a collision of two alphas, The Mechanics of Virtue, aphorism 224
224
There really is no such thing as an insubordinate beta. What we really have here is a collision of two alphas, one of which is of a cruder form, stronger in the ability to cross the borders of decency to preserve status, but weaker in its capacity for patience, and with little pride in excellent performance. We will call this cruder version, the real alpha. He has his dominance mechanism working for him. If he were a sailor, he would be the one who sailed only down wind.
We call the more refined, the alpha-minus. He is forced by his circumstance into a frustrating demotion – into the apparent “beta status.” He must reach for a new standard by which to evaluate his world again and find himself of adequate value. Now, direct, mechanical, and vulgar means are “beneath him” to an even greater degree than before. For his pride depends upon the reversal of precisely that value standard set by crude dominance. He must resist his instincts, lest he lapse into an undignified bout of one-upmanship or inhuman cruelty. If he were a sailor, he would thus tack against the wind in the opposite direction of the real alpha. He rejects the brute force or the crude exposé, and secures the “spiritual” or the “honorable.” He trades mechanical power for the sublimation of what would otherwise have been his own victimization. He trades pride for humility, instance for repetition, power for truth, “the pen is mightier than the sword”....