I'm glad I am not the only one that had no idea what that meant...

 

OK my American friends, the following below illustrates the fundamental difference in attitude that differentiates MOST Americans from the rest of the world:

In America, when a regular working Joe walks past a mansion, he thinks to himself, "one day, if I work my butt off and make it, I can live in a place like this!"

In Australia, New Zealand and many other parts of the world where Tall Poppy Syndrome is so widespread that they have a name for it, when a regular working Joe walks past a mansion, he thinks to himself, "who did this axxhole cheat for his money and the next time I see his car, I am going to key it."

That, my friends, is why America is viewed by so many as the land of opportunity and why the best and brightest in the world want to live here.

 

Hmmm. Sorry but i don't agree ... America is no doubt a great country and in many ways deserves the strap line 'land of opportunity' but the world is an ever smaller place and cultural differences diminishing. I live outside America and do know what tall poppy syndrome is...yet I've owned many 'nice' cars and have never experienced any negative affects differentiating my cars from, say, my wife's family car. I leave my cars in public places and use them as DD and take them to work... Never any issues. I DO get lots of nice attention but not aggression. Equally i try not to drive in a way which provokes people. We should all be proud of our heritage and where we live. You should definitely be proud to live in America just as i am to live in the UK... And for the record we get good summers too... It hit 25C last Tuesday between showers

 

I spent many years living in England, school and work. From experience, Tall Poppy is a lot more prevalent in the Commonwealth countries rather than England.

I do miss English summers. Many a lazy weekend spent in a blissful Pimms fuelled haze outside the Pony on Parsons Green.

 

Darren,

There are a few nuts out there, however I can't recall the number of "thumbs up," smiles, waves, car phone photos and admiring glances my car has received over the past few years. Sometimes I sort of feel like a minor celebrity.

Just ignore the nuts

Richard

 

In Texas - haters gotta be careful....

 

Ditto. For every hater, wife & I have gotten many more thumbs ups, ”nice car” comments, congrats, etc. Don't let another's negativity reduce your joy in a car you love. Hopefully, your level-headed response may serve to diminish stereotypes many have about P-car drivers.

 

Unfortunately, that rather positive view of what hard work can bring is slowing dying here in the good ol' US of A. :-(

 

Actually the guy in the Jeep was a time traveler from New Zealand, he read this traveled back in time and demonstrated first hand what he thought of your attitude towards foreigners.

 

In florida that Jeep driver would have ran the risk of being shot....
People dont mess around in Florida in terms of road rage, they pack heat and use it when they get pissed off.

 

From Australia and now in the US (albeit the Bay Area). I think tall poppy syndrome has abated somewhat in Aus over time. Greg Norman was a prime example - people used to love to drag him down. Now people celebrate success a bit more, but you have to be gracious and humble in your attitude.

It's just a different mentality - similar to do you work to live or live to work. I've always thought of Aus as the US of 20 years ago and things change over time. A lot more bad stuff happens there now than when I grew up but I still like to reminisce about those times.

Another good example - cars that realtors drive. Quite often here a realtor will have a high end vehicle and potential clients will look at that and think - wow he must be successful - I want him to sell my house. In Aus, a realtor wouldn't have a high end car typically (particularly not with leather interior) as potential clients would think - wow that guy must really have ripped off his past clients so I wouldn't want him to sell my house.

Aussies also typically love the US (although they won't let you know it and can tend to always compare it to how things are done better in Oz). Every kids dream is to go to Disneyland and only a few lucky ones get to.

Anyway, sorry for the generic ramblings, but I think it's sometimes not always accurate to bucket cultures. There are douchebags all over the world

 

Such a tetchy Kiwi. As someone who has studied, lived and worked in many of these countries, including the US, as a foreigner, a more realistic version of your description above would have been the Kiwi jeep driver demonstrating first hand what he thought of a foreigner driving a nicer car than he did.

 

Four wonderful days after buying the 993tt you see in my avatar, it was vandalized. It was parked in the Bellagio parking lot after a drive up the coast highway from Santa Barbara. At roughly 11am the next morning a guy ( I'm guessing) wailed on it with a framing hammer for probably less than minute. This guy was likely angry about all the money he lost and needed to take it out on some rich guy. It has been my experience that guys don't stay mad at themselves very long. They externalize their anger?..yell at an employee, kick the dog, etc. As distraught as I was, I knew he was way worse off than I. This is not to say that I wasn't fantasizing about using aluminum baseball bats and ice picks on this clown, but I knew he went into a casino, a place where the system was rigged against him, and lost his ***. Not to wax political, but as more and more Americans are pushed down and out of the middle class by a system that they perceive as rigged against them, we will see more acting out towards the well off. There is a theater in DC that is in a rough area. I always take my Audi wagon and not my Porsche because one vandalized P car is enough for me....Chris

 

+1 ...not to be political, but we also have a President that instead of lifting people up likes to point at the "1%" as people that have gamed their successes off the backs of the 99% and, as such, need to return it immediately back to the proletariat, umm, I mean people. Creating a culture of us and them only leads to one place - and it's not a good place.

 

a good argument for gun control IMO YMMV.