Summary Of Losing An American Tradition By Charles M. Young

In the article “Losing: An American Tradition” the author Charles M. Young argues that there is no such thing as a gracious winner: when a person wins, they receive praise, and praise inevitably leads to an egotistical person. Young also argues that thriving as a loser is shameless: if you are still considered an underdog, but everyone can see that you are trying your hardest, then technically you are winning as a loser and shouldn’t be ashamed of it. Young’s first altercation is that Americans hate losing. He supports this by saying, “Americans love a winner, and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time. I wouldn’t give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That’s why Americans have never lost, and will never lose a war—because the very thought of losing is hateful to Americans” (2). Americans are taught from a young age to dominate, to prevail, and never lose. We believe that things such as love, sex and friendship are only worthy to those who are not losers. Young goes on to argue that football is an assessment of a man’s courage. He quotes Johnson, coach of

Young quotes Donald L. Nathanson, author of the book Shame and Pride, when he says, “If you’re calling someone that [a loser], the person must live in a perpetual state of shame. The only way he can live with himself is to have massive denial, disavowal of his real identity. He has to make his way in the world somehow, and he can’t walk around constantly thinking of himself as a loser. Yet if someone in our eyes is a loser and he refuses to admit it, this is narcissism. He has an identity that can’t be sustained by consensual validation” (7). Young’s argument is supported by this statement because when people categories one another as “losers” or “narcissist” they are defining that person’s identity and shaming them into maintaining their role in