Are you an alpha male?

[ys]

Doesn't culture also play some role in this? I mean, some are more outward in general than others. As for myself, I don't actually care which type I'm supposed to be. I'm not that much into psychological labeling. I'm more quiet and keep a distance when I don't know people (the norm over here) and not that interested in meeting new people just for the sake of it. Which probably makes me beta?

But I'm not afraid to tell my opinion (eg towards bosses when I question the logic of new procedures). I don't care for trends or what people think of my style, am composed, value logic. I can easily admit if I'm wrong and am not the jealous type. I checked now and saw that some of those are supposed to be alpha? So it looks like I'm in between somehow.

[Bluecast]

I don't know what label I fall under nor really give a shit. I been called every label in the book except tall and hansom. I used to joke that the mold that made me was comprised of all the broken mold pieces from people they broke the mold after them. Just a mix of many things and a nutter. I really don't care about macho bullshit as to me it seems people who go on this I'm so manly crap are very insecure. I like what I like if it falls in a trend or not and have my opinions popular or not. Also just weird as fuck..

[Perfect_Chaos]

I really don't care about macho bullshit as to me it seems people who go on this I'm so manly crap are very insecure. I like what I like if it falls in a trend or not and have my opinions popular or not. Also just weird as fuck..

thats also me. spot on.

[Sonikku]

I am no Alpha Male. Sometimes I'm a leader, other times I'm the follower. But never the Alpha Male. On the contrary, I often look down upon those that are. Anyone can have the loudest voice in the room. The world has perhaps a few too many Alpha Males already, always insisting they know best, shouting down to the people that disagree and acting cock sure about everything. That's the problem with Alpha Males. The fools are always certain, while the wisest are always in doubt. People with the audacity to acknowledge that they don't have all the answers and will defer to others when outside of their element is what separates a leader among men from an Alpha Male among animals.

I think it's unfortunate our culture makes the status of follower so damning. A follower is one who acknowledges that they may be out of their element and may not necessarily be the one to provide direction as of yet, quietly observing those that are in their element and learning to incorporate such measures into their own handling of similar situations in the future. Through this method a follower can become a leader. But no matter how great a leader you may be, there is no one so all knowing so as to never endure the status of student when outside of their area of expertise.

In the wild, an "Alpha Male" only needs large muscles, a loud mouth and a lot of chest beating to lead the pack. But in our world an Alpha Male will often substitute reason and ulterior perspective for rigorous rhetoric. Those that pound their chest the hardest and choke on pride too hard to ever defer to others tend to guide their people down a dark road, or even right over the side of a cliff.

[mue 26]

Everything Sonikku just said is spot on, and I agree with 100%. It takes a stronger person to admit when they are not in their element and can use the guidance of someone who does have more experience/ knowledge in that area. It takes an insecure person to believe that they must always be at the head of the pack and have the loudest voice 99.9% of the time.

The only thing in Sonikku's post I would perhaps contend is :

The fools are always certain, while the wisest are always in doubt

I know what your trying to say, but if we take this line at face value I might not absolutely agree with it. I think it's about getting the right balance, personally. Obviously I don't think one should be always certain even when they have no reasonable grounds for being so, but at the same time, I'm not so sure it's the wisest thing to always doubt either. In truth, it is hard to be truly certain of anything, but I think there are certain situations where one must relinquish doubt. Just to give a quick example, I study martial arts and qi gong, and I know some people who have had a lot of love for it, and desperately wanted to progress and advance, but they kept hitting roadblocks because they could not stop their minds from doubting. Doubting themselves, the artform itself and their teacher too. All of these doubts can be useful initially, even vital at times (as they enable you to find the right artform and teacher), but I'm talking about people who have been around the block and have been training for years and years. They get caught in a vicious cycle. They doubt so they don't make progress fast enough, they don't make progress fast enough so they doubt further, they doubt further and they make even slower progress, yet they keep training because they desperately want to progress but they just can't seem let go of the doubts.

Of course, this then begs the question, if you cannot make significant progress while you still hold doubts in your mind, how do you determine when to let go of your critical faculties? Truth be told, this is a very difficult question to answer, and one should be careful, but at a certain point faith is required. Once you've then had a direct experience (and you've analysed this experince carefully and know it to be true), it would be completely foolish to continue to doubt, in my opinion. Of course there are some who say that any personal experience that another cannot verify is nothing more than faith anyway. But I believe that through experience and careful analysis there is a point where one can know something in certainty.

Sorry I'm rambling now and going way off topic, and I'm not sure if this will even make sense to anyone any more. Just to clarify now, I'm talking about internal practices that involve the circulation and gathering of internal energies. I guess a lot of what I wrote won't apply so much to things that can be measured and observed more easily on an external level.

[ThyDarkAngel]

I am, in bed and, say, in a heavy metal concert or a debate that I care about discussing.
In my everyday routine? I am not. I prefer to keep a low profile.

[Absentia]

I am, in bed and, ...

That would imply that you're not the only male in bed, would it not?

[ThyDarkAngel]

^You know it doesn't.

Doesn't 'alpha male' imply dominance, being the 'agressive/active' part instead of the 'passive/submissive' one in a multitude of situations or is it just a social/'while amongst men' concept?

If the later stands true, I will defend myself saying I meant I will be the man pulling all the strings if I ever partake in an orgy.

[AnimeGamer183]

This thread on these forums just makes me lol

[ShenSun]

Anyone who'd make a point of proclaiming themselves an "alpha male" on an Internet forum clearly has a complex of some kind. It's your protestations to the contrary that convince me you're the furthest thing in real life from an alpha male that my imagination can possibly conjur, and the only thing wrong with that is the sad sense of self-loathing that must cause you to roleplay in this manner. I'm just not sure whose approval you're seeking with this charade - that of strangers or, more tragically, your own.

Well said Sweaty.

[Gingefners, The]

Alpha? Beta? What's with the faggy Greek shit, bro? While you're busy with your Plato and Socrates, I'll be busy adding plates to my barbell and socking scotes for not being man enough.

[Axm]