(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . On Losing [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2022-11-25 On Losing Our contemporary American culture is obsessed with ‘winning’, all brought to a head by the braggart former President. Trump treats ‘winning’ as a duty, a normal characteristic of a dominant person. To do so, all manner of human interactive behavior must be crammed into a binary frame; you are either a winner or a loser. There is no middle ground. That seems to have worked for him, but at what cost? For someone to ‘win’ at something, that ‘thing’ needs to be reduced to a contest between opposing sides, or individuals. Though obviously, not all issues can be crammed into a binary frame, our current culture does its best to try. We apply competition to everything, from games of Frisbee in the park, to schoolwork, to grown-up for-money work, to all manners of play. We are taught that, only by competing can we develop our ‘best selves’. Only by competing can we sort each other by ‘good-better-best’. Only by competing can someone be a ‘winner’, which is the most desired state. We judge and categorize all manner of behavior and acquisition thusly, always looking for an objective ‘best’. One of the many problems with this framing is that not all things can or should be competed for. Competition is a maddening cruel means of distributing shortage for example, or anything else that people need to survive. Many things are naturally judged by a ‘subjective’ frame. Such things as art, or music, or beauty become wildly distorted by competition, yet we persevere. Another problem with competitive framing is that, of course, there can be only one ‘winner’, leaving everyone else in the ‘loser’ category. And we don’t teach how to lose very well. Popular culture gives the impression that only the ‘winners’ matter, and the ‘losers’..., well, nobody cares about them so what does it matter how they are treated or perceived. And don’t preach to me about how competitive sports teaches losing and fairness. My experience is that competitive people give lip service to fairness, the winners barely/rarely do even that, and that losers deserve all the shade that comes to them, because, well, they’re losers. Maybe, by working harder and becoming ‘better’, losers can someday become winners. Logically, this is bullshit. Any system that creates ‘winners’ only in the presence of ‘losers’ is illogical and doomed to failure. That can be seen in the current state of America’s finances. By accepting that ‘money is god’, it is only the wealthiest among us that can be ‘winners’, and everyone else can just pay up, shut up and eventually, die. Most people are beginning to perceive the current financial system as wrong, and a failure. A few more people coming to share this belief and it could become an Organization. I expect it to eventually catch on with a majority of folks and become a Movement. (hat tip to Arlo…) It’s going to take that much. The ‘winners’ are entrenched and have rigged the system in their favor. The ‘losers’ are getting poorer by the minute, meaning there’s getting to be MORE of us. I’m afraid we have met the true enemy… US. We. You and the people sitting next to you, and the people sitting across from you, and yes, sometimes, the people shouting hate to you. It will take all of us to gang up on the ‘winners’, re-rig the system in favor of all the people and bring about the utopia that would express America’s true potential as a democracy. I think it starts by rejecting non-inclusive framing, by refusing to compete thus depriving those seeking ‘winning’ of the human fodder necessary to create an adoring throng. I have hated, hated, HATED competition since middle school, and the 60 some-odd years since have done nothing but supported my convictions. Over the years, I’ve run two successful businesses without having to resort to competitive framing and otherwise lived a pretty full life. I certainly haven’t missed the hoopla around competitive sports, or music, or dance, or fashion, or whiteness of teeth. ‘Taught our kids that there is no better judge of one’s intrinsic worth than yourself and to question authority with love and not hate or fear. But what would the masses do on Sunday afternoons with football or baseball or what-have-you on the teevee? The mind reels. I’m almost 72 and have barely scratched the surface on the shit I’d like to do, or see, or hear or smell. And competition has no part in it. How about you? Have you managed to free yourself of the bonds of unnecessary competition, free to be you and whatever you wish to do or be? Or have I missed ‘a big point’ here? [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/11/25/2138368/-On-Losing Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/