Not Lions

I know a lot of people who post status updates to Facebook about how skilled and proficient they are when it comes to pissing people off, and they seem to be proud of it. Pleased with themselves over their ability to irritate other people, enough so that some of them seem to use the internet almost exclusively to learn new ways to be annoying.

Myself, I have a strong tendency to- I don't avoid contact with people, not exactly. It's more right to say that I don't ordinarily seek out interaction with other people, and in most cases it has nothing to do with them. I don't have anything against people as a group or as individuals, for the most part. Individuals and groups of people have all kinds of goofy, unreasonable, stubborn, dangerous, misguided, and distasteful tendencies and attitudes, sure. But that's their thing, not mine. I like life, the universe, and everything better when there aren't people around.

That said, I can and I will interact with people. I can do small-talk as well as I can do thoughtful conversation.

Anyway, I see it in the real world as well: too many anecdotes have to do either with effectively pissing people off, or with being pissed off by other people.

Why is this a credential, a worthwhile skill?

Is it that some people so enjoy being pissed off that they can't imagine how everyone else doesn't also love it, and they think they're doing everyone a favor?

Is it that they can't - or won't - stand up to whoever pissed them off, so they take it out on alternate safe targets?

Is it simply for the sake of being a dick?

Or could it be because it's so very easy to do? I think this last one is most likely because, you know - minimal effort, instant results. But... Why is it so easy to piss people off? That's pretty easy, I think - it's because of the never-back-down attitude, the don't-take-no-shit attitude.

Pride.

The stubborn little crittur that keeps you thinking that yours is the only opinion that matters. The one that won't let you admit that you were wrong, keeping you in denial on the train tracks despite the growing evidence of Imminent, Severe Bodily Harm By Train. You might die, sure. You might even be horribly and permanently damaged and disfigured.

But at least you stood your ground.

I have an anecdote of my own. Not one about getting hit by a train, fortunately, but one in which I Prided Up and Stood My Ground.

I suppose I was 21 or 22, exactly the right age for clan elders to allow me to join the mastodon hunting parties, had the mastodon not so recently been hunted to extinction....

I was working nights at the time, and a random ne'er-do-well took advantage of the night-time darkness to relieve my car of one of its taillight lenses. When I discovered the missing car part at the end of a night shift, I was Pissed Off. Mostly because "Why-Can't-You-Keep-Your-Fucking-Hands-Off-My-Stuff?", but also because Being Pissed Off was one of my favorite hobbies when I was that age.

I was quick to share my Righteous-Pissed-Off-Ed-Ness with anyone and everyone who would listen, one of the better listeners being a guy named Bill. He listened to my ranting and raving with little or no comment until I got to the main point of my speech, which was this:

"Anyone who steals anything should go to jail!"

Which is a thing I said with a face that looked a little bit like this:  DX

It might be because Bill wasn't suffering PTSD over missing car parts, or because he was more level-headed generally, but he was more reasonable about the situation.

"Anyone?" He asked. "Who steals anything?"

"Yes! That's correct!" (DX)

"So... You've never stolen anything."

It was at that point that I vapor-locked. I opened my mouth to speak, then closed it again.

I opened it for another try, then closed it again.

That's when Pride elbowed Righteous Indignation to the side and convinced me to Stand My Ground.

"No," I insisted. "Never in my life. Not once."

"Uh-huh," he replied, giving me That Look before walking off.

Did I look like an ass? Definitely!

But I didn't back down!