The Baddest

Neal Stephenson once stated - or it should be said, wrote - a passage in a novel implying that man, until the age of 25, thinks it is still possible to be the "baddest motherfucker in the world." Given the ridiculousness of said delusions of grandeur, it would seem that abandoning this ideal as quickly as possible would put one at peace. Given wild gesticulations of violence both in media, arts, and real life, oftentimes by men, many of whom are older than 25, one might be inclined to state that many men still think they can be the baddest, and that doing so often involves some sort of fatalistic attribution of death to the claim. In the end, we are all the worse off for it.