I don't use the word "Alpha" as a serious concept. It's a dumb word as used in the Manosphere and most of those who use it don't even know what it means. It comes from the study of canines and it means one thing, and one thing only: parent wolves. If you transfer it to humans, what you get is a patriarch.
Worse, the accepted definition in the Manosphere is an almost clinical definition of a narcissist, and there is nothing good about being a narcissist at all. Whoever came up with that definition has some problems, and I'd say some pretty deep-seated ones.
There are other problems. When you have a fantasy hierarchy of from Alpha to Omega, the wimps are going to call themselves Alphas (the wimp Ted Nugent is a perfect example) and sneer at and denigrate others as Betas, Gammas, Omegas, etc.
There is nothing new in the Manosphere, contrary to the delusions of the uneducated. Thinkers in the past discussed these things and they were just as smart as us, if not smarter. Personally I think they were smarter.
I recently ran across a book called Engineering the Alpha. The authors were smart enough to dismiss the accepted definition of "Alpha" and instead substituted another one, which is the best definition: the real Alpha is the most evolved you can be.
Guess what? I've been saying that for a long time, and it wasn't me who came up with the definition. It was the Greeks, well over 2000 years ago. More like 2200 years, as best as I can tell.
The Greeks believed you achieved eudaimonia (well-being/flourishing) through arete - which is excellence. Being the best you can be. Being the most evolved you can be.
"Excellence" is sometimes translated as "virtue," however, "virtue" means "the powers of man." Being the best you can be is a power inherent in all men.
Vince Lombardi (1913-1970), that most winning of coaches, had this to say about excellence: "The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor."
Sometimes virtue is translated as "phronesis", which means "practical or ethical wisdom". Eudaimonia was (based on older Greek tradition) used as the term for the highest human good, and so it is the aim of practical philosophy, including ethics and political philosophy.
In other words, society and culture should be set up to allow people to be the best they can be.
The word "education" literally means "to draw out." Education is supposed to draw out what is already in you, and help you develop it to its fullest. What passes for education these days mostly does not do that.
The only way people can be the best they can be is through liberty - free from the depredations of the State. The State wants you to serve it. It's supposed to serve you, instead.
The State is a machine and wants to make you into a cog. Cogs can never develop themselves to their fullest potential. Cogs don't have any potential. They are what they are and that's it.
As Joseph Campbell put it, “Man should not be in the service of society, society should be in the service of man. When man is in the service of society, you have a monster state, and that's what is threatening the world at this minute...is the machine going to crush humanity or serve humanity? Humanity comes not from the machine but from the heart."
Lombardi also spoke of "the heart": "Once a man has made a commitment to a way of life, he puts the greatest strength in the world behind him. It’s something we call heart power. Once a man has made this commitment, nothing will stop him short of success."
What everyone wants is the richest and happiest life they can have. And by "richest" I mean internally rich. And by happiest I am the greatest well-being/flourishing you an possibly get. To be free.
You might even say the purpose of life is to express yourself to your fullest potential.
10 comments:
Perfect.
We've fallen far from the days of Lombardi, haven't we?
I have no real opinion on Ted, but having seen his outdoorsman-gunslinging act on TV, what makes you categorize him as a wimp?
He's always babbling about how he's an "Alpha." He doesn't even know what the word means.
A woman in Alaska told me he traveled up there to shoot something that just stood there. I forgot what it was, but she said it was like shooting a cow.
A friend of mine knows him and almost got involved with him in a business deal but all of the guys pulled out because Nugent thought he could take over because he had so much money. They told him he could get lost.
Nugent is what the British call "unclubbable" - men don't want him around because no one likes him.
Everyone I know who has had dealings with him holds him in contempt.
the thing you are always off about with the definition of alpha in the game-o-sphere is that their definition is "gains the most sexual access to the hottest women". thats it. they arent pretending it means anything else.
No Ma'am has a far better definition. Summed up briefly:
Alpha, Captain of the football team, dates the best girl in school
Beta, part of a spectrum, followers of the Alpha; they get the next best women.
Gamma, the men who fail to compete.
Omega, the sexual degenerate; either a sneaky-male "nice guy" or a liar and a seducer.
Unfortunately with the degradation of society, Omega is becoming an optimal strategy; most Game is about becoming the best Omega, not the Alpha.
I knew two high school captains of the football teams and neither dated the best girls. They couldn't get them.
All the "Alphas" I know who were PUAs did it by acting like Omegas, i.e. liars, seducers, lying to and trying to manipulate girls.
In my entire life I have never met anyone who fit any of those categories, except in the sense they fit all of them in some way or another.
My father has made love to one woman his entire life. In his physical prime he would fight any man, any time and never lost. He's not rich nor particularly savvy, but he always provided for his family and has the clear sense and decency of a Buddha.
Alpha as fuck, as far as I'm concerned.
Well done Bob, I believe you could effectively salvage the term 'Alpha' with that definition...but I also disagree about your assessment about Ted and about hunting.
Ted is loud and rude and makes stupid people foam at the mouth with rage. His approach is sadly needed; there are too many leftists and socialists that won't hear what they need to hear any other way. There IS a time and a place to tell such people to FOAD and Ted does it in style.
Hunting is a manly art. The entire goal of the game is to get close and dispatch the animal in one quick, clean shot. I too have shot a score of animals that 'just sat there' completely unaware of their peril. Their deaths were as quick and painless as I could make them. The last time I shot a moose was last year at 7:00 PM. Text book shot with a bow at around 30 yards. I had to butcher and clean it, pack the meat out to my vehicle 8km away and I finished up at 3:00am. This is not a sport for wimps. Nor is it especially manly - it is just a rewarding pastime that gets us out of the house and puts us back in touch with nature the same way fishing or gardening does. As a hunter I sincerely appreciate Ted and his tone with the effeminate, uninformed anti-hunters that would ruin my sport and do unspeakable damage to wildlife populations if they had their way.
As for his business dealings I cannot speak in his defense as I know nothing about them or his personal life - but he does do SOME good work.
This is an interesting definition. I've always thougth of the Alpha meaning some kind of leader whom people naturally flocked to.
If someone is a natural leader I call him a natural leader. If he's popular with women I say he is popular with women. If he lies to and manipulates women I call him a cad. I don't see any reason to use the term Alpha, since what it really means is "parent wolves."
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