Re: virus: Angry young Men

Keith Elis (hagbard@ix.netcom.com)
Wed, 22 Apr 1998 16:28:19 -0400

Sodom wrote:
>
> Over the last few days i have been seeing a lot of what I call, and
> there is probably another name for it, "Angry Young Man Syndrome". It
> seems especially prevelant in the hacker society now, but I would guess
> that this trend is somewhat trackable. I wonder if in the 80s the AYM
> (angry young man) was the Heavy metal guy with chains and an "Im tougher
> than you" attitude, and in the 70s I was a kid, so I dont really
> remember aggression as a factor then so maybe some others can help.
> Perhaps in the 50s it was the dragster making, fight picking guy?
>
> at any rate, is the there a meme that leads to such behaviour? any
> thoughts?
>

Young males, in competition for mates with other males of the tribe,
rebel first against the tribal fathers, because their territorial rules
ensure that the fathers have first pick of the females. It is weakness
to placidly do what you are told, and rebellion is instead a show
strength and power. Strength and power have evolved to be signifiers of
healthy and robust genes in males, so females are genetically pressured
to find them attractive. Angry Young Man Syndrome is likely to be
holdover from this early hunter-gatherer proclivity -- the need to rebel
in order to appear strong in the face of established mating
hierarchies.

> Sodom

Keith

-- 
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                   I'VE GOT GOD INSIDE MY HEAD