part.
prawns on the bbq.
W
Good part is it encourages humility. Nothing uglier than someone accomplishing something and then blowing it right up like a turd. Aka Mundine syndrome.
Bad Part is it stops people wanting to try in fear of sticking out in the crowd. It actually became part of our culture in the convict days, if the crew worked together at the same speed everyone was OK. If one worked too hard, they all had to.
As a younger man many years ago for example I was offered a TV contract for ads etc. My mates gave me that much crap for doing the 3 or 4 ads that I done that as a easily influenced 17 y.o I rejected the deal. Could have paid for my Uni education. Now as a fat old hairy guy I realise that the Tall Poppy syndrome shaped my younger life.
Hey elcoco,
Tall Poppy is an ugly side of Australian culture. It's a "look at that bloke, he has more than me, I therefor must tear down and discredit him until he is back in the dumps like me" attitude.
What's wrong with celebrating or admiring someone's success. Usually success comes from hard work, ....... a lot of it.
There's a great analogy I subscribe to. There are two ways to have the tallest building in a city. You can design, build and work to build the biggest most impressive building, or you can tear down all the other tall buildings around your much smaller building to be the same height or smaller than your own.
This is a very negetive means of attaining success, or hiding your own failure.
Tall Poppy seems to be getting worse as Australians get lazier and more self absorbed. Once a long time ago, Australians believed in hard work and a fair dinkum go for everyone. We have a fair system where if you put the work in, you get the benefits. This is true for EVERY person in Australia.
Problem is, many people feel they are owed success or blame whatever sociological issue and use it as an excuse for not succeeding.
Tall Poppy is based on the negetive emotions. Envy, jealousy, lack of self respect, anger and hatred.
Unfortunately, I think it is only going to get worse. Poor Australia in the future. 
Our forefathers would be ashamed.
DM
I am not so sure on it becoming worse.
Our culture is becoming more Americanised every day. The Tall Poppy syndrome is not a new concept, it's a very old one that goes back to the beginnings of white Australian culture. Americans blow their own horn daily, that's why they are called Seppos (aka Septic Tank, rhyming with yank if being nice, describing being full of poo if being truthful)
If someone succeeds it's OK to enjoy their success. It's just not OK to enjoy your own publicly. It seems to me that we enjoy the success of those that achieve with humility and without the inflated ego. Take for example Mick Fanning, Joel Parko and Occy. No big heads and we all love them. These people are the 'peoples heroes'.
Then take someone like Mundine. Arguably extremely talented but nobody likes him. The saying is self recommendation is no recommendation at all. He blows his own trumpet.
I do not find it's part of the culture.
It might be so in the media with personalities, I don't know.
We hear about it, but in the streets, at work, etc. some jealous turds are like that, but most aren't turds or jealous. None of me mates are.
i am the best at finding out what really goes on,with the doc,japie,cisco and flysurfer running a distant 4th.
why then am i so much smarter?
can't figure it out myself,just know i am 
Scenario:
Working hard at my new casual job, I'm now getting most of the shifts that'd otherwise go to a few other guys (they don't work as hard preferring to muck around a bit). They've picked up on this and have been giving me crap about it. We're all mates so I know they are joking but this 'tall poppy syndrome' is out there.
As much as I'll laugh it off it does get to you because you don't know what to say. Ain't gonna change though, my work ethics whats got me so far and I ain't gonna become a doctor by being lazy .
