Why is jealousy such a British characteristic? I suspect that the traditional answer is the correct one. Britain used to be a very class structured society. In such a society several things happen.
You must keep your station. You must not get ideas above yourself. You must not seek to move out of your class. So success was a threat to the upper classes - especially if it was based on merit. Any merit-based success challenged the position of the upper classes.
The club nature of the upper classes was based on inheritance of wealth rather than merit. So any demonstration of merit threatened the other members of the club. So expressions like "too clever by half" were used to rein back those who were a bit more clever then the others.
The main energy of jealousy, however, came from the middle classes. Anyone who through merit broke through the class barrier and moved up a notch aroused fierce jealousy amongst those left behind who knew they would not follow.
Australia has inherited the same tradition in the 'tall poppy syndrome'.
It is most ironic that newspapers which, seek to be classless, exhibit and endorse this 'jealousy' factor. Is this because journalists and editors believe they come from the classes that need this 'jealousy'? Is this because journalists and editors do not actually have these attitudes but believe they are pandering to sucj attitudes amongst their readers? I suspect that they are hugely out of date if they believe this.
On May 27, the Mail on Sunday published a full-page review of a biography written about me. This was not a review of the book at all but a personal attack by Craig Brown. Any intelligent reader would see at once that it reeked of jealousy. The emphasis on properties I may own or how much I may sometimes get paid has nothing to do with my work in the field of thinking. Unfortunately Craig Brown was unable to understand any of the ideas I put forward. Is it in the best interests of society to have their progress guarded by rather stupid journalists? I did suggest to the editor, Peter Wright, that I might write a balancing piece - for the benefit of his more intelligent readers. As you might have expected this was not acceptable. Why?
The U.S.A. is one of the few countries where success is appreciated. 'Maybe he was lucky'. 'Maybe she worked hard'. 'Maybe times were right'. There is an admiration of success on the basis that 'I might do the same'. This is because the U.S.A. was an immigrant society not class shackled as the U.K.
Edward de Bono nmt
10th June 2001
London
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