It has to do with the way our society measures success. Success is not how happy you are, or the quality of the work you do, or how much of yourself you share with the world, or even if you’ve made the world a better place. Success is a $50,000 SUV, a million-dollar McMansion, a “My kid is an honor student, your kid sucks” bumper sticker, a trophy wife, and enough money to win a lawsuit whether you’re in the right or not. These things are all finite, limited resources. Your SUV only cost $50,000, and your neighbor’s cost $60,000? Failure. Your house is only 4,000 square feet? Failure. You weren’t able to pull enough corporate strings to get your idiot son-in-law a cushy job? Failure. You didn’t get the promotion? You must not have worked enough unpaid overtime. Failure. Your daughter isn’t the prom queen? Failure.

The way we measure success is being more important than your peers. If you tear your peers down, you look better by comparison. As a result, we live in a world where most people would fuck over their neighbor for a ham sandwich, and “I got mine, fuck you” is the only true religion.