Beta Male!

If you've ever had the displeasure of getting caught in the dark depths of right wing online discourse, you surely witnessed their frequent use of the terms "alpha male" and "beta male". Of course they think they themselves are the alpha males; rugged real manly men who like their guns, adore the police and the military, and prefer their women with the kids or in the kitchen.

Yep, the culture war surely has its funny sides, and this right wing obsession with alpha and beta males qualifies as one of the funniest. I'm not going to say too much here and just let the included short videos speak for themselves; watch them if you like a good laugh. "Alpha male" and "beta male", often simply called alpha and beta, are slang terms for men that are derived from the dominance hierarchy in animal social groups. More specifically the term alpha was introduced in the 1970s by David Mech in his book "The Wolf: Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species".

He observed wolves in captivity and wrote that the leaders, the alphas, win control of their packs in violent fights with other males. The only problem is, as you'll see in the last video linked below this post, that in nature there are no alpha or beta males. In nature the wolf pack consists of family members, where the father and mother lead and guide their children, sometimes several generations of them. There is no hierarchy, no "pecking order", other than family relationships in the wolf pack.

Other than the erroneous foundation of alpha and beta males, the way these terms are used in popular discourse is hilarious. You're designated a beta male as soon as you "admit" to having any reasonable political or social opinion. Do you think that women should have the same rights as men? Do you believe that members of the LGBTQ community deserve the same? Do you hold any political position that could be construed as liberal of left wing? Then you're likely to be identified as a beta in the right wing online community.

Thinking about it, I wonder what their obsession with wolves is. These manly men often like to think of themselves as "lone wolves" as well. Another animal that doesn't really exist in nature... Wolves are social creatures, and although they do occasionally get lost, lone wolves are very much the exception to that rule. Ah well... You still gotta love Jesse Lee Peterson, the subject of the above linked video and perhaps the most extreme example of conservatism losing touch with reality. I hope you enjoy his performances as much as I did.

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