The Golden One - July 04, 2022


"ALPHAS" "BETAS"


Episode Stats

Length

7 minutes

Words per Minute

149.75716

Word Count

1,110

Sentence Count

74

Misogynist Sentences

1

Hate Speech Sentences

3


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.720 Greetings my esteemed Laddingtons. I'm checking in from Paradise, aka Sweden, in July.
00:00:07.360 I'm checking in with a clarification regarding the terms alpha and beta.
00:00:13.360 Now regarding the term alpha, I have never once referred to myself as an alpha.
00:00:19.200 I have, however, referred to others as alpha.
00:00:22.720 And I have used the term to... as a compliment basically.
00:00:26.880 I've said this is an alpha character and I've basically meant cool or manly or whatever.
00:00:33.760 So I've said that many of the characters in the Fellowship of the Ring, they are alpha.
00:00:40.640 So I said Sam is an alpha, Aragorn is an alpha, Legolas is an alpha.
00:00:46.320 But technically speaking, the alpha in the Fellowship is of course Gandalf.
00:00:51.520 And the other high Thumos men, they are submitting to his superior knowledge.
00:00:57.120 And he takes on the role of being a leader.
00:01:00.800 So that is the term alpha.
00:01:04.080 Now beta is a term I have used as a way to denote if someone has been bad or unmanly or something like that.
00:01:13.120 And of course this is not what it means at all.
00:01:16.160 Beta is actually something you should aspire to.
00:01:18.720 You should aspire to find a good leader and serve him.
00:01:23.200 So Boromir, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Sam, all of these guys, they are technically speaking, they are betas.
00:01:31.120 Because Gandalf is the alpha.
00:01:33.280 So yeah, I have misused the term, I have misused the term.
00:01:38.080 So a second in command is beta in a particular situation.
00:01:43.840 Then of course if we're talking about the Fellowship of the Ring, to take that example.
00:01:49.120 Boromir of course is the alpha when he is the commander of the armies of Gondor.
00:01:53.920 And Aragorn later becomes an alpha when he becomes king.
00:01:58.960 So alpha and beta, they aren't really good terms to use because they are so fluid in their use.
00:02:07.840 You have some guys who are good at being leaders in a certain situation because they know best then and there.
00:02:14.880 But in a different situation they are not the best.
00:02:18.240 And of course when we're talking about leadership, leadership is not something that is necessarily something you should strive for.
00:02:25.440 But it's rather a responsibility you take on.
00:02:28.480 And you take on a lot of, yeah, responsibility basically is what leadership is.
00:02:33.280 And the one who knows the way best is supposed to be the leader.
00:02:38.320 The one who knows how to steer the ship.
00:02:41.520 The one who knows the course, the best course of action.
00:02:45.120 He should reluctantly embrace the position of a leader or an alpha.
00:02:53.120 So basically I will not use these terms anymore.
00:02:56.240 I haven't used them in years for this reason as well.
00:02:59.200 But I'm just making this video to clarify.
00:03:01.200 If you watch an older video of mine and I say, you know, these bitas, I don't mean it in the correct sense of the word.
00:03:09.360 I don't mean it as it actually, as it is actually supposed to be used.
00:03:14.800 So a beta is actually something you do want.
00:03:17.600 And speaking of culture, since I've referred to the Lord of the Rings, I can also refer to Warhammer 40k, the Horus Heresy.
00:03:28.160 And I do believe that it is an appealing aesthetic because you have a literal god emperor that others can serve.
00:03:37.600 So High Thumos men who are very capable in their own right, they are serving the god emperor.
00:03:43.440 And I do believe that is a good and worthy goal for any man to find a good leader to serve.
00:03:53.200 And if we're talking about hierarchy and everything like that, it is a sign of a mature man to be able to recognize the greatness of another man and to follow him.
00:04:06.400 And this is why legendary individuals such as Alexander the Great or Napoleon, they are always very attractive in that sense as leaders of men because they can bring you to glory, as it were.
00:04:20.480 So absolutely nothing wrong with being a beta.
00:04:24.720 Absolutely nothing wrong with being a follower.
00:04:26.800 Being a follower is something good if you follow someone worth following.
00:04:31.520 Which in Alexander's case, yeah, he was very worth following because his followers, they were brought to glory by him.
00:04:42.880 So that is something to note that, yeah, being a beta then or being a follower is something good.
00:04:49.440 It's something you should strive for.
00:04:50.880 Or if you aren't worthy, if a good leader sees you as being unfit to be a follower of his, yeah, then you can work on yourself.
00:05:02.560 And then of course you have this rather juvenile libertarian mindset that, oh, you know, I'm my own man and I don't follow anyone.
00:05:11.360 Perhaps because you aren't worthy of being a companion, perhaps you aren't worthy of serving a great man.
00:05:19.040 Now, of course, I'm talking in very broad terms here.
00:05:22.160 I'm talking about, historically speaking, today hierarchies, they can be quite hard to find to begin with.
00:05:29.920 So this leads us into the term sigma male, which I suppose is mostly a meme, but it denotes someone who will, who want to stand outside of the hierarchy and do his own thing.
00:05:46.240 And I suppose most guys today, they are sigma males, not because they want to, but because the hierarchies are dissolved and everyone is sort of an individual in themselves, which isn't good.
00:06:01.520 It's not good. It's good to be part of a larger community.
00:06:06.160 So anyway, main point of this video, if you watch an older video of mine and I say, oh, this beat us,
00:06:12.600 know that now at least I am, I know the proper use of the term and being a beta is absolutely not something that is bad.
00:06:22.440 It's something that I view at least as something good.
00:06:26.340 Being an alpha then is, I haven't used this term in a long while and I will not use it moving forward either.
00:06:34.780 You can say leader and a leader is someone who can be a leader in one situation and a follower in a different situation.
00:06:41.760 And as I've said in a podcast episode, in certain situations, it can be good to reluctantly accept the responsibility of leadership.
00:06:52.640 But otherwise you should always try to find out who, which man is the most suited to leadership and then try to be a good follower of his.
00:07:04.320 Then of course we can talk about monarchy and everything like that, but that is a topic for another video.
00:07:10.460 So anyway, thank you for watching.
00:07:14.120 If you haven't already read Dauntless, do so.
00:07:16.740 First link in the description box below.
00:07:19.180 And I wish you a fantastic summer ahead.
00:07:23.220 XOXO, boom!