The curse of the eternal BETA

I find it tremendously amusing that some men find the success of pickup artistry to be more than a little disturbing.  Now, I understand the female lack of enthusiasm about the reality; one of the funnier moments of the show Castle is the pickup artist episode in which Beckett is led to declare: "I weep for my sex" upon learning that three mediocre guys are successfully using formalized Game practices to cut a wide swath through the flower of New York City's strong independent career women.  It's understandably embarrassing for women to learn how many of their educated and high-status sisters will fall for such transparently superficial and insincere tactics.

But what explains the depression of the BETA male?  It is the shattering of his worldview, and the forced realization that all of his self-perceived superiority isn't of any value at all to anyone but himself.  Nevertheless, the world is what it is, not what we wish it to be.