Cocky Bastards?

Something that has always confused me is how frequently arrogant individuals are socially accepted. When reflecting on high school and those who stood out as socially accepted one can conclude that the most sought after individuals were often the most arrogant. The few political leaders in my high school's exclusive social network were arrogant. They had this outrageous self entitlement that everyone seemingly bought into or at least played along with. These individuals were never the most attractive or most athletic or even the most intelligent, yet they still were the most influential and sought after. To such a point that often the most attractive, athletic, and intelligent individuals accepted the less gifted individuals as their presidents and settled for advisory roles within the political network.

This thought train has awoken a thought from within that surely many have dawned upon. Along with athleticism, intelligence and beauty is another characteristic. This characteristic is insecurity, and like the the other traits people have varying levels of insecurity. Those who are gifted have a low level of insecurity; they are not bothered by their faults or simply do not notice them. The remaining individuals are more aware of their shortcomings and resultantly are more insecure.

Individuals with greater insecurities find it easier to pick out their own faults. Having a nature astute to ones own faults could plausibly make it easier for one to identify them in others. This could be the relationship that has given birth to the term arrogance. If a person lacking confidence crosses paths with a peer possessing surplus confidence who has identifiable faults then they would deem that individual oblivious (arrogant) or re-consider the identified faults.

To a person completely aware of their own blunders it must be seemingly impossible for another to overlook their own. Do they just pay no attention to these flaws so that others are inclined to do the same, or are they simply not bothered by them? After seeing how consistently "arrogant" many social leaders are one begins to think that the latter is true. That these people don't just pretend to have no faults, but it is in their nature to not be bothered by them. If this is true then varying levels of "arrogance" would be the result of differing levels of self awareness. This care free nature is desirable and the exclusiveness of it most likely increases the insecurity present in those lacking confidence. Similar to lacking intelligence, athleticism, or attractiveness, lacking confidence (being insecure) is frustrating and can be hard to deal with. For this reason many people are deemed arrogant just like others are considered smarty pants' for being enviously intelligent or full of themselves for being desirably attractive or jocks for being gifted with great athleticism. The same can be said for any other characteristic that an individual has been generously endowed.