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MV's avatar

"The eating her ice cream" thing would be difficult for a supreme Alpha to pull off, and even then only once it's obvious she's digging him - she may find it spontaneous and funny. But here, even reading about it screams gamma behavior.

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David's avatar

No one came to his seventh birthday. Certainly ingrained behavior is set very early.

I hear this from my kids as well, from who are the weird kids not to hang around with.

It seems that the SSH level is nearly impossible to change, but for the Grace of God.

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Valar Addemmis's avatar

While it certainly stings, the “not prominent enough” note sounds like something that might have been sent over threateningly by his paid crisis consultants.

A strong implication that running with accusations would result in a claim of slander, and that he isn’t prominent enough to cause any sort of public interest exception to kick in.

Of course the media is too happy to play along, but it helps to sportingly force their hands and give them a plausible excuse (if pressure builds, “we just said what the lawyers told us to”).

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Miguel's avatar

"he reached over with his spoon and just started eating her ice cream while looking her right in the face"

Good grief!

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The Kurgan's avatar

Part of the reason I find Gammas so utterly unbearable is their utter Cowardice on every level. They behave like predators because they will only "attack" (try their creepy sexual stuff) on those who they think will be too scared, weak or unable to defend themselves from their creepy advances. They are emotional as well as physical cowards in every respect.

An Omega by comparison is simply a completely clueless character, and nowhere near as offensive, even if he may have no concept of hygiene, basic social cues and so on. He's more akin to a pet that has never been house-trained. A gamma is more akin to a ferret in a chicken coop.

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Luke Philp's avatar

There was a famous scandal in Australian rules football where an alpha player was sleeping with the wife of his delta captain.

The alpha got fired and the delta tried to patch things up with his wife for the kids which obviously didn't work out.

I remember fans being more angry that they'd lost their best player and that if the captain could be cucked then maybe he wasn't cut out for leadership.

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Belinda Galle's avatar

Also known as “The King”

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Trumpeter's avatar

There was a guy in grade school who would pick his nose and stick it in your jello with whipped cream, and then ask if you wanted that jello? The third time he tried that I stuck my fork into his hand so hard that when I let go it stayed stuck.* If you have a fork, stab away!

* Yes, I am responsible for sporks

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Remaint's avatar

Excellent work Trumpeter! "People" like that are literal filth!

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Sledge With An Edge's avatar

To add to this,, I have known there was something off and dishonest about Gaiman ever since his commencement speech in 2012 when admitted he lied about writing for magazines when he had not in order to get work and basically said to fake everything because that's what he did. That being said, I never looked into it closely to put a finger on it.

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Aug 16, 2024Edited
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Jimbo Elrod Jr.'s avatar

Q.: Who worries about the fraud police?

A.: Frauds.

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DarkLordFan's avatar

The level of annoyance like the the level of creepiness is over 9000.

Let the memes flow!

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Leo M.J. Aurini's avatar

The Birthday Story's heartbreaking, but how did his mother allow it to come for that? Any normal parent should have been aware of her son's social difficulty, and either helped him confirm the invites, or not have blown up the party so that the failure bit all the harder. I get a sense that she deliberately sabotaged him so that he'd come to her for sympathy when it was all done. And on some level he participated, choosing the safe condolences of mother over the risky endeavour of friendship. I've noticed this desperation for, but hatred of, women in Gammas I've known before.

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Hedgehog's avatar

True. Happened to me. Not on my birthday but Christmas & New Years Eve. Vox is right. Parents can break but not build. Especially single mothers. An consummate pediatrician told me that single mothers of boys get insane. From (my) experience is true.

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Mrs. Chad Mungus's avatar

A commenter farther down made a good point: the other moms likely didn't want to be around his mother.

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Canadian Sperg's avatar

"Gaiman is alleged to have felt comfortable behaving in such a bizarre and childish way in what was a professional situation"

I have a suspicion that Gammas can be utterly shameless when it comes to getting their own way. In essence a Gamma will care more about general public sentiment towards him than he will about the feelings and opinions of the people he regularly interacts with.

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taignobias's avatar

Be suspicious no longer. I've seen exactly that many times.

You remember that South Park episode where Cartman does everything he can to avoid fighting Wendy, while playing up how she's actually scared of him? I saw it live throughout middle school.

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Canadian Sperg's avatar

I personally prefer the midget who claims Cartman hasn't gotten under his skin. Even loses a fight with Cartman, cheap shots him after, and claims victory while Cartman laughs his ass off.

But yeah, I member.

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Aug 16, 2024
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taignobias's avatar

He's very much a victim of inconsistent writing.

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GAHCindy's avatar

You know, if I had a story as sad and pathetic as that birthday party story, I'd keep my mouth shut about it.

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Mile High Bear's avatar

Agreed. almost brings the faintest whisper of a temptation to pity the little gamma, then you remember gammas and their behavior, and how that child would've turned on you and raged at you if you even tried to reach out for one tender moment of sympathy. better if you just leave them the heck alone and move on.

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Jimbo Elrod Jr.'s avatar

Or worse decided you and him should hang out every day.

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DLR's avatar

It almost makes you feel sorry for him, which might be why he told it.

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Sledge With An Edge's avatar

The only way that story becomes in any way inspiring is if it serves as a catalyst for change. It doesn't appear as if it did in this case.

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Jimbo Elrod Jr.'s avatar

Who's ever heard of pass the parcel? Moms's got some splaining to do.

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Butterchurn Girl's avatar

Pass the parcel was a common party game when I was little. Mostly at little kid or girls' only parties. It was kind of lame but it got everyone to sit still for a bit.

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taignobias's avatar

It's at least an Australian thing. There's an episode of Bluey centered on it.

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English Tom's avatar

Wowser Bluey! Lucky Grills. Those were the days!

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ScuzzaMan's avatar

English I think. Kiwis did it too.

Can't say if they still do.

Old Billy Connolly joke about the worst birthday idea ever; pass the parcel in an Irish pub.

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Alan Borthwick's avatar

It's still being done here in nz. The joy of having small kids is sitting through these things. Though these days the mums want to make it "fair" so everyone gets a turn and there is a small prize on each unwrap.

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Snowyteller's avatar

"I was sad that nobody had come to my party, but happy that I had a Batman figure, and there was a birthday present waiting to be read, a boxed set of the Narnia books, which I took upstairs. I lay on the bed and lost myself in the stories."

Imagine if you will, another child who had this happen, this is after all, not as special or unique as many a gamma likes to think his childhood problems were, one child might utterly withdraw, curl in pain and living in pain, becoming an omega who sleeps away the perceived agony of the world.

One might become a sigma, successful or unsuccessful in life, it is they who might be missing on their future birthday parties, perhaps climbing a mountain or dead at the foot of one.

Many of course would still be gammas, but unlike Tubcuddle, most would not become the Wolf.

If your siblings don't want to celebrate your birthday, something has gone wrong with you and your parents.

A pity that the little boy read those lovely Narina books, but learned nothing.

We all know how it would go if that little boy was before the white witch, and his sister elsewhere.

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Enwar's avatar

That's what happens when you read Christian tales like Narnia and the Lord of the Rings and don't see the spiritual power that formed and pulses through them. Great stories like that and the hundreds that were written in times past were not merely for entertainment, and treating them as such is an insult to them.

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Cornelius Burroughs Tavington's avatar

"The principle that the behavioral pattern that is cemented in a man’s formative years cannot be altered much by subsequent situational status."

This resonates and can also be seen with some of the PUAs/Red Pill types. They claim success with women but often have a resentment for them indicative of a lower status male. After all, genuine alphas, bravos and sigmas don't need to consult that kind of content, their successes and behavior come naturally.

It's mostly genetic folks.

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Faith in God's avatar

"Neil Gaiman isn't prominent enough." They've reported on some random shaman's sexual assault allegations two days ago.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/14/us/california-shaman-sex-assault-charges-riverside.html

Ricardo Flores is a bigger name than Neil Gaiman?

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Elijah's avatar

I was amazed by the nyt comment as well. Protecting Gaiman by saying he is not famous enough to “ me too”!

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Man of the Atom's avatar

Based on this, what SSH rank likely dominates the New York Times editorial offices?

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Aug 16, 2024
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Man of the Atom's avatar

Yeah, very familiar with the gentleman and his politics.

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JW's avatar

I suspect until they read about him here that most people didn't know anything about this Gaiman character. The more I've learned about the SSH the more it seems apparent that many of the famous authors that we've all read are a bunch of creeps and weirdos. Of course, most people already had some idea that Hollywood is full these types and worse. The whole thing feels like it leaves a greasy film on everything it touches including us. Like participating in it by reading or consuming their 'art' now that you know makes you part of it. What's even worse is that it's undeniable now that everything fake and gay and all of clown world is infested by low status men and lunatic women.

This realization should be a good boost to high status men in their resolve to reject these people at every turn and never tolerate their bad behavior.

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Jeff Sexton's avatar

I definitely got that feeling after looking at most 80s movies in light of the SSH.

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DREWIEY's avatar

I watched a bit of American Gods and the "Dream naked guy Netflix show". Both started off well for first episode, but then they felt forced. Almost like the writer was trying to hard but just didn't have it. Once it became obvious how silly the shows are, the creepiness became more noticeable. Vox is the first time I heard of Gaiman and his role behind those shows. Makes sense now.

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JW's avatar

That’s the thing about the SSH. Once you get your mind around it, there’s a whole bunch of shit that starts making sense.

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Man of the Atom's avatar

If you were a comic book reader in the 90s you were some of the first to experience Gaiman with his "Sandman" series of titles. My observation at the time was that people gravitated to his work or were repulsed by it, though getting the latter group to explain exactly why was tough. Vox and his SSH would have been a huge help back then.

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Dave's avatar

I liked Death, liked the girl goth look and punk attitude and the comic should have been about her. Funny how Gaiman disavowed the real life inspiration for Death, Cinamon Hadley, for DEI points.

Cinamon Hadley & Death: https://shorturl.at/kYpO5

Gaiman casting a black woman as Death for the Netflix:

"I give zero f---s about people who don't understand/ haven't read Sandman whining about a non-binary Desire or that Death isn't white enough,"

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Man of the Atom's avatar

Just trying to hang onto the tiger.

Never lasts.

Tiger: "Pass the Worcestershire sauce, please."

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BBL1986's avatar

I never finished reading The Sandman series. I think I've read the first few books, last thing I recall was a storyline about a meeting of personified suns and stars or something. The comic left me with a bad feeling overall, felt like...decadence, I think. Now I know why.

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Douglas Marolla's avatar

I was a hard core comic reader / collector from around 1980 - 1999. I bought and read Sandman. Everyone was raving about it. I thought I must be missing something and re-read it. The covers were cool.

Give me Wolfman / Perez on new teen titans and Crisis, or Frank Miller daredevil.

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JW's avatar

It's all new to me. I was never a comic book guy outside of the original Savage Sword of Conan series. I still have a very robust collection of those because the artwork is really great.

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Man of the Atom's avatar

Only the Roy Thomas issues for me (1-60), but I get it. The 90s were when I was able to access a comic book store on a regular basis, and the Vertigo line from DC where Sandman landed, was rather full of similarly repulsive stuff. I was very glad I had swapped from the Big Two companies to Independents by that point.

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taignobias's avatar

I came to Sandman later on, and I was never able to read any of it. I was fascinated by the art stylings, but the content never grabbed me.

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Aug 16, 2024
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taignobias's avatar

Same reason we gawk at car crashes and forest fires, mostly.

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