"Alpha Males"

As if there weren't enough rampant stupidity going on nowadays, we now have the rise of the "Alpha Male."

The dictionary definition of an "alpha male" is "a male animal having the highest rank in a dominance hierarchy;" it is often applied to the social hierarchies of gorillas, chimpanzees, and other simians, but it has come to have its own meaning in today's human societies as a man who is "the most dominant, powerful, or assertive man in a particular group." Typical "alpha males" include champion athletes, senior military leaders, CEOs of major industries, and so on.

But nowadays, with the culture wars raging around us and insecure (mostly white) men seeing their perceived social and political dominance declining, it's become important to a lot of frightened men to self-identify as "alpha males," as if wishing would make it so. They tend to abound on Twitter, with a prime example being the fellow who identifies himself as "Nick Adams (Alpha Male)" and another being Der Furor, who strikes me as being one of the least alpha of the species. This is a typical example of one of Mr Adams' tweets (a twofer, as it also includes his worship of Der Furor) ...

He seems to have missed the irony that the most recent "Titan" in the news was the one that imploded and sank in the Atlantic. 

There are plenty of other ludicrous signs, posters, and flags depicting the flabby and inarticulate 77-year-old Furor as an imagined magnificent specimen of the "alpha male," such as this one ...

 

and this one ...

These are, of course, stupid. Indeed, they remind me of the characters who refer to themselves as incels.

I don't need to think of myself as an "alpha male" in the current context, or in any context. I try to be a good father and grandfather, deal honestly and courteously with people*, pay my bills, vote, and generally be a good citizen. My sporting days are long past: I ran on the cross-country team in high school (with no particular distinction), played and coached soccer, and (for a while) was a nationally-ranked amateur ballroom dancer in my age and experience category. Today, I work happily in my garden, exercising my alpha authority over weeds and predatory insects. I try not to take myself too seriously ... and when I do, Agnes is always happy to help get me re-grounded.

In a dramatic (and appropriate to our discussion) moment in the series Game of Thrones, Tywin Lannister (played by the brilliant Charles Dance) chastised his petulant nephew King Joffrey by telling him, "Any man who must say 'I am the king' is no true king" ...

And if you have to tell people you're an "alpha male," you need to seek some other Greek letter for yourself ... perhaps mu, for moron.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo

* Until they give me reason to do otherwise.