This articlemakes me think that Donald Trump’s presidential run may be what causes the “alpha male”/“bad guy” appeal to be tarnished and go away a bit.
For a long time, people have commented that bad guys or alpha men are appealing because they have confidence, are “go-getters,” are brash and outspoken, put themselves first, don’t care about what others think, and project an “aura.” And many people have been willing to follow these bad-guy leaders and turn a blind eye - either intentionally or unintentionally - to all of their flaws, because, confidence.
(If you can’t read the article because of a paywall, it talks about Trump and his alpha-male appeal among conservatives in politics. Nonetheless, this bad-guy/alpha-guy phenomenon applies to many other people of other political leanings as well, and in non-political arenas such as dating, the workplace, sports, marketing, etc.)
Sometimes, bad men and women are, simply…bad. Being confident does not mean that those bad qualities should be handwaved away. Oftentimes, a jerk is a jerk. Their ambition, aura, and alpha attitude does not make their bad qualities are “worth it.” A me-first attitude is not, or should not, be a desirable trait.
Also that sort of thing may be acceptable in New York city, but considered nasty or rude elsewhere in the country. Like pushy rude salespeople seem to be the norm in NY, but not elsewhere.
And different cultures have different things which are acceptable, but certain things which are considered rude and unacceptable.
The bottom line is a politician needs to be AWARE of these differences and tailor his/her words/actions to the audience being talked to. If you get a selfish person who has no empathy for the feelings of other people [women], then there goes a TON of votes!
FYI - I’ve worked with the public most of my life and have learned to be very “neutral” - not say much of anything too far this way or too far that way. Notice many successful politicians do the same. A selfish person like Trump does not have a chance in hell to understand these basic things about dealing with people.
People are inspired by alpha-jerks not simply because of the confidence they exude but because they reflect their own values. The confidence helps because that is also a characteristic they admire.
OK, I get the sarcasm, but my point isn’t about “Trump is bad” - 99% of Dopers ascribe to that view - but, rather, that hopefully, the candidacy of Trump has finally put an end to the *public *going for that personality type.
Everybody wants an alpha when you think he will be your alpha. When someone at work is blaming you for something that’s not your fault, wouldn’t it be great to have the boss back you up, tell everyone how great you are, and find the people who are falsely blaming you and fire them? Dating, sports, politics are the same; you want someone strong who’ll be on your side. They only become a jerk when they’re not on your side anymore.
Trump’s supporters believe that he will fight their battles for them. Trump’s detractors know, and there does seem to be plenty of evidence, that he will fight his own battles for himself.
The sarcasm isn’t just aimed at your point, but also at the article. And I don’t disagree with you about Trump at all.
But will the public learn a lesson? No, I don’t think so. For starters, we all agree that strong leadership in a person with other good qualities is an excellent combination.
Beyond that rational connection, though, I have a very cynical view of behavior. We’re basically just monkeys who figured out how to infinitely scale up the social group. Most of us don’t even have the self-awareness to understand why we’re attracted to figures like Trump.
It’s not actual confidence, though. Trump has a persona, but come 3 AM, he completely betrays it. Usually on Twitter. I’ve always seen him as pussed-mouth jackass, but also as a man sorely lacking in self-confidence. We New Yorkers can be impatient, brash, and even loud-mouthed, but petty whiny bitch doesn’t fit the stereotype.
If Trump demonstrated competence and intellect at the debates he’d have a much better chance of winning. Coming in 2nd for president of the US is not really a repudiation of a strategy.
Omega males are people who talk and act a lot like Alpha males but aren’t very good at stuff.
We’ve all known people like this.
Way back when, someone who talked big about being a great hunter and such but didn’t even do their share let alone be actually good at it would have been expelled from the group.
But with civilization, these losers manage to stay around. Even worse, people were programmed to admire people who seemed like Alpha males going way back before language. However, we evolved language and civilization far faster than we evolved the ability to separate out the Alphas from the Omegas.
Hence we have way too many people that easily succumb to these jerks.
And history has shown repeatedly that nations can be easily taken over by people who got to extreme lengths to talk big despite their obvious major shortcomings.
Just who are all these alpha male jerks you want the country to stop electing?
A large part of Trump’s appeal is that he isn’t yet another mealy-mouthed politician talking in double-speak while not really saying anything, and not getting anything accomplished once in office either.
It looks to me like what the much of the country wants is more alpha male politicians who’ll stop playing it safe and say what they mean for a change and then follow up on it and do what they say they’ll do.
Rons. They’re called Rons. I’ve said it before: Trump is a Ron. He’s one of those guys who are both total jerks and completely useless but who keep their jobs for reasons such as those who hired them not wanting to admit they made a mistake. And when things go badly, it’s got nothing to do with their own actions; their hookup disappears with all their cash and electronics, it’s because some bad hombres forced her to do it! And their sidekick/wingman/boss is standing there saying “oh yes!”
Well sure but we’d rather it be someone who assertively says and promises to do good, sensible, viable things and knows what he’s doing. Choosing a leader just because he’s blunt and never mind if he’s being blunt today on the complete opposite of what he was blunt about last month, is silly.
Trump, like too many of the “bad boy” “alpha males” is running on bluster for bluster’s own sake and benefits from that many in the population will just follow whoever acts like he’s decisively in charge.
Many people and pundits have said what you say here. IOW, you’re far from alone with this opinion.
But …
Trump’s speech is so incoherent it’s almost impossible to decide what he really means on any topic. It’s almost the polar opposite of clear and decisive. The big thing it really has vs. a conventional politician: it’s different in tone. It’s not cool and calculated; it’s hot and bothered. That’s all it is. It’s content-free anger.
That seems to be what they really want: content-free anger.
Yeah, he comes off as a whiny little bitch to me. Who’s buying this tough guy schtick? I guess some people think whining, unhinged tweets make him seem tough.
This is why I like Mark Cuban picking on him so much. Mark Cuban is an actual billionaire straight shooter, kind of tell-it-like-it-is guy who people like because of this. Donald Trump only plays a billionaire on TV and is a giant pussy who sane people hate. Thank White Jesus we’re electing Hillary soon.
