His Pride and His Vengeance
All the world's got now is less than love...

In actuality, my review of Arizona Colt wasn't my initial comeback article. I started to write something about a topic that's been much on my mind. When I initially chalked up the first few lines, it started to make me think that my thinking on many things had been all wrong. The conclusion I came to and what I wanted to talk to is that we (by we, I mean Americans specifically, but also people in general) suffer from hubris.

That's the fifty cent word kids: hubris. Can you use it in a sentence?

I'm going to guess probably not, unless you just read The Odyssey in high school or something. Odysseus is the classic example of hubris. It's not that he's not a great guy or a hero, but the gods are constantly smacking him down because of this aspect of his personality. Hubris is defined by overbearing pride or arrogance.

It's the difference between believing in yourself and believing you can do everything...and do it better than anyone else. It's invincibility. Infallibility. ETC...just keep thinking along those lines.

Don't get me wrong. I don't believe that each individual human being out there believes this about themselves. In that respect, I believe that it works in both directions. On one end, there are the people who believe this about themselves. For instance:

Pretty people. For years, this was always a trend with primarily the womenfolk. Because of the way society was structured and the value placed on their good looks, many women never felt the need to develop any intelligence or personality beyond a certain level. As long as someone was willing to support them merely for their looks, they never had to do anything more. Granted, this could easily go horrbily wrong: an accident, a disease, or the simple fact that looks fade. Now I've begun to notice an overwhelming amount of fellas who fit in the same category. They've truly began to embody the brainless but beautiful hunks of meat not because they are, but rather they are making (or not making) an effort.

What makes it worse is the ever present display of plastic surgery. You may not have been born one of those pretty folks, but you can become one. God forbid you should try and make it on personality.

Then there's the hipsters just-enough educated business types. This goes for both, but I've dealt with more of the fellas. People who talk about some product they sell or some deal they made as though it was the most bad@$$ed killer move ever executed. When talking amongst co-workers it works, but amongst others...well, it comes down to: "Dude, who gives a shit?"

This could be a rant on its own. Do you have any idea how many of these @$$holes I end up having to listen to every time you go in public? Constantly, I want to grab them and say: "Who gives a sh!t how much software you sold? Who cares tomorrow? Who cares a hundred years from now? You didn't DO anything in the greater scheme of anything. So quit acting like a f*cking bad@$$!" Or something like that. I'm tired of people who are so proud of accomplishing....um, gee...NOTHING.

I mean sports stars are pretty useless to, but at least you can wax intellectual bullsh!t about how their achievements are inspiring. You know, the human limits of strength and endurance. That kinda crap.

Anyhow, there are a lot of individuals like this, and there always seem to be a lot more.

Some of them really believe in it. Some of them fall into my next category.

Them, I will talk about tomorrow.

Cheers.