The two are not even in the same league: being an asshole is to demand from other individuals the very liberties that you deny them. Being defiant is to resist how social norms and conventions are applied to you.<p>I am reminded of this quote from G.B. Shaw: &quot;The reasonable man adapts himself to the conditions that surround him... The unreasonable man adapts surrounding conditions to himself. All progress therefore depends on the unreasonable man.&quot;