Why Is It Cool To Be Bad?

This is a topic I've been thinking about lately. I've always been annoyed by people who brag about being bad or dangerous. People who think the villains are people that they should emulate. I've noticed this in a diverse group of people, but seem to hear this a lot more from guys. Saying people should be careful, that they're dangerous or that you don't want to see their temper. Even things as seemingly benign as saying that they would be sorted into slytherin in Harry Potter has been something that gets on my nerves lately.

I've known real life bad people, the ones who really would be a 'Slytherin'. It goes beyond thinking you're a rebel, as being such is not necessarily a bad thing. Rebels have shaped our world to be the way it is now, often for the better. Rebels are not what I am talking about. I've known people in real life who have an actual capacity for evil, those who don't think twice for ruining somebody's life. It isn't cool, and it isn't something to strive for. These people will manipulate you, crush your world and then leave. Truely 'bad' people aren't usually going around telling people that they are bad, in fact they don't usually think they are bad or doing anything wrong. They think that the things they take are things they deserve, no matter who they have to hurt to get it.

Let's delve into this whole Slytherin thing, mostly because it's one I've noticed most often and one I simply can't understand. In the Harry Potter books the sorting hat tells Harry that Slytherin students "Use any means to achieve their ends", putting their own wants ahead of other's needs. They will push you down and step on you to reach higher. We know that they value being a pure-blood. In the world we live in this would likely translate, in simple terms, to being a bigot. People like them are ones with no tolerance, hating anybody who isn't like them. Your hate crimes? Committed by people like this. Dictators, rapists, terrorists, and racists.

Those sorted into Slytherin aren't rebels, they simply go with whatever suits their own needs. They don't try to better the world because they can't see beyond their own desires. Slytherins are the kinds of people to ignore great injustices because it's easier and doesn't involve them. Is this really who people should be looking up to?

As stated, I've known truely bad people. I have felt torn down to my very core until I felt empty inside. From a very young age I learned to hate myself and entered into a series of self-destruction. Ruining somebody so completely that way doesn't show how great you are - it shows what a narcissistic, selfish fuck up you are. It shows how weak you really are on the inside, being bad isn't hard. And, in time, it showed me that the world wouldn't be better without me - it would be better without YOU. You, the person who did this.

I hate when people brag about being bad. It enables the truely bad people and allows them to hide and get away with things no person should.

Not only that, but when you say you're bad or scary it makes you sound like an idiot.