Why do so many young males see themselves as alphas, gladiators, lions etc.?

[Anonymous]

It seems very common these days. They don't want to actually work hard and make a societal contribution, they just fantasize about getting wealthy by being lions, alphas, gladiators etc.

What's behind this?

[Anonymous]

You mean like a Jeep Gladiator?

[Anonymous]

Because they're listening to trash podcasts who want to sell them "workout supplements".

The secret to all of this is there's always an angle to make money. To be "alpha" you have to buy their classes and protein powder and gym equipment. Oldest trick in the book, make someone feel inadequate but then offer to sell them something to "fix" it.

[Anonymous]

This is men since dawn of time.

[Anonymous]

I'm going to need more context here.

[Anonymous]

Culturally we don't value making a societal contribution. We don't hold that up as desirable. We dont even value making money or avoidibg problems. We value *having* money, and winning fights.

Maybe the problem is that they don't know enough biology/history to understand the short harsh lives lions and gladiators have.

[Anonymous]

Hmmm yeah I think most men are not really understand what being a Gladiator in ancient Rome entailed. Those men were truly bad asses! Can you imagine fighting a lion? Pretty cool.

[Anonymous]

Human nature is to be competitive and like winning. This is what our society tells young men that winning looks like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hmmm yeah I think most men are not really understand what being a Gladiator in ancient Rome entailed. Those men were truly bad asses! Can you imagine fighting a lion? Pretty cool.

The funny thing is they were actually kind of chubby by modern standards, not the musclebound physiques from movies.

https://archive.archaeology.org/0811/abstracts/gladiator.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Culturally we don't value making a societal contribution. We don't hold that up as desirable. We dont even value making money or avoidibg problems. We value *having* money, and winning fights.

Maybe the problem is that they don't know enough biology/history to understand the short harsh lives lions and gladiators have.

+1
And it didn't necessarily stem from social media.
I'm old enough to remember the 80s and black gang rap culture that deified having cars, diamond studs, lots of cash. But no discussion about how to get it, maintain it, use it well. It was all image and too many people thought that was cool apparently.

And that's just a tiny slice of America. The threads run across all cultures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems very common these days. They don't want to actually work hard and make a societal contribution, they just fantasize about getting wealthy by being lions, alphas, gladiators etc.

What's behind this?

As the mother of two tall, very physically fit young men I can honestly say that I have no idea what you’re talking about. They both work hard in altruistic occupations.

Lions? Alphas? Gladiators? How old are you and what social media are you consuming? These two dimensional “alpha” influencers are paper tigers, not lions.

[Anonymous]

One word: TikTok.

[Anonymous]

Get off the internet and touch some grass.

[Anonymous]

Personally I wish we still had Roman Gladiator fights to the death. Maybe Trump can end some restrictions on that or something. UFC is pretty lame.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Personally I wish we still had Roman Gladiator fights to the death. Maybe Trump can end some restrictions on that or something. UFC is pretty lame.

We do, they’re called gangs of DC. Someone gets killed every night.