When success means prejudice

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Its a worrisome trait of the human psyche: when you see success in others, feel envy and prejudice. While this is not a definitive human trait, it certainly appears often enough to justify a general rule. I'm sure you've seen it happen:

* A friend does well in studies/business/etc. Immediately negative rumours are started about him. He sleeps around. He drinks/smokes/does drugs. He's a crony. He cheated his way to the top.
* A colleague gets promoted. You don't. You feel particularly peeved because he's the "new-boy" while you've been around for a while.
* He marries the woman you wanted. Slashing his tires suddenly looks like an interesting option.
* He hits the lottery. You post his phone number and home address in chatrooms with the invitation "I have a million bucks. Call me to get some."

Inter-racial envy follows the same pattern.

One group does well, starts to get ahead, and another group becomes envious, jealous and resentful. Its even worse when the group gets ahead at the other groups's expense. Bingo, you automatically have racial discrimination. It happened with the Jews a couple of millenia ago, its happening with "the Indians today":http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=25034.

bq. It is now possible to work on any computer from any other computer anywhere in the world, and most of the Indians who have taken our jobs do not need work permits: they are beavering away at terminals in India.’’ Sentiments like this not only affect business, but it translates to the sort of harassment and arrest faced by Indian software professionals at Malaysia and the Netherlands.

People take things too negatively. Why feel aggrieved when an Indian (or anyone else for that matter), takes your job? Instead of feeling sorry for yourself and feeling anger towards the person you see as competition, why not work harder, ask for less pay and be more productive. Instead of being an ass and a crybaby, give your employers reason to keep you. Be competitive.

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This page contains a single entry by Aizuddin Danian published on June 2, 2003 9:11 AM.

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