When did people start hating high quality Americans?

[Firefly]

Sometimes you just gotta say FIDO

[ramairthree]

Long story short Ramairthree the simplistic answer to your question is:

Because most people are assholes.

Sorry man, but there it is.

I’m just a regular every day normal guy, maybe slightly above average intelligence (or better according to tests). I used to be an everyday normal USMC grunt, nothing special just an infantry Marine. No hatred towards the guys who had the drive, genetics, intellect to go further than I did, in fact pretty grateful we have people of that quality. If you hang around them and want to learn, or improve they’ll make you better too.

But most people are assholes. They want to disparage high achievers because instead of admiring the dedication, luck, determination, and sacrifices of high achievement, they know they lack the ability or will to do the same. Rather than acknowledging this honestly, they make excuses for their own poor comparative performance by imagining flaws in the person they are comparing themselves to. Unfortunately this means they won’t improve themselves.

I try not to fall into that trap, but will admit to that kind of poor attitude and mental masturbation at times. I’m human after all. Just have to cut that shit out and try to figure out how to be more like the high achiever instead. Seems more productive.

I am well aware of my asshole ness,
But when running a unit I actively sought people smarter, faster, stronger, more SOF quals, more combat experience, more training, etc.

If I only sought people that could not show me up, the unit would be no better than me.

So, I was/am an asshole,
But no issues with extra high quality personnel.

Has to be more to it than just being an asshole.

[militarymoron]

To the OP's question, I think it's just jealousy/sour grapes. I'm typically around pretty smart people, and haven't seen an increase in resentment towards the exceptionally high performers over time. There are always those who will think that everyone who's a high achiever was handed their opportunities, rather than working for them, but I find them rare among the smart-not-awesome people I know (of which I consider myself to one of, lol).

Someone asked me if I like Kipling.

I said, "I don't know. I've never kippled."

Me neither - I think they only make stuff for women: https://www.kipling.com/int/

(j/k - Kipling is one of my favourite authors. My dad used to read 'Just so stories' to me when I was a kid. It gave me great pleasure to read the exact same copy of that book to my son, years later.)

[Coal Dragger]

I am well aware of my asshole ness,
But when running a unit I actively sought people smarter, faster, stronger, more SOF quals, more combat experience, more training, etc.

If I only sought people that could not show me up, the unit would be no better than me.

So, I was/am an asshole,
But no issues with extra high quality personnel.

Has to be more to it than just being an asshole.

No you aren’t an asshole. Not in the sense I’m talking about. Maybe in the sense of someone with high standards and drive, who expects or demands others to maintain high standards.

I’m talking about jealousy, excuse making, and resentment type assholes. You know, normal assholes doing normal asshole stuff that ensures they stay the excuse making, mediocre asshole that they already are.

Perhaps I misunderstood your first post, and I’m off in the weeds here?

[MegademiC]

There is no way anyone is better than them, so they refuse to believe it.

Ie jealousy

[SteyrAUG]

Honestly, I hate being the smartest - most together guy in the room. Thankfully it doesn't happen that often.

[Coal Dragger]

Honestly, I hate being the smartest - most together guy in the room. Thankfully it doesn't happen that often.

Yeah not a great feeling. Mostly because I’m aware of just how much I don’t know, and how much a I cannot do well.

[Dienekes]

I recently stumbled over this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Jante

The ten rules state:

You're not to think you are anything special.
You're not to think you are as good as we are.
You're not to think you are smarter than we are.
You're not to imagine yourself better than we are.
You're not to think you know more than we do.
You're not to think you are more important than we are.
You're not to think you are good at anything.
You're not to laugh at us.
You're not to think anyone cares about you.
You're not to think you can teach us anything.
These ten principles or commandments are often claimed to form the "Jante's Shield" of the Scandinavian people.

In the book, the Janters who transgress this unwritten 'law' are regarded with suspicion and some hostility, as it goes against the town's communal desire to preserve harmony, social stability and uniformity.

An eleventh rule recognised in the novel as 'the penal code of Jante' is:

Perhaps you don't think we know a few things about you?

This was discussed in a 1933 novel by a Danish writer, Axel Sandemose, in his book, “A Fugitive Crosses His Tracks”. The book is hard to find for some reason.

Probably burned by the Progressive Brownshirts.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

I read some article about Andre Aggasi and how in his book 'Open' he talks about his drive. I guess at one point in the late 90s(?) he fell hard and was doing crappy tournaments with like $3000 prizes. He sucked.

“Unless I can accept that I’m where I’m supposed to be, I’ll never belong there again.” For Agassi, “there” was the finals of Grand Slam...

The first step in high performance is realizing that aren't high performing.

Heck, that isn't even just about high performance. That is about reaching any goal. I was talking to my boss the other month about where we are know and my comment was, "It's amazing what happens when you keep your head down and you work hard for a decade."

Like Dory said, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming....".

Too many people don't even get in the pool... others couldn't hit water if they fell out of a boat.

[SteyrAUG]

Yeah not a great feeling. Mostly because I’m aware of just how much I don’t know, and how much a I cannot do well.

Worst thing is being the most qualified person in a room full of people you work for. Just drives me nuts, I can handle being the "idea guy" now and then, but when I'm flat out smarter and more qualified to do the job of the person I work for I feel nothing but resentment. Ideally my "boss" should not only be better at my job than I am, but they should do their job so well that every day I learn something new just by being around them.

In social situations I've accepted that sometimes I'm just way ahead of the curve than other people, but I temper that with the realization that there were times in my life when I just didn't know shit and wasn't even savvy enough to realize it.

I'm uncomfortable being the least educated / informed person in the room, and I've been there a few times, thankfully I'm usually smart enough to just stay in my lane and not try and fudge facts. I'm perfectly good with not knowing about X as much as the next guy and having more understanding of Y than the rest of the people in the room.

Slightly above middle average is where I'm most comfortable. That way I don't feel like a complete dumbass and I still have people to learn from. But I've never resented or hated anyone more intelligent or more together unless they just had an ahole personality to go along with it. But most people who truly are better than most others, usually are pretty easy going about it and have nothing to prove.