Alpha male

What are people's thoughts on "alpha males"? What is your definition of what an alpha male should be? Or maybe you don't even acknowledge this term and think it's a dumb PUA concept? Do you consider yourself an alpha male (if you are a guy)? Or have you been with an alpha male if you are a girl. Lets share our thoughts.

To me, a true alpha male should be kind and compassionate. It's a nice bonus if they are confident and charismatic, but these things are not absolutely necessary.

Alpha males come in all shapes. For example, Jesus, according to some people, he would be classified as a beta, but just look at how much he was and still is being revered by so many people. He was a leader in every way. To me, he was alpha, and I am not even Christian.

We humans are animals, which is why we entertain the concept of an "alpha male", but we are also more than just animals, and this is why our true ideal of alpha males cannot be extrapolated from what we see in the animal kingdom.

It's a tragic misunderstanding of human behavior based on a common misunderstanding of wolf behavior. It's the worst kind of pseudoscientific gibberish.

I use the term, but only because people understand it.

As males go, I prefer to think of myself as the Alpha and the Omega.

Speaking of Jesus Christ, remember what he did to the moneychangers in the Temple. If he snapped his fingers while the Disciples were talking, you know they'd shut the **** up.

Alpha male is a charged term. Some think it means macho, some thing it means temperament, and others think it means leader.

So it's kinda pointless.

Wan said:

What is your definition of what an alpha male should be?

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An alpha male is:

• First and foremost, a man of impeccable character
  
  
  
• Accomplished -- He may or may not be wealthy, but he is recognized as being among the best in his field. That is to say, there's something productive and remunerative at which he's as good as it is possible to be; however, he may yet have peers who are equally good but who, for whatever reason, may have attracted more of the general public's attention than has he.
• Modest -- An alpha male lets others sing his praises, touting himself only when bid expressly to do so, and when doing so, neither over nor under represents himself.
• Intellectually curious, well informed, and well read.
• Physically fit, healthy and well groomed.
• Gives and takes neither more nor less than others and he earns.

I am whatever the situation calls for.

Must be a racist term..............amirite?

Skeptic Bob said:

I am whatever the situation calls for.

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??? Insofar as you haven't provided an explication of what "alpha male" means, what on Earth is that supposed to mean? As I see it, one's being an "alpha male" is existential. It's not something one can be and be not at will.

Rexedgar said:

Must be a racist term..............amirite?

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The use of the Greek alphabet is dogwhistle for Grecosupremacy.

I am a fehu male, goddammit!

Xelor said:

??? Insofar as you haven't provided an explication of what "alpha male" means, what on Earth is that supposed to mean? As I see it, one's being an "alpha male" is existential. It's not something one can be and be not at will.

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You either are or are not; it’s not like a superhero cape; “should I wear it today or leave it in the closet?”

It's a personality trait (somewhat contradictory one at that), but I don't find it virtuous for its own sake nor do I find it worth mocking either.

In essence: meh.

Sent from my LG-H910 using Tapatalk

Korimyr the Rat said:

Speaking of Jesus Christ, remember what he did to the moneychangers in the Temple. If he snapped his fingers while the Disciples were talking, you know they'd shut the **** up.

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I am not quite sure what you are trying to say here. Care to explain?

Wan said:

I am not quite sure what you are trying to say here. Care to explain?

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I'm saying Jesus had the Juice. He just knew what his Juice was for, and didn't waste it on showing off.

The strongest man is the one who can afford to let people think he is weak.

Wan said:

What are people's thoughts on "alpha males"? What is your definition of what an alpha male should be? Or maybe you don't even acknowledge this term and think it's a dumb PUA concept? Do you consider yourself an alpha male (if you are a guy)? Or have you been with an alpha male if you are a girl. Lets share our thoughts.

To me, a true alpha male should be kind and compassionate. It's a nice bonus if they are confident and charismatic, but these things are not absolutely necessary.

Alpha males come in all shapes. For example, Jesus, according to some people, he would be classified as a beta, but just look at how much he was and still is being revered by so many people. He was a leader in every way. To me, he was alpha, and I am not even Christian.

We humans are animals, which is why we entertain the concept of an "alpha male", but we are also more than just animals, and this is why our true ideal of alpha males cannot be extrapolated from what we see in the animal kingdom.

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Watched this Ted Talk a couple of weeks ago, very interesting.

The Surprising Science of Alpha Males

synopsis said:

In this fascinating look at the "alpha male," primatologist Frans de Waal explores the privileges and costs of power while drawing surprising parallels between how humans and primates choose their leaders. His research reveals some of the unexpected capacities of alpha males -- generosity, empathy, even peacekeeping -- and sheds light on the power struggles of human politicians. "Someone who is big and strong and intimidates and insults everyone is not necessarily an alpha male," de Waal says.

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https://ted.com/talks/frans_de_waal_the_surprising_science_of_alpha_males

Korimyr the Rat said:

I'm saying Jesus had the Juice. He just knew what his Juice was for, and didn't waste it on showing off.

The strongest man is the one who can afford to let people think he is weak.

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Got me and the missus to talking; a male can be an alpha male situationally; it’s not a cape that is worn, but when a number of ‘males’ are together the alpha of the group will assert his position. A male can be an alpha in a circumstance, but will find his own place in a group of males.

Xelor said:

??? Insofar as you haven't provided an explication of what "alpha male" means, what on Earth is that supposed to mean? As I see it, one's being an "alpha male" is existential. It's not something one can be and be not at will.

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I always interpreted it to mean a man who is assertive, takes charge, takes risks, and goes after what he wants. That is me when I need to be like that. I am also comfortable being in the background letting other people run the show when I think their skill sets are better for the situation than mine.

Maybe I am unusual but my personality morphs to fit the situation without any conscious effort on my part. Some people may not trust someone like that but it served me well during my 20 years as an Army Officer and diplomat.

Skeptic Bob said:

I always interpreted it to mean a man who is assertive, takes charge, takes risks, and goes after what he wants. That is me when I need to be like that. I am also comfortable being in the background letting other people run the show when I think their skill sets are better for the situation than mine.

Maybe I am unusual but my personality morphs to fit the situation without any conscious effort on my part. Some people may not trust someone like that but it served me well during my 20 years as an Army Officer and diplomat.

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Red:
Well, okay; I understand what you mean. TY for the clarification.

Your and my comprehension of the term "alpha male," though overlapping to some extent, are quite different.


Blue:
I really wouldn't know whether you, I or someone else is the unusual one as goes our "personality morphing." I am sure that I'm not as flexible as you. My personality is quite constant. What varies is the extent to which I express it.

Wan said:

What are people's thoughts on "alpha males"? What is your definition of what an alpha male should be? Or maybe you don't even acknowledge this term and think it's a dumb PUA concept? Do you consider yourself an alpha male (if you are a guy)? Or have you been with an alpha male if you are a girl. Lets share our thoughts.

To me, a true alpha male should be kind and compassionate. It's a nice bonus if they are confident and charismatic, but these things are not absolutely necessary.

Alpha males come in all shapes. For example, Jesus, according to some people, he would be classified as a beta, but just look at how much he was and still is being revered by so many people. He was a leader in every way. To me, he was alpha, and I am not even Christian.

We humans are animals, which is why we entertain the concept of an "alpha male", but we are also more than just animals, and this is why our true ideal of alpha males cannot be extrapolated from what we see in the animal kingdom.

Click to expand...

Alpha male means doing whatever the heck you want and not letting others persuade you otherwise.

The alpha male is the dominant male animal in a particular group. For humans it would be the male who takes the leadership role in a group or overall has leadership abilities.

Alpha, beta, omega . . . these all came from flawed observations of wolves, and the guy who coined the terms has since denounced them. I am very weary of people who try to define certain types of me using these terms. The last the I heard a guy blathering on about beta and zeta males and whatnot, he was clearly trying to make excuses for his own poor history with women.

I don't think it makes any sense to talk about what these terms mean to us, or redefine them. To the wastebasket of history they go.

Instead of thinking about different types of any one sex, or what kind of man or woman we are, I feel that we should only concern ourselves with who we are as individuals.

Wan said:

What are people's thoughts on "alpha males"? What is your definition of what an alpha male should be? Or maybe you don't even acknowledge this term and think it's a dumb PUA concept?

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That may be how the term entered the public consciousness, but they have always existed.
PUA teaches people to cheat. To present a mask that will hopefully fool others into believing you are more than you are.
However, the people you meet with whom you have no problem when they take leadership are alphas. They are the people whom it does not occur to you to challenge.


I'll give you an example from civilian life (most seem to be found in the military).
Our company was hired to implement a software deployment system for a customer in the energy sector.
We were involved. Other external consultants were involved. Local IT was involved. Customer service was involved. IT Management was involved. Project management was involved. After a few weeks of gathering information and planning, there was a big meeting the Friday before launch. Halfway through the meeting a guy that looks like a cross between a tiny Santa Claus and a kindly grandfather enters the room and takes a seat at the table. It was the CIO, whom I'd never met before.

I immediately thought to myself: "Oh great! Probably some ancient relic who doesn't know ****, here to participate in a meeting about technology he doesn't understand, to be implemented via a plan he hasn't been involved in. He was probably hired to do telephony 40 years ago, and is only CIO because everyone as senior as him died off years ago. He's only here to try and show that he isn't completely irrelevant."
(Note: The reason I suspected so was unfortunate experience.)

I was happily mistaken.
Within 10 minutes Pops had identified multiple issues that *noone* had as much as thought of. Not us, not the other externals, not the people who would have to service the system, and not the project managers, and within that time frame he also managed to explain the issues so that everyone, techies, managers, and end users, understood exactly why they were relevant and how we should approach solving them.

Pops was an alpha male.
When he opened his mouth, you automatically paid him respect. And as I found out later, the only reason he was not retired was because the company paid him very well to stay. They couldn't find anyone to replace him. I adored Pops. During the next couple of years, I happily served under him when I got the opportunity, and always went the extra mile. Not the standard "I owe it to my employer" extra mile. There was no money in doing so and no position to be had. It was an "I crave this man's respect" extra mile.

Stories were told about this guy by his employees.
PUA's pretend to be alphas for the same reason dictators always try to establish führer myths. People willingly follow and want to please alphas, so they try to establish themselves as such.

Alpha male is a term that haunts the mind of betas. Don't waste your time with such concepts.

Love who you love and live. Let others make labels and worry with upholding them.

I see the term alpha male in the same light i see the gender definitions of masculine and feminine. We made that **** up, it caught on, and people try to center their lives around it. We are born to a relatively blank slate, until we become bombarded with societal roles. We try to label everything, to understand it. As is our nature. But the more evolved we become, the less important it is to categorize everything and place everyone into a box. The term alpha male is just that... a term some person made up. I wish we'd stop creating pointless expectations of ourselves. Lets see what could hapoen when we are allowed to unfold, naturally.

whatisanopinion said:

I see the term alpha male in the same light i see the gender definitions of masculine and feminine. We made that **** up, it caught on, and people try to center their lives around it. We are born to a relatively blank slate, until we become bombarded with societal roles. We try to label everything, to understand it. As is our nature. But the more evolved we become, the less important it is to categorize everything and place everyone into a box. The term alpha male is just that... a term some person made up. I wish we'd stop creating pointless expectations of ourselves. Lets see what could hapoen when we are allowed to unfold, naturally.

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Perhaps the term was made up, but was the observed behavior characterizing it also invented?

Korimyr the Rat said:

Speaking of Jesus Christ, remember what he did to the moneychangers in the Temple. If he snapped his fingers while the Disciples were talking, you know they'd shut the **** up.

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Right, right....but check this out....right, so their Jesus was, healing the lame, raising the dead, chasing out the usurers, feeding the multitudes, walking on water, all that bad ass stuff right

and yet the Pharisees and Sadducees after witnessing this had intent, made plans, and went about carrying out a mission to kill him. (which, He allowed, but you know, they didn't know He had given them His blessing)

So Jesus is kicking ass and taking names, doing some unbelievable ****, and these cats seen him raising people from the dead and said, "Oh, we gots to kill this mofo..."

What powers did these cat's think they had to take on someone who could raise the dead?

That's some real chutzpah.

joko104 said:

The alpha male is the dominant male animal in a particular group. For humans it would be the male who takes the leadership role in a group or overall has leadership abilities.

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So you are saying that you are not one.