tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11838465.post2502738871374142777..comments2024-02-24T18:30:26.749-07:00Comments on prairiemary: IS CARAVAGGIO AN ALPHA MALE?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11838465.post-23194321225920457822010-03-12T09:55:08.311-07:002010-03-12T09:55:08.311-07:00I think the whole concept of alpha male is pack-ba...I think the whole concept of alpha male is pack-based, and doesn't account at all for those mavericks such as Caravaggio, or different kinds of mavericks such as Woody Allen. Basically I'm agreeing with you that the usual definition of alpha male is those who dominate the tried-and-true, the normative mainstream, the unexceptional. Donald Trump is an alpha male, but Frank Lloyd Wright was not. In order to be acclaimed as an alpha male, you not only have to abide by the socially normative value-set, rather than be an outsider, you have to adopt those normative values for yourself. Alpha males are not rule-breakers, they're rule-masters. Most of the great artists who were mavericks cannot be called alpha males precisely because they departed from the normative social rules—that was the whole point and manifestation of their genius, in many examples. (Obviously we're getting into the "history is made by great men" paradigm here, which is one I do question, but it serves to give the lie to the assumption that "great men" were alpha males when in fact they were innovators not dominators.)Art Durkeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07463180236975988432noreply@blogger.com