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> How can you know that such an impulse is part of some country’s national culture?

Singaporean here. I've seen this "crabs in a bucket" mentality since the days of formal education. It's often known as being "kiasu" (afraid of losing to others, in Hokkien dialect) [1] in the 90's.

These days, it's sometimes known as the "sinkie pwn sinkie" phenomenon [2].

[1] https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/kiasu-is-oxford-engli...

[2] http://asingaporeanson.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-sinkie-pwn-s...




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