Andy wrote:
>
> On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 4:54 PM, Michael Pollak <mpollak at panix.com> wrote:
>
> > Everybody is right. This isn't an American thing. It's not like other
> > countries love losers. It's as old as politics. The classical word for
> > success was having virtue (virtus or arete). But it meant the same thing, a
> > combination of skill, character and luck -- and crucially the last, a kind
> > of charismatic luck, a mysterious ability to compel Fortune.
>
> I wonder. Isn't there more of an embrace of lost causes elsewhere?
No.
Carrol