why does society dislike success?

[rudeguy]

It seems as though any time a person or company succeeds, some party of society rages against them.

The list could be as long as you can imagine. From Walmart to Google to Apple to Dane Cook. I'm not saying everyone hates them but a large portion will go out of their way to find fault.

Why is this? Why do people take enjoyment in faulty people that succeed?

 

[gevorg]

Because success is a zero-sum game, some win others loose. Someone created a nice hot gadget worth billions of dollars, while millions of others in China became slaves for life. Someone created a cure for cancer, while millions of others... oh wait... lets stick with Wall Street.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Society doesn't dislike success; if we did, the rich wouldn't get all the power. Everybody has different values though, and if someone sees someone who does things they consider "bad" get rewarded for it, they're going to be upset. If I'm a hardcore feminist and I watch Eminem get rich while singing about killing his wife, it's going to upset me; why should he be rewarded for something I personally disagree with? But society as a whole loves success and rewards rich people with power and attention.

 

[rivan]

It seems as though any time a person or company succeeds, some party of society rages against them.

The list could be as long as you can imagine. From Walmart to Google to Apple to Dane Cook. I'm not saying everyone hates them but a large portion will go out of their way to find fault.

Why is this? Why do people take enjoyment in faulty people that succeed?

In my mind it's often because massive success on the scale of Apple and Walmart seem to almost always be accompanied by ruthless business practices.

WalMart, for instance, with it's shafting workers out of pay, underpaying women, etc. A friend of mine worked for a small fertilizer company who, when trying to get WalMart shelf space after it's normal rural resellers were driven out of business, was told that they could have shelf space but only on the condition that they manufacture a WalMart store brand at a loss that would sit next to their fertilizer in store. Why? Because the Walton kids needed another BILLION to split up.

Success is good.

Success on the backs of others isn't.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Success is not when you "wipe out the competition and corner the market"
That's bad for everybody but you. Thus, that's complete failure.


Success is simply when the world benefits as a whole from your presence.

 

[crashtestdummy]

I think nearly everyone likes success. It's just that people have very different views of what constitutes success.

Compare:

It seems as though any time a person or company succeeds, some party of society rages against them.

The list could be as long as you can imagine. From Walmart to Google to Apple to Dane Cook. I'm not saying everyone hates them but a large portion will go out of their way to find fault.

To:

Success is not when you "wipe out the competition and corner the market"
That's bad for everybody but you. Thus, that's complete failure.


Success is simply when the world benefits as a whole from your presence.

 

[Red Squirrel]

It's not so much the success that people hate, but how some got there, or how they turned.

Google is a good example, they started off as an ethical company and grew, and then turned evil. Lot of companies seem to do this. People don't hate them because they are successful, but because they are using their success in an evil manner.

Though there is also some who simply do hate the success because they are jealous. That happens too.

 

[alent1234]

In my mind it's often because massive success on the scale of Apple and Walmart seem to almost always be accompanied by ruthless business practices.

WalMart, for instance, with it's shafting workers out of pay, underpaying women, etc. A friend of mine worked for a small fertilizer company who, when trying to get WalMart shelf space after it's normal rural resellers were driven out of business, was told that they could have shelf space but only on the condition that they manufacture a WalMart store brand at a loss that would sit next to their fertilizer in store. Why? Because the Walton kids needed another BILLION to split up.

Success is good.

Success on the backs of others isn't.

Maybe they wanted too much for their fertilizer? Walmart actually let poor people buy stuff they couldn't before

 

[soulcougher73]

It's not so much the success that people hate, but how some got there, or how they turned.

Google is a good example, they started off as an ethical company and grew, and then turned evil. Lot of companies seem to do this. People don't hate them because they are successful, but because they are using their success in an evil manner.

Though there is also some who simply do hate the success because they are jealous. That happens too.

This. I think most hate them because of how they got to where they are or what they do once they get there. It becomes all about the money at any expense necessary. Screw people! Give me more money!

 

[brianmanahan]

no body rages against success here since everyone makes 250$k per year

 

[Sluggo]

Make a dollar each from 1000 people, nobody gives a crap.

Make a dollar each from a billion people and you became a success on the backs of the working man and should be appropriately punished.

 

[thecrecarc]

Jealously really. It's hard for some to understand why others are successful while they are not.

 

[ImpulsE69]

As many have said, it's how you get successful. People generally don't rage against honest people with level heads. Sure you'll always have people who are jealous no matter what, but that's just human nature.

What people really hate is greed with no bounds. Let's take for example..the oil companies. Satan spawn eternal.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

on an individual level, its jealousy

at the corporate level its ignorance

 

[IronWing]

It's not so much the success that people hate, but how some got there, or how they turned.

Google is a good example, they started off as an ethical company and grew, and then turned evil. Lot of companies seem to do this. People don't hate them because they are successful, but because they are using their success in an evil manner.

Though there is also some who simply do hate the success because they are jealous. That happens too.

Google went public. In doing so they accepted that "increasing shareholder value" is the only ethic.

 

[LumbergTech]

Google went public. In doing so they accepted that "increasing shareholder value" is the only ethic.

and that may come to backfire and make them fail in that goal

 

[zinfamous]

Nah, they just don't like you, OP.


(Not I, though. I :wub: OP)

 

[soulcougher73]

Google went public. In doing so they accepted that "increasing shareholder value" is the only ethic.

Hence why in P&N i always mention how evil the stock market is and needs to be abolished. It is what creates this mentality because you give control to people who only care about money.