Crab Bucket Mentality

I was reading a recent Maclean`s article the other day about Justin Bieber (http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/02/28/the-persecution-of-justin-bieber/). The article was about the irrational persecution of Justin Bieber by the legions of `Bieber haters`.

I started, as the article was doing, thinking about why this is. Why is such persectution occuring? Then I realized where I had seen this before. This is the crab bucket mentality that exists in many of our Indigenous communities.

You see, fishers seeking delicious crab meat need only a bucket and more than one crab. If a fisher places only one crab in a bucket without a lid, it will, naturally, climb out. However, if there is at least one other crab in the bucket, neither will escape. Why? Because each time one climbs toward freedom, the other will grab its leg and pull it back down.

I see this in many communities. One person starts a business, and starts to climb out of the bucket of poverty and instead of helping her, the others drag her back down. "Oh look who thinks she's all big and important now that she has some money" or "I'm not supporting her business, she just thinks she is better than us because she has money now."

Sometimes, the crab bucket mentality is not as vindictive as that. Sometimes it is "Why would I buy from her, I can get this widget 10 cents cheaper over at Walmart." And so we make the empires rich and sacrifice our own brothers and sisters.

This is what has been happening to Justin Bieber as well. All the haters are typically people who have no talent, no skills, and no accomplishments and who are simply jealous. What this all made me think of is that we can turn all of this around. Rather than being a hater or jealous, we can go develop our own skills and talents so that we can, in turn, share them with the world.

What to do if we see someone else hating? Encourage them to develop their own gifts rather than tear down others'