No more comparison. I'll just... uh... compare things against some theoretical ideal I make up.
Maybe get some psychological warfare experts and brand it? Historyaboutisim?
There's no need for a strawman.
The comment didn't say "no more comparison", it said comparing to the lowest of the low is dumb. I agree.
If you're a sporting team, is it productive to say "We're better than the team on the bottom of the ladder" ? (Even though you're second-last)
When you're a country, it's equally as pointless to say "We're doing better than <China/North Korea/Central African Republic/etc>
The only reason a person would ever make a comparison "down the ladder" is because they want to paint themselves in a better light. They have no interest in improving anything, and when they spend enough time looking down the ladder, that's exactly where they'll go.
Sporting teams, countries and people who are interested in improving make comparisons "up" - it gives them something to strive for.
Do you want to improve?
Consequently, to those people, it's an excellent reply.
Maybe it wasn't for you.
