99% of the time your boss is not doing something illegal. Usually people who have trouble obeying authority use this as a pathetic excuse to be disobedient. Same with the alleged cruelty of parents or the unfairness of spouses. 99% of the time the person is simply annoyed, or disagrees, and proceeds to exaggerate the scenario to the level of moral lawfare.
Hopefully he realizes, sooner rather than later, that he's not going to be content to work for anybody other than himself and has the courage and capacity to make the necessary adjustments. But, that is a three-legged unicorn indeed here in the Age of Unrecoverable Trauma...
And you have a dead giveaway in that first response. The term "Bootlicker" is almost exclusively used by Leftoids and stems from the misguided "anarcho-commie" sphere. To call someone that unironically means, at the very least, that you've already adopted leftist framing.
Which, you could now probably admit, is like an establishment Republican saying "DeMoCrAtS aRe tHuH rEaL rAyCiStS!" in that arguing that tack never convinced anyone.
As unbelievable as it sounds, I can confirm this type of person exists. I was just challenged to a fight by a gamma in my workplace yesterday. Even his throw-down words were dripping with snark. It was like he was telling me he was superior and that should be obvious to me in his vocal tone. He said "Do you want to fight?" and waddled at me quickly. He normally doesn't get up from his chair, so I took notice. My training flashed before my mind until I connected that he was hallucinating from his tone. Gammas put themselves into these wild scenarios. He even had his fists up. He put them down once he realized I had ignored him completely and continued the conversation with another co-worker that the gamma had interrupted.
Note also how the mewling gamma never ackshully betters their lot. They constantly posture authoritatively, but are incapable of navigating a landscape to their real advantage. The terrible job out of short-term necessity never flows into something more rewarding. Vague future plans, but always in the present because there’s nothing of substance there.
It’s easy to underestimate them because they’re ridiculous. But the delusion bubble isn’t a slight exaggeration. It’s a totally fake persona. Often with a real garbage person underneath.
I worked at this job once, big state government agency. They pretty much had this rule, a cultural thing, that if you said 'I don't know the answer to that, let me find out and get back to you after the meeting' you were fine. As long as you did do as you said. Admitting you were wrong and made a mistake, was also acceptable in meetings. People wouldn't castigate you (of course if you were always wrong, you might get a second private meeting where they'd try to help you fix that).
So overall, this was a pretty good place to work. Just be honest and everything would be fine.
I would tell people this, going into meetings.
And yet, you would always, once or twice a year, get a new guy/gal who just could not cope with this. Who just could not do that, even after you instructed them to. They'd argue with the facts, they couldn't admit they didn't know, or didn't understand, or didn't have the answers.
They just could not admit it - in an environment where no one would be giving you grief as long as you said you'd find out and get back to everyone. And of course the biggest sin, was, as you said, not being able to shut up.
I had one working for me once. He was just insane. He would report you if you corrected him, in private, not even in the meeting. He could not, would not, ever admit he was wrong, regardless of the facts and regardless that I was his boss. He argued everything. I wish I could have fired him, but MY boss wouldn't let me. He would just NOT shut up. He could NOT fit into what was one of the most low pressure and easiest environment I'd ever worked.
You just want to smack them upside the head and ask them 'what is wrong with you?'
This is probably something expressed elsewhere, but one of the hallmarks of gammatude is the complete inability to laugh at oneself, which is made worse by the fact that their lack of self-awareness makes them so ridiculous. If they could laugh at themselves, they wouldn't be so insufferable.
He crossed more than a few lines, to say the least... Just finished learning about that whole encounter recently. The Bible is the greatest story ever told
Mix the purple prose with puerile snark, write it with sneering condescension and I think you have the gamma style. Once challenged, you add one more ingredient, which is shrieking, barely contained rage.
They desperately want to come across as world-weary and having "seen it all," hence the lame attempts to speak like a Raymond Chandler character. And the fedoras.
Pretty sure if you say, "OK, Gamma" with an eye-roll in the right context, odds are good the whippersnapper will know exactly what you mean. Hopefully he'll be suitably embarrassed, but if he's really gamma just wait for the monologuing to begin. Followed by a threat to tell his mom on you. That's my plan, anyway...
The "kid" I have in mind is 18, but he mostly hangs out with the youngsters and his mom is usually there. I don't want to pull the gamma card really, but when he starts picking on 13-year-old girls where the men don't see what's up, mama bear is sharpening her claws...
This is more for, say a 14 year-old-boy who's posturing and writing checks with his mouth that his SSH can't and won't cover. He's trying to figure out why the older boys/Coach/teacher/et al. "don't like him". The one who begins every sentence with "I was just..."
No qualms about the men in his life literally or metaphorically rendering the appropriate beat-down, just don't want to be the woman that knifes him in front of the other boys/men.
It's such a small class, quite often I am the only mom. If I have to call the Master or Grandmaster over, I will honestly probably do that before pulling the gamma card.
Re. middle-school-aged boys, that might well be a good tactic for curbing the behavior if they know what "gamma" means. Totally agree about not wanting to be the woman who knifes the kid in front of the other boys & men, that's one of those things that can leave deep wounds if not handled carefully. Sadly, sometimes it's necessary.
Something I notice about Gammas is that they are often clueless about whose house they are in.
The gammas I have experienced seem to forget where they are, and the rules of decorum. It might be within protocol to reply in this aggressive manner to others if it's your own blog, or some public message board. This is more like private land - watching a guy like this waltz into Vox's office and put his feet up on the desk is pure insolence, and he can't even see that.
I believe this is another element of the gamma that people find so obnoxious. This is probably even more true of women who usually have a greater sense of social skills and social graces. The gamma can't even tell he's standing in someone else's house insulting the host and the host's other invitees.
Living in a world of forced justifications, the gamma feels entitled to be the prosecuting attorney for any and all violations of his self-appointed moral sense. Successfully corner this creature, which the other commenters did, and you get fear-anger and/or the Flounce (tm).
The Omega doesn't get invited to parties.
The Gamma invites himself and then is asked to leave.
Gammas like to set themselves up as prosecuting attorney AND judge AND jury in any argument. It's a trick or perception that, if they can pull it off, will demoralize the opponent. So the "assuming power" move is right in line with that.
However, once you realize they are not those things, they lose a lot of power.
My sigma dad used to say to siblings & cousins "kids should be seen and NOT heard" It was kinda funny, but I think we got the drift. Cant imagine how ugly it would of got with a gamma in the group -- haha well I can imagine a bit when I read some of these comments
Some dudes just aren't going to get along anywhere.
99% of the time your boss is not doing something illegal. Usually people who have trouble obeying authority use this as a pathetic excuse to be disobedient. Same with the alleged cruelty of parents or the unfairness of spouses. 99% of the time the person is simply annoyed, or disagrees, and proceeds to exaggerate the scenario to the level of moral lawfare.
Romans 13:1
Hopefully he realizes, sooner rather than later, that he's not going to be content to work for anybody other than himself and has the courage and capacity to make the necessary adjustments. But, that is a three-legged unicorn indeed here in the Age of Unrecoverable Trauma...
And you have a dead giveaway in that first response. The term "Bootlicker" is almost exclusively used by Leftoids and stems from the misguided "anarcho-commie" sphere. To call someone that unironically means, at the very least, that you've already adopted leftist framing.
I used to use it when I was a lolbertarian because commies where "the real boot lickers"
Which, you could now probably admit, is like an establishment Republican saying "DeMoCrAtS aRe tHuH rEaL rAyCiStS!" in that arguing that tack never convinced anyone.
Never argue who the "real x" is. If you disagree with framing, break it completely.
Agreeing with the opponents framing but quibbling over details is almost as bad as agreeing to the entire premise
Personally, I think The Police are one of the shittier bands out there, but how does listening to them make you an authoritarian?
The Sigma interacting with the gamma
https://youtu.be/AXsAdx51gCk?si=PRAZxAfKiTdiXv5F
There’s not enough context here to determine what each person’s SSH rank is.
As unbelievable as it sounds, I can confirm this type of person exists. I was just challenged to a fight by a gamma in my workplace yesterday. Even his throw-down words were dripping with snark. It was like he was telling me he was superior and that should be obvious to me in his vocal tone. He said "Do you want to fight?" and waddled at me quickly. He normally doesn't get up from his chair, so I took notice. My training flashed before my mind until I connected that he was hallucinating from his tone. Gammas put themselves into these wild scenarios. He even had his fists up. He put them down once he realized I had ignored him completely and continued the conversation with another co-worker that the gamma had interrupted.
That stabbing in the kitchen thing is so weird. You have to think it's a bot writing that - not a person. Unreal.
It's not a stabbing, he was claiming he held a knife up to someones throat, like a pirate would, and threatened them back into compliance.
Note also how the mewling gamma never ackshully betters their lot. They constantly posture authoritatively, but are incapable of navigating a landscape to their real advantage. The terrible job out of short-term necessity never flows into something more rewarding. Vague future plans, but always in the present because there’s nothing of substance there.
It’s easy to underestimate them because they’re ridiculous. But the delusion bubble isn’t a slight exaggeration. It’s a totally fake persona. Often with a real garbage person underneath.
I worked at this job once, big state government agency. They pretty much had this rule, a cultural thing, that if you said 'I don't know the answer to that, let me find out and get back to you after the meeting' you were fine. As long as you did do as you said. Admitting you were wrong and made a mistake, was also acceptable in meetings. People wouldn't castigate you (of course if you were always wrong, you might get a second private meeting where they'd try to help you fix that).
So overall, this was a pretty good place to work. Just be honest and everything would be fine.
I would tell people this, going into meetings.
And yet, you would always, once or twice a year, get a new guy/gal who just could not cope with this. Who just could not do that, even after you instructed them to. They'd argue with the facts, they couldn't admit they didn't know, or didn't understand, or didn't have the answers.
They just could not admit it - in an environment where no one would be giving you grief as long as you said you'd find out and get back to everyone. And of course the biggest sin, was, as you said, not being able to shut up.
I had one working for me once. He was just insane. He would report you if you corrected him, in private, not even in the meeting. He could not, would not, ever admit he was wrong, regardless of the facts and regardless that I was his boss. He argued everything. I wish I could have fired him, but MY boss wouldn't let me. He would just NOT shut up. He could NOT fit into what was one of the most low pressure and easiest environment I'd ever worked.
You just want to smack them upside the head and ask them 'what is wrong with you?'
This is probably something expressed elsewhere, but one of the hallmarks of gammatude is the complete inability to laugh at oneself, which is made worse by the fact that their lack of self-awareness makes them so ridiculous. If they could laugh at themselves, they wouldn't be so insufferable.
Remember kids. Absalom badmouthed David and look how that turned out.
He crossed more than a few lines, to say the least... Just finished learning about that whole encounter recently. The Bible is the greatest story ever told
Reading gamma comments, and specifically the Wall of Text, there is something very Bulwer-Lytton about the style:
https://www.bulwer-lytton.com/
"It was a dark and stormy night..."
Mix the purple prose with puerile snark, write it with sneering condescension and I think you have the gamma style. Once challenged, you add one more ingredient, which is shrieking, barely contained rage.
Thanks, I enjoyed that 90 minute distraction. Sooo many terrible puns (love 'em!)
They desperately want to come across as world-weary and having "seen it all," hence the lame attempts to speak like a Raymond Chandler character. And the fedoras.
That’s what makes the emotional incontinence so tragically hilarious.
emotional incontinence is a great way to describe it. Spot on
When this goes wide enough that we old ladies can say to middle school boys "Because it's gamma that's why not" and be understood...
Pretty sure if you say, "OK, Gamma" with an eye-roll in the right context, odds are good the whippersnapper will know exactly what you mean. Hopefully he'll be suitably embarrassed, but if he's really gamma just wait for the monologuing to begin. Followed by a threat to tell his mom on you. That's my plan, anyway...
Well, with the kids I like to give them a chance to save face. I'm not their dad. But I guarantee I'll be thinking it :-)
(Off topic, but I really enjoyed The Churchians, by the way - your art is gorgeous!)
The "kid" I have in mind is 18, but he mostly hangs out with the youngsters and his mom is usually there. I don't want to pull the gamma card really, but when he starts picking on 13-year-old girls where the men don't see what's up, mama bear is sharpening her claws...
Pull the card. Warn the moms.
This is more for, say a 14 year-old-boy who's posturing and writing checks with his mouth that his SSH can't and won't cover. He's trying to figure out why the older boys/Coach/teacher/et al. "don't like him". The one who begins every sentence with "I was just..."
No qualms about the men in his life literally or metaphorically rendering the appropriate beat-down, just don't want to be the woman that knifes him in front of the other boys/men.
It's such a small class, quite often I am the only mom. If I have to call the Master or Grandmaster over, I will honestly probably do that before pulling the gamma card.
Re. middle-school-aged boys, that might well be a good tactic for curbing the behavior if they know what "gamma" means. Totally agree about not wanting to be the woman who knifes the kid in front of the other boys & men, that's one of those things that can leave deep wounds if not handled carefully. Sadly, sometimes it's necessary.
Nice
Something I notice about Gammas is that they are often clueless about whose house they are in.
The gammas I have experienced seem to forget where they are, and the rules of decorum. It might be within protocol to reply in this aggressive manner to others if it's your own blog, or some public message board. This is more like private land - watching a guy like this waltz into Vox's office and put his feet up on the desk is pure insolence, and he can't even see that.
I believe this is another element of the gamma that people find so obnoxious. This is probably even more true of women who usually have a greater sense of social skills and social graces. The gamma can't even tell he's standing in someone else's house insulting the host and the host's other invitees.
Living in a world of forced justifications, the gamma feels entitled to be the prosecuting attorney for any and all violations of his self-appointed moral sense. Successfully corner this creature, which the other commenters did, and you get fear-anger and/or the Flounce (tm).
The Omega doesn't get invited to parties.
The Gamma invites himself and then is asked to leave.
Gammas like to set themselves up as prosecuting attorney AND judge AND jury in any argument. It's a trick or perception that, if they can pull it off, will demoralize the opponent. So the "assuming power" move is right in line with that.
However, once you realize they are not those things, they lose a lot of power.
And police officer, investigator, and in later stages often self-styled defender of the others, and protector from the immoral, unethical, or illegal.
Absolutely - they rely on pure bravado and somewhat the element of surprise.
Too often, good people fall into the gamma's trap because good people assume good intentions.
The gamma mistakes his own wickedness and treachery for cleverness or intelligence.
But they are like pickpockets, or sucker-punch assailants. Cowards.
My sigma dad used to say to siblings & cousins "kids should be seen and NOT heard" It was kinda funny, but I think we got the drift. Cant imagine how ugly it would of got with a gamma in the group -- haha well I can imagine a bit when I read some of these comments