We Are Losers
heroic individualism: an ongoing game of one-upmanship, against both yourself and others, paired with the limiting belief that measurable achievement is the only arbiter of success. Even if you do a good job hiding it on the outside, with heroic individualism you chronically feel like you never quite reach the finish line that is lasting fulfillmen
... See moreBrad Stulberg • The Practice of Groundedness
Part of my writing practice is cultivating a curiosity for why small moments make me feel the way they do, paying attention, noting things down.
ON AMERICA'S HERO FETISH:
It’s very unsettling, how quick we are to celebrate individuals as heroic and extraordinary, different from the rest of us riff-raff. Obviously some people are uniquely talented, b... See more
ON AMERICA'S HERO FETISH:
It’s very unsettling, how quick we are to celebrate individuals as heroic and extraordinary, different from the rest of us riff-raff. Obviously some people are uniquely talented, b... See more
Haley Nahman • #104: On Red Scare, finding writing inspiration, and America’s hero fetish
The activists who deny their own power and possibility likewise choose to shake off their sense of obligation: if they are doomed to lose, they don’t have to do very much except situate themselves as beautiful losers or at least virtuous ones.
Rebecca Solnit • Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities
Our societies are very interested in winners but don’t really know what to do about losers – of which there are always, by definition, a far greater number.