I was reading a post by @Olasquare on noisecash yesterday and he was talking about how most people find it hard to support their friend's business.
@HappyBoy made a comment talking about his experience with a friend he asked to help share his link, and I could totally relate to what he said because it's a common occurrence that has happened to me a couple of times in the past.
It's a very disgusting mentality and behavior that's common all over the world, and behavior now I didn't know there is a word for it until Happyboy made mention of it; crab mentality.
I quickly googled the word coz I haven't heard about it before, and according to Wikipedia;
Crab mentality, also known as crab theory, crabs in a bucket (also barrel, basket, or pot) mentality, or the crab-bucket effect, is a way of thinking best described by the phrase "if I can't have it, neither can you". The metaphor is derived from a pattern of behavior noted in crabs when they are trapped in a bucket. While anyone crab could easily escape, its efforts will be undermined by others, ensuring the group's collective demise.
In essence, when a group of crabs is trapped in a bucket and anyone tries to climb out, the others will prevent it from doing so. It's a case of "if I am going to die, then you will too".
If the crabs were intelligent creatures, they would have worked hand-in-hand to help free themselves from that bucket but instead, they are all going to perish because some of them are what; envious? selfish?
Do you know what's funny? You can probably leave those crabs in the bucket for a week without covering them and none will escape, because they keep undermining each other's effort
This was the same thing HappyBoy was talking about and it's also something I have observed in most people; they hate it when their peers are going to the top. This mentality is so strong in some persons that they will prefer if they and their friends remain in poverty than for the friend to become wealthy.
Instead of them to encourage and support their friend's business, they end up dragging it down because they don't want to be left behind. Some persons even do this subconsciously, they might not deliberately be exhibiting the Crab's mentality but they still end up ruining their friend's chances one way or the other.
Some persons feel that when their friends are progressing, they are losing something in return. They believe that when they offer you help, they end up losing something which isn't the case at all, they are just being paranoid just like the lady in HappyBoy's story who said he wants to "use" her to make money as if it's a money ritual 😆.
Crab's mentality doesn't only exist in businesses but it also exists in relationships. I usually observe this in females, where one of them ends up with a super-rich boyfriend but the best friend is filled with envy and bitterness and starts looking for ways to crash the relationship.
This sort of thing happens everywhere and we have all heard numerous stories about that, and sometimes the bitter party ends up killing the friend in a bid to ruin the relationship.
Even if you haven't seen or heard about this sort of thing, you might have seen it in movies. At this point, I can't count the number of times I have heard the phrase; "if I can't have you, no one will" in movies, especially romantic/action ones.
Another example of the Crab's mentality in business is when a worker is up for promotion and another coworker starts spreading rumors so that the promotion doesn't happen.
Most times, the culprit won't gain a single thing from hindering his/her peer from going forward, they just do it out of selfishness, envy, and fear of being left behind.
Just like I said earlier, some people might not notice they are exhibiting crab's mentality and it just "happens", so I will like to ask; are you a crab? Do you exhibit crabs mentality unknowingly or even knowingly?
Thanks for reading 💖💖💖
Friday November 12, 2021
Lead image designed on Canva
That's a piece you wrote there. There are still people that smile up in your face, like happy around you, but still have this mentality like if you're my friend I achieve this isn't it good for us too since you're always associated with me....? But no no one would rather have it