The Tall Poppy Syndrome BOOK EXCERPT PASSAGES
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BOOK EXCERPT PASSAGES The tall poppy syndrome Andrew Cohen Canada is afflicted by tall poppy syndrome, where the flower that rises above the rest is cut down. There is a meanness of spirit about the way we treat our public figures, writes Andrew Cohen, in this excerpt from his new book, The Unfinished Canadian: The People We Are. All prime ministers and public officials fall victim to this unhealthy obsession with their expenses and travel costs, but no one suffered more from this pseudo-accountability than Adrienne Clarkson during her term as governor general. Le Canada souffre de ce syndrome qui consiste à rabattre tout ce qui s’élève au-dessus du lot. Il y a beaucoup de cruauté dans le sort que nous réservons à nos personnalités, écrit Andrew Cohen, dans cet extrait de son dernier ouvrage intitulé The Unfinished Canadian: The People We Are. Tous nos premiers ministres et grands serviteurs de l’État sont ainsi victimes de cette fixation sur leurs dépenses et leurs frais de voyage, mais personne n’a autant souffert de cette pseudo-responsabilisation que l’ancienne gouverneure générale Adrienne Clarkson. ver the past few years, Irvin they could not say what a Canadian us consider some elements of character Studin, a young political should be, but they could say what a that the sages do not address. Classed O thinker schooled at York Canadian is not. loosely, they are the tall poppy syn- University, the London School of Studin puts his contributors into drome (envy, resentment, jealousy); Economics, and the University of three classes. The first is idiosyncratic. moderation (the instinct for the politi- Oxford, approached dozens of promi- They define the Canadian as liberal, cal centre); ambiguity (the value of nent Canadians and asked them to enlightened, diplomatic, tolerant, vagueness); and civility (decency and write essays on the meaning of polite, generous, complacent, deferen- generosity). For examples, let us look Canada. He collected their contribu- tial, among positive qualities, or, more again to our civic culture, where we tions in What Is a Canadian? Forty- harshly, parochial and prejudiced. A find so much of ourselves. Three Thought-Provoking Responses, recurring “circumstantial” trait is The tall poppy syndrome is not which was published in 2006. Studin “lucky.” The second class is socio-polit- peculiar to Canada. Some say it came was inspired by a similar thematic col- ical. The Canadian is a creation of the from Australia or New Zealand, where lection edited in 1958 by David Ben- state or an instrument of public policy, the tallest poppy in a garden was cut Gurion, the first prime minister of such as the Constitution, health care, down because it rose above the rest. Israel. Ben-Gurion asked: “What is a and multiculturalism. For example, the Some attribute it to Scandinavia, Jew?” and went to the great sages of “Charter Canadians” see their citizen- which has its own finely honed suspi- Judaism for answers. To divine ship in the Charter of Rights and cions of success and self-advance- Canada, Studin went to its “sages” in Freedoms. The third class are those ment, or Japan, where a proverb government, letters, business, and aca- who are alienated from Canada. They suggests that “the nail that sticks out demia. Naturally, as a Canadian, he do not see themselves as Canadians at gets hammered down.” Wherever it tried to strike a geographical, ethnic, all but Québécois, exiles within originates, the tall poppy is as and linguistic balance, and naturally, Canada, who make the distinction Canadian as the Maple Leaf. It has as a Canadian, he apologized for between le Canadien and the Canadian. become our national flower. falling short. Studin asked his respon- Studin suggests a people of infinite Resentment, envy, and jealousy dents to open their essays with the variety (which is flattering, though not colonize our consciousness, challeng- declaration “A Canadian is...” He unique to Canada). To expand his ing the better angels of our nature. asked them not to write prescriptively; eclectic catalogue of the Canadian, let Examples abound in the political POLICY OPTIONS 81 JUNE 2007 Andrew Cohen PASSAGES culture. On October 14, 1957, Lester enough to report that the prime min- level of consumption “that would B. Pearson learned that he had been ister’s chef went to Egypt (at a cost of shock most Canadians,” columnist awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for two thousand dollars!) “to share John Ferguson observed. The reality having found a way out of the Suez recipes” with the chefs of sixteen was that Mulroney had invited this Crisis. The Nobel committee said that other nations “courtesy of the kind of scrutiny when he and his pre- he’d “saved the world.” When a Canadian taxpayer.” It is also impor- decessors attacked Pierre Trudeau for a reporter called him with the news of tant for the well-informed citizen to suede couch and fifty-dollar ashtrays the award, he was incredulous: “You know, figuratively speaking, the bot- in the waiting room of his office on mean that I have been nominated,” tle of wine the Ambassador to France Parliament Hill. Or, years earlier, when he insisted. When he learned he had served a visiting delegation of bee- the Tories pilloried Trudeau for accept- ing an indoor swimming The tall poppy syndrome is not peculiar to Canada. Some say it pool at 24 Sussex Drive came from Australia or New Zealand, where the tallest poppy from anonymous donors. in a garden was cut down because it rose above the rest. Some In the blood sport of poli- attribute it to Scandinavia, which has its own finely honed tics, the Liberals were soon asking Mulroney if taxpay- suspicions of success and self-advancement, or Japan, where a ers were paying for his chil- proverb suggests that “the nail that sticks out gets hammered dren’s food. down.” Wherever it originates, the tall poppy is as Canadian as the Maple Leaf. It has become our national flower. hatever Mulroney’s W personal excesses, indeed won, he said: “Gosh!” The keepers or that the Minister of Justice the interest here was odd, even reaction of others was less innocent. took a government plane to attend unseemly; at root, it was about dis- As one legend had it, the very idea the Rotary Club in Lethbridge. Or paraging politicians. We like to do this. that the bow-tied, lisping “Mike” that the Conservatives use the gov- As Hugh Segal said, this idée fixe over Pearson could win the Nobel Prize led ernment Challenger jets half as much Mulroney’s spending “falls into the one outspoken woman at a cocktail as the Liberals did. We dine out on a tradition of pettiness with which we party in Vancouver to exclaim, “Well, minister’s expense chits, airline tick- treat people in public life...” Pierre who does he think he is!” ets, and hotel bills, which now appear Pettigrew, no friend of Mulroney, When the Bank of Canada asked on the Web. No wonder restaurants in winced years later when he recalled focus groups to help it choose Ottawa are closing. The mandarins this inquisition. As the minister of for- Canadians to put on the back of its are afraid to be seen lunching with eign affairs, who would face questions new banknotes, the respondents the wrong people — or perhaps on his own spending in office, he said: called Lester Pearson “a partisan lunching at all. “You know, we can be very petty, very politician” and complained that Terry Money matters in Canada. mean in Canada.” We can, we are, and Fox, the one-legged marathoner who Canadians look askance at public it demeans us. ran halfway across Canada before salaries, perquisites, and benefits, as if Mulroney’s imbroglio made it dying of cancer, had had “an abrasive no politician or public servant could politically impossible to renovate 24 personality.” possibly deserve them. It may be why Sussex Drive for years after. When the governor general is paid $114,725, Jean Chrétien moved there in 1993, he tall poppy syndrome thrives in far less than a federal cabinet minister. he wouldn’t spend any money on the T our political hothouse. We think The spending of Brian Mulroney, the house; according to a frequent visi- politicians are venal, vapid, and vain- mellifluous glad-hander who was tor, he proudly declared the curtains glorious. When they want a raise, our prime minister from 1984 to 1993, on the windows had been made from instinct is to deny it; really, now, the became an obsession. “Closets the tablecloths used at the G-7 sum- nerve of you! designed to hold hundreds of shoes, mit in Halifax. When Paul Martin Then we complain about the including dozens of pairs of loafers, are arrived 10 years later, he wouldn’t quality of our politicians. Our disdain among the lavish furnishings of 24 touch the house, either. Susan for public service is spreading. The Sussex Drive,” the Canadian Press Delacourt of the Toronto Star wrote antipathy is magnified by govern- reported on April 16, 1987. “Brian that Martin knew “that any move to ments seeking to be seen as squeaky- Mulroney’s closet was designed to fix up the home in a substantial way clean and a media eager to scrutinize accommodate 30 suits and 84 pairs of — with taxpayers’ dollars — would be expense accounts and travel budgets shoes, including at least 50 pairs of a public relations disaster.” for extravagance or malfeasance. Gucci loafers...” This Emperor had too By then 24 Sussex — a Gothic Newspapers think it is important many clothes.