Young Melbourne man reveals ‘saddest part’ about Australia

A young Melbourne man has revealed the “saddest part about Australia” in a viral video, sparking a flood of comments agreeing with the “grim” reality.

A young Melbourne content creator has revealed what he believes is the “saddest part about Australia” in a viral video.

Leo Moore, who describes himself in his bio as a “grown up iPad kid and CEO of yapping”, said in a TikTok video that the “saddest part about Australia is the fact that anyone who tries is ‘cringe’”.

“And if you don’t agree with me just check the comment section of literally any Australian creator,” he said in the clip, which has been viewed more than 600,000 times.

“And if that’s not good enough evidence for you, then just listen to this. Literally every single Australian I’ve met that has become successful has gone through the exact same thing.

“They start out, their friends think they’re super weird, they eventually sort of leave or they just could sort of isolate themselves, and then they become successful and it’s kind of like no one really supported them ever.

“And then when they meet an Aussie who’s already successful you meet each other and it’s like this weird bond because you’ve all done the exact same thing, which basically means you had to ignore a bunch of bulls**t on the way to becoming successful.

“And I’m not on here trying to say ‘how cool am I, blah, blah, blah’, what I’m saying is maybe next time you see your friend trying to have a crack at something, just support them. Just go like their cringe TikToks that they make, and go like their s****y stuff they make, or go buy their s****y drop-shipping product they start up.

“Because I think a cultural change would just benefit everyone.”

Commenters immediately jumped in to name the phenomenon Moore was describing.

“It’s called tall poppy syndrome,” one person wrote.

“Yea true, super grim,” Moore replied.

Another comment read, “So true! I’ve definitely experienced this. We have shocking tall poppy syndrome in this country.”

One person added, “It makes it harder for a lot of kids in school too. Anyone who tries at anything except sport is bullied.”

A fourth man wrote, “Experienced myself too, weird that you can be friends one minute then all of a sudden nothing, just because you achieved something good. Crazyyy.”

One woman said this was “exactly the reason why I’ve kept my business on the down low from family and friends”.

“I’d much rather be quiet and succeed on my own,” she said.

Social media influencer Samuel Weidenhofer, who has 6.3 million followers on TikTok, wrote, “Definitely man. I can’t agree more, exactly what’s happened with me. The bullies now ask for money and shoutouts.”

However one user said “everyone says Australia is like this but I’ve literally never experienced it”.

Another person replied, “Being a ‘try hard’ was very common phrase in school. Like it’s embarrassing to improve your grades or take sport seriously.”

Moore agreed, “Yeah it is the kids, and they learn from family … it’s in the culture.”

Earlier this year, conservative American podcaster Elijah Schaffer, who now lives in Australia with his wife, claimed that Aussies will “sabotage” you in the workplace if they believe you are becoming more successful than them.

Australia has ‘shocking tall poppy syndrome’. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui/NCA NewsWire

His complaints about Australia’s “toxic” tall poppy syndrome came as he shared a TikTok video from user @realtradingpool, who claimed Australia is “one of the hardest countries to become successful in” because you are unlikely to get support or help from anyone.

“Most people in Australia, they love to drink, they love to do drugs, they love to go out on the weekends and they love to get smashed. Everyone here just loves hook-up culture as well,” the cryptocurrency trader claimed in the video.

“If you try to do anything that is remotely different, if you try to go out on your own path and do something and make something for yourself, nobody is going to support you. They will just try to tear you down and bring you back down to their level.”

The TikToker claimed this is because Australians don’t want to see other people doing better than them.

Schaffer shared the video to X, warning people to be “very careful” when it comes to working with Australians.

He noted that while he loves some aspects of Aussie culture, Australian people can become “extremely destructive” when they become jealous in the workplace.

“It’s called tall poppy syndrome and if they don’t think you deserve success, they’ll sabotage you to ruin your life. I’ve seen it out here a lot, it’s so common people just act like it’s normal,” he wrote.

“Even Aussies abroad often are involved in extremely toxic work behaviour of slander, lawsuits, etc. — poor guy is getting the good ol’ Aussie treatment.”

According to the podcaster, this difference in behaviour is why Americans are “so successful”, as they don’t punish people for trying to get ahead and instead team up with them.

Conservative podcaster Elijah Schaffer. Picture: Instagram

He also claimed Australians are “chill people” until you meet the wrong ones.

“I don’t get why people here are like that,” he said.

“Even if you talk about an accomplishment, they often talk s**t behind your back and rip you apart. Lots of back stabbers. Google it, it’s genuinely a cultural epidemic and causes so much avoidable drama.”

The post quickly went viral, with many social media users agreeing with his assessment of Aussies.

Schaffer claimed it was “comforting” to see so many people have had the same experience with “unhinged” Aussies, but clarified that it doesn’t mean there aren’t a “ton of good ones”.

“Usually it’s the lower class that pull down or narcissists,” he added.

US influencer Aubrey Strobel shared her own experience working with Australians, noting they are the funniest and “most chill” people until you “crush it at your job”.

Tall poppy syndrome in the workplace is a topic that was recently discussed on The Driven Woman podcast with Lisa Milligan, founder of human resource consulting organisation, The Culture Ministry.

Ms Mulligan grew up in Australia and shared her view on the way this syndrome actually plays out in Aussie society.

“This Australian thing, and I don’t know if it’s come from the history of how Australian started Australia was colonised I guess a lot of convicts that came from the UK,” she said.

“Maybe to survive everyone just had to get on and work together and not be more important than someone else.”

In 2020, Los Angeles-based Australian actress Elizabeth Debicki slammed her home country, saying tall poppy syndrome holds Aussies back from being “too ambitious”.

Originally published as Young Melbourne man reveals ‘saddest part’ about Australia