Letting the other win, The Mechanics of Virtue, aphorism 289

289 “Letting the other win” has the curious effect of making the victor’s wreathe an object of humiliation and is a position from which the victor can only be silent or beg for the desired response from his spectators ... and the more we grant him his victory, rather than let him earn it, the more frustrated his dominance gesture. He knows that he has only won through our permission. An absence of disappointment, indifference to eye contact, and “carrying on” are the dominance gestures accompanying victory by yielding – not so much the game as the standard presupposed by the game.

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