"The cheaper the punk the gaudier the patter."
That line was written by Dashiell Hammett, who had been an operative for Pinkerton, back when it was a real investigative firm and not a security guard company, the way it is today.
It was spoken by his character Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) in the movie, The Maltese Falcon.
Hammett had also been in WWI.
I have found what he wrote to be true.
When I was 12 or 13 years old, I was in the bathroom at school when four or five boys came into the bathroom. One had a huge grin on his face.
One of the other boys was a physical catastrophe named Greg. Greg was one of those odd kids who walked hunched over. He had almost grey skin and dishwater brown hair. He also wore these thick glasses that magnified his eyes and made them fuzzy-looking. Even without all that he would have never been good-looking.
The kid with the cocky grin started fighting with Greg, and it was clear he had been picking on Greg because of what he looked like, and thought he could easily beat him up.
Things didn't go as planned.
The fight lasted maybe ten seconds. Greg got this kid in a headlock and did something I had never considered.
He tried to rip the kid's face off over the top of his head.
The cocky kid utterly collapsed and began begging Greg to leave him alone. Fight over.
I was very impressed.
Later I saw another fight in the boy's bathroom in the gym.
There was a bully named Don, who apparently was mouthing off to a guy who was about 5'2" named Phil.
Phil, however, was an athlete and a wrestler.
Again, the fight lasted about ten seconds, and Don began begging Phil to stop hitting him. "Okay, okay, you kicked my ass! Stop hitting me!" His voice was trembling.
He was a complete fucking coward.
I have seen such things happen later. I have never seen an exception to the observation, "All bullies are cowards."
It's why I don't believe in all that nonsense about "insane confidence," such as what "Roissy" writes, and why I consider him a big-mouth pussy who's never been in fight.
Again, when I was about 12 or 13 I read a story called "Call Him Lord," by Gordon R. Dickson.
It was about a teenager (maybe 19) who was supposed to be the Emperor of the Galaxy, and who ended up being killed by his bodyguard. When the boy's father asked what happened (the boy was a bully), the bodyguard answered,
"Lord, he was a coward."
I remember thinking, "I'm not the only one who has noticed this."
This Emperor-to-be was rather charming on top but a piece of shit underneath. In other word, a narcissist. I've seen this before in real life, which is why charm and charisma mean nothing to me.
This "insane confidence" is a con and a danger promoted by weaklings.
When I was 21 I was playing pool downstairs in a nightclub now torn down.
One guy came downstairs, I looked at him, and my spidey-sense just went crazy. It turned out I was right, because he pulled out a .38 and started shooting at a guy down there.
The supposed shootee pulled his pistol and returned fire.
By that time I was under the pool table, wondering if I was going to catch a stray one.
The shooter got plugged but good and later died at the hospital, in front of my mother (who was an ER night admitting clerk), who told me he was crying, "I'm going to die! I'm going to die!" And he did.
The shootee had a .38 slug go in one temple, spin around the back of his skull, and end up in the other temple. He lived (he also later worked briefly for my father).
Turned out the shooter had been paid $300 to kill the other guy, and apparently was so "insanely confident" he thought he could do it, instead of getting killed himself.
Because of what I have experienced (including watching "insanely confident" men throw out of nightclubs by more than one bouncer) I have no respect at all for fools who give very bad advice (because they have no experience with these things) to the naive and inexperienced.
What we're dealing with here are examples of the Four Cardinal Virtues: Courage/Confidence/Bravery/Fortitude, Prudence (which is the most important), Justice, Temperance. When you lack one you lack them all.
That's why those guys I saw beaten up and shot acted as they did. They certainly lacked Prudence and Justice (picking on people is not just) and lacking those, they also lacked Courage (theirs was that fake "courage" on top covering their piece-of-shit true self) - "the cheaper the punk, the gaudier the patter."
There are those in the Manosphere who are obsessed with "confidence." It's because they lack it. Lacking confidence, they lack courage, prudence and justice.
They don't know this, though, until things get just a little bit tough.
I occasionally gets posters at this site engaging in some pretty significant abuse of me, defending such frauds as Roissy and Vox Day.
Of course, they have no idea they are cowards, and if confronted in real life they would collapse and apologize profusely.
I've seen it before...more than once.
8 comments:
There's confidence and then there is "insane confidence" can also be called pride. And we all know what pride goes before.
Didn't I just read something/hear it on the radio last week about how bullies actually have better than average feelings of self-worth and confidence? And that this was in contrast to everything we'd been told about bullies' feelings of low self-esteem being the root of their problems.
There is also confidence in one's convictions. It would be a better world if that depended more on the quality of said convictions than on the personality of the one that holds them.
"And that this was in contrast to everything we'd been told about bullies' feelings of low self-esteem being the root of their problems"
"Low self-esteem" isn't the root of the problem. Lack of prudence and cowardice is, among a few other things. Too much "self-esteem" is what leads to fool-hardy behavior, such as thinking you can shoot a guy and get away with it.
I've always maintained that children should be physically active, and that boys in particular have to learn how to fight. There have always been bullies but lately it seems as if there is an explosion in their numbers. Perhaps it is a carry over from the decadent 60s where the hippie Mantra was:
"Violence is not the Answer".
I told my children that:
"Standing there and taking abuse like an idiot is not the answer either".
When my children were small, my daughter who was older than my son by a few years beat the crap out of a bully who had been harassing my son. My son was taught how to fight and soon nobody bothered him.
Decades ago, when my father was bouncing at a crummy dive bar, one of the toughest patrons in the joint was a quiet, unobtrusive guy whom I'll call "Dave" (not his real name). One night, a swaggering loudmouth came in, who must have been about 5'4", went over to the pool table where Dave was practicing, then angrily demanded (he did not ask politely first) to be allowed to use the table. Dave, consistent with the informal house rule generally accepted at this joint, offered to play a short game against the loudmouth, winner to take possession of the table. The newcomer flew into a rage, grabbed a pool cue of the rack, and shattered it directly over Dave's brow-ridge. Dave raised a hand, wiped the blood out of his eyes, and smiled at the guy with a big, beaming grin.
Dave had to chase his terrified assailant around the table several times before he was able to administer the well-merited ass-kicking. Having seen the whole thing transpire, the bouncers took their sweet time before coming over to break up the incredibly one-sided "fight".
@Anon above, how tall was "Dave"? Just curious.
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