The Most Succinct Explanation of "Short Man Syndrome," Plus Fun Stories About That Evil Short Guy (You Know the One)

I came across a thread where people start talking about "short man syndrome" out of the blue. There was no initial mention of size anywhere, but that doesn't stop people these days. Years ago, I would've been surprised at the sudden hatred and idiocy, but now I've realized nothing brings humanity together like hating on short men. One can bring up how short men are shit anytime, anywhere, and everyone will join in for a laugh.

Anyway, this in itself is pretty typical, but I found a good post explaining "short man syndrome." In a nutshell:

"Little man syndrome/napoleon complex is a derogatory stereotype based on people's feeling that those physically smaller than them are never justified in exerting authority over them. It's similar to the way women get called bitches for being good leaders where a man would get respect." - Original post.

Speaking of starting random hatefests against short men, here's another "yeah, that happened" thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/pettyrevenge/comments/60n9a5/he_thought_i_wouldnt_do_anything/?st=J0JOEYBB&sh=95555e47

Does this sound like it actually happened to you?

I'm 15, and pretty shy. I don't really have friends at my school and keep to myself.

One day, I was waiting in line with a bunch of other students to get into a shop. It's tiny, so only a few get in at a time.

Anyways, I was minding my own business when this short mouthy guy from my school cut in front of me. He's really short, and a complete knob. I've seen him about my school and he's just an arragont jerk.

He'd obviously didn't expect me to complain because I'm so quiet, and for a short while I didn't think I was going to. Then I thought of my existence, and how much this guy doesn't mean to me, and how I'll be on my deathbed one day and nothing done in this line could be embarrassing enough to make me think of it. So just as it was his turn and he was about to step into the shop, I put my arm in front of his tiny body, and nonchalantly walked ahead, taking his place.

He looked around like "what the hell, I can't believe this", flailing his arms about. The guy that was managing the line just smiled at me and I got a few smirks from other people.

Pretty small, but meant a lot to me :p

edit: Thanks for all the kind replies! Also, I'd forgotten to mention that the reason I wrote about his height was because of where my arm came up to on him, which was his chest/neck (he's really short.) I found that to be really awesome. Sorry, didn't mean to come off like I think lowly of short people :p

I must quote, "flailing his arms about." Is this real life? Was the short guy mute or mentally disabled? I also wonder if this thread would have almost 7000 upvotes, if it had been a girl the exact same height cutting in line. /s

Reminds me of the stories tall guys wrote about lifting short men and spinning them. Is the "arm on short person's forehead" the ultimate wet dream? It seems to be:

Also note how if a short guy was messing with a tall one, I doubt it'd be labeled as "insecurity" if the tall guy retaliated. It'd be more like, "that little shit shouldn't have messed with him."

Either way, it doesn't matter if this story is real, because there's nothing people love more than a tale about some short guy who gets his just deserts, complete with comments about how short man syndrome is definitely real [citation needed].

Related reading: people love trying to justify heightism by claiming how they only mock short men who are assholes.