We don't necessarily like psychotic criminals or arrogant Third World dictators, but people with swagger fascinate us, a truth now reinforced every Thursday night at 10 on the hit AMC series "Mad Men."
Set in 1960, the show tracks players in the ad industry, where swagger is the heart of the game.
Rules? They laugh at rules, including the Golden Rule. Especially the Golden Rule.
In the swagger biz, the whole premise is that it doesn't matter what you do unto others, as long as you do it first.
"Mad Men" also reflects something else that's been brewing on TV for quite a while, however: a long-term shift in the professions to which we look for swagger.
Once upon a time, American swagger was largely defined by physical guys like cowboys, G-men, explorers and soldiers. Think John Wayne.
Sure, there's always been swagger in other fields of endeavor. While Wild Bill Hickok was galloping through the West, robber barons like Cornelius Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan were accumulating insane levels of wealth simply because there was no one to stop them.
But in general, swagger once had a blue-collar aura, reflected in the Westerns that dominated early television...
Instead of John Wayne, we have Wall Street traders, real estate moguls, lawyers, tech geeks, TV celebs and hustlers like "Mad Men" or Aaron Eckhart in "Thank You for Smoking."
They beat you by making more money, or playing the game better, or stacking the deck.
Series like "Mad Men" and HBO's "Entourage" catch on because we know or recognize people with the swagger on which those shows build characters.
Heck, we see that swagger in Dick Cheney, which is not to suggest he's the first or only political figure who found it easier to make his own rules.
Maybe all this is just one more reflection of America's gradual evolution from a blue-collar economy to a white-collar economy.
Whatever the reason, it seems like it's getting easier on TV, as in real life, to swagger without having to get your fingernails dirty.
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