Clearly, you've never been around a real cowboy. I think they're becoming an endangered species.
Also, we're comparing professional cowboys to pretend pirates, as real pirates are packing machine guns and stealing large yachts and cargo. Or are we comparing drug-store cowboys to dime-store pirates? Or real cowboys to real pirates? Or fake cowboys to real pirates?
So, it was an absurd comparison to begin with, really.
But back to the original question: Pirates versus cowboys, I'd still take the cowboy over a pretend pirate, unless the cowboy in question was also a pretend pirate, then you're talking a two-fer deal and that's a whole separate issue. Plus, cowboys don't stay all rummed up all the time, so there's that. I know, it's fun to talk about chugging mass quantities of rum, but in real life, I prefer sobriety more often than not.
Whatever the preference, I think it has to do more with the spirit of the thing than the actual thing itself. Having said that, the two are very much alike, I think.... just people looking for adventure.