I really identified with the article, and the author seems to have taken a reasonable course. But I would not call all groups with social norms that differ fro

I really identified with the article, and the author seems to have taken a reasonable course. But I would not call all groups with social norms that differ from you 'losers' that 'lost the battle to be themselves.' The author's transformation seems like it had more to do with finding somewhere he fit the social norms than realizing any group that didn't want him was full of losers with no personality. After all, the author found a group in like-minded anime fanatics, and his group has its own norms regarding conversation: The topics change -- what cars are best, what sports are better than other sports, what teams are better than other teams, what shows are better than other shows (but never politics or religion -- something you learn really fast in a gym is to never bring up the two topics most likely to incite violence in a building filled with metal bars and heavy plates). Someone who walked in talking about the Talmud all the time probably wouldn't fit in. And that's fine. It would just be sad if the kid, like a lot of nerds I've seen, unwittingly developed his own social norms, but was just as heart-breakingly rigid about them as the kids in his school.