Is the Pharma Bro a Pick Up Artist? Is this the apotheosis of the culture we deserve?

Shortly before the infamous price-gouging pharma bro, Martin Shkreli, was arrested on fraud charges, he declared from his Martin the God twitter account: "50-100 date solicitations a day for me, the world's most eligible bachelor. Sorry, but you have to be a shareholder to meet me." After he made bail, Shkreli spent the day browsing OK Cupid. He also had a profile on Tinder, and his interchanges on dating platforms are quite revealing.

Several of the recent massive shooting incidents invoked a "beta uprising". The grievance of "betas" is that they aren't successful at being "pick up artists" (PUAs). PUAs are the ultimate men's rights activists, who gauge their masculinity according to their success in manipulating and "scoring" women.

The case of Shkreli suggests that the PUA is not merely a misogynist: he's a sociopath. A few years ago there was some hand-wringing about the fact the business world seems to be structured to favor sociopaths. Contenders for the best compensated positions are often described as "rock stars", alluding to their sexual capture of a large audience of women. I'm wondering if this is the outcome of a process that started in the 1980s when Newt Gingrich's "Angry White Men" raged that the dismantling of their privilege meant there was no more "center" or top of the mountain for the king to seize. It seems like in lieu of enjoying White Supremacy, sociopathic men decided to mark their territory with Gender Supremacy instead.

Was this inevitable or did the broader consensus of American culture miss some chance at promoting equality on moral as well as social grounds?