Decade of the douche bag

What will you remember about the last 10 years?  Will it be the battle between iphone and blackberry, the recession, the boom of  Coach and Michael Kor (lol), or many other small events that may stick out for you?  For me, it was obvious...the rise of the douche bag, or douche for short.
Now what brought this condition on?  Well, it was a multitude of things, image, status, media.
Social media ran rampant, and as a result, people started to watch others more intently; but for some odd reason, certain styles started to evolve.  These styles were not found in beauty magazines, nor were they pushed on people in any way.  These styles just randomly evolved to what they are today.

First, the definition of douche bag (for men):  Someone reeking of effort, following trends they may have seen and believed was socially accepted.  Attitude and loud arrogance play a significant role.  You can only be a douche if you are truly not aware of it.  Some common characteristics are deep tans, greasy spiked hair almost formed into a mohawk, diamond ear studs, shirts that are to small, popped collars, UFC shirts while walking with a tough strut.  

Let me indulge in this a little further with key symbols that helped grow this culture...

A) AFFLICTION - This trend boomed about 3-4 years ago.  UFC grew so fast, Saturdays were fight night, GSP was loved by all Canadians.  It was a true form of fighting; but some how people (especially in Calgary) took this to another level.  They started wearing affliction shirts.  If your not familiar with these, they are very loud shirts, trendy, but aggressive looking.  Its a company that sponsors many high end fighters.  Douche bags started wearing these....but what set them apart was, they started to believe they were tougher and cooler.  They wore them a size to small just so everyone could see their muscles.  They picked fights or instigated them because they felt they "knew" fighting.  Ahh, the affliction douche.

B) Ambercrombie & Finch - This trend has several angles.  A&F is/was a popular american clothing company that over-charged on average looking cloths (cotton polo for $90).  It was the top of their pyramid...American eagle at the bottom, and Hollister in the middle.  This alone didn't put you in douche territory.  It was when people started to pop the collar...this was the start of much more.  From here, the gold chain was accessorized, and finally, the crew cut was introduced...a safe mohawk that was still trendy, but daring at the same time.  Put this all together with a cocky attitude and a fake baked tan...you got yourself a douche;)  This can be confirmed from the show "Jersey Shore"...the definition of douche bags.  Its been stated on T.V that these 20-30 some year olds are douche bags...so I cant be that off.

C)  Rig Pig Douche - Now don't get me wrong, working on the rigs is not douchy.  Heck, I've tried to get on them for a quick buck, and some do very well doing this.  The problem lies (for me lol) when their ego needs to be exhibited in a particular manner.  The one obvious one is the big diesel truck with a 6+ inch lift kit on it.  Not only that, they feel the need to fill their entire back window with some type of generic sticker...like Red Bull, or Hurley.  They also add on the 22 inch rims, the mud grappler grip tires, and shinny silver rims.  They always feel the need to gun it on the accelerator at every light.  They generally have some sort of trimmed beard, and of course tattoos.  Its screaming...hey look at me, Im bad ass.  Seen many of these in Ft Mac and Grande Prairie.

D) Obvious Trend Follower -  Now don't get me wrong, any of these following products I mention does not make you a douche, but if you put a few of them together, and about 1 year after they had come out on mainstream...your well on your way.  Brands such as Ed Hardy, Yankees hat, shirts that have Diesel written large on the front, and so forth.  Its basically someone spending a lot of money on purr hype alone.  I never did understand the $60 t-shirt.