The Unreliable Explanatory Approach
A reader provides an example of how not to think about the SSH
In which an object lesson in how not to analyze conceptual models is provided.
Gammas, Omegas, and Lambdas1 are not natural states of being but are instead flawed and sub-optimal Alphas, Bravos, and Deltas created through damaging life experiences that were never properly recovered from. Lambdas are generally caused through early introduction to sexual material or through sexual molestation. Omegas are most often created through early physical or mental abuse, frequently from those in power over them. Gammas are primarily the product of child hood spoiling and a lack of consequences. Gammas, Omegas, and Lambdas are not hierarchical categories that should be stayed in but instead should be thought of as definitions of damages that should be used for specific repair work…
Gamma’s are a direct and living testament to the truth behind Proverbs 13:24 “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.” Due to the Gamma not having any of the overt stigma that either Lambdas or Omegas have, there are few to no studies to rely on to explain their causes, issues, or possible resolutions. Based on the current definition on the Gamma as an introvert, they often spend far too much time thinking rather than doing. This kind of behavior can only exist in a mostly consequence free environment. Should the Gamma take up wrestling, they will do the work and will win or lose on the matt. Should they take up a team sport they will practice with the team and either start or sent on the bench based on effort and skill. Due to the definite and real consequences of physical activities the gamma will generally self-focus almost entirely to collection and games where there is always a way to delay, obfuscate, deny or prevent a loss or negative consequence. As such the potential solution for the Gamma is not reductive. In the case of the Lambda, remove the source of molestation or sexual material. For the Omega, remove the source of abuse or neglect. For the Gamma, they must be forced into a situation with immediate and irrefutable consequences. This could be sports, either team or individual, a wilderness survival situation, or any thing where they are forced to acknowledge the negative consequences of their behavior.
Just as a car that has been damaged in an automobile accident is now a “wreck” so too are Gammas, Omegas, and Lambdas now human wrecks, mere shadows of what they could have been. Through identification of the unique causes of each broken person, a willingness to accept personal flaws caused by outside forces, a desire to correct the situation, and faith in Jesus there is hope for change and improvement. Gammas, Omegas, and Lambdas will always carry the scars of their situations and no matter the level of effort or improvement they will often never be as successful as their non-damaged counterparts. However, with work they can be removed from the “wreck” classification and can move into one of the functioning Alphas, Bravos, and Deltas categories, forever improving not just their lot in life but enriching the lives of those around them.
As I am often forced to remind myself, MPAI. Most People Are Idiots. Yes, this almost certainly includes you, the valued and respected reader. While I appreciate the effort people show in attempting to understand and apply the philosophical concepts and models I have provided them, it is my sincere and heartfelt wish that everyone would please stop trying to explain my own ideas to me, refine them in some manner, or otherwise redefine or reinterpret them.
As God said to the evolutionary biologist, make your own dirt.
I assume that most of you have already detected the fundamental flaw in the would-be revisionist’s attempt to explain the reasons behind the three SSH behavioral profiles mentioned, but if you haven’t, then please understand that this sort of thing isn’t merely annoying given my repeated admonition to focus on the What rather than the Why and the How, but downright pointless.
Quote all the Bible verses and scientific studies you like, flash all the credentials you desire, but do not ever try to offer an explanatory model for a set that observably fails to explain the entirety of the set.
This is why most people’s thinking is not only wrong, slow, and incorrect, but quite literally retarded, from my perspective. Most people prefer to operate on an ontological model, which is to say they rely primarily upon their imaginations rather than upon their observations. And whenever the two come into conflict, as they eventually will, they reject or ignore their observations while generally refusing to ever even consider taking anyone else’s observations into account.
Source? That’s shorthand for the Gamma’s declaration that he will not accept any information that contradicts his own imagination.
It is very, very easy to disprove this idea that Gammas, Omegas, and Lambdas are nothing more than normal men damaged by external forces. All it takes is a single Gamma who was not spoiled, a single Omega who was not abused, and a single Lambda who was not molested to disprove it. And most of us can provide examples of all three.
In fact, I’d go so far as to guess that the reader does not have more than one male child, and probably does not have any children, because only childless adults are so foolish as to believe that there are no innate aspects to an individual’s personality and behavioral patterns. Every parent who has raised more than one child in the same home, using the same methods and principles, is very well aware of how limited the effects of nurture are on the individual’s core being.
So please, stop helping. Stop explaining. Think whatever you want to think about the SSH and anything else, but for the love of all that is Good and Beautiful and True, leave me out of it!
To the contrary, having raised 3 children, I acutely feel the impact of an easily triggered amygdala. Whilst I believe that, yes - trauma is a choice, I've lived through parenting mistakes that have taken years to unwind, such that I dread to think what the effects of serious abuse and / or neglect would have. I also work with several adults who have clearly been impacted by abusive parents, resulting in the kinds of behaviours that are mocked as gamma on here.
The basic problem that most people are not getting is that Vox's SSH is not a self-improvement program. The gaps between these categories are too far apart. You are not, therefore, in a "few sit-ups away from total studdom" situation.
The problem that you are facing is not that you are just a gamma. The problem is that you are probably the lowest-status gamma among the group of gammas that exist in every social setting imaginable. If you need a self-improvement program, then you need to raise your status to at least the average level of the gammas around you. This is, invariably, a "small-S" status pursuit, adjusting yourself in how you look, talk, act, dress, your living, your money level, your home, car, girlfriend/wife, children, etc., until you've matched the people around you. Failing that, you should remove yourself from that social setting to avoid the pain of being unceremoniously removed at some later date.