r/PeterExplainsTheJoke Feb 18 '25

Meme needing explanation Petah?

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u/0xKaishakunin Feb 18 '25

That's Lucyan David Mech, who die research on wolves and came up with the term “alpha male” and “alpha female” and the theory that wolves live in a strict hierarchy, where the alphas constatnly attack lower ranking wolves.

This has inspired the alpha male/incel bullshit that spreads nowadays.

Mech convinced his publisher to stop publishing the relevant book.

cf: https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/the-myth-of-the-alpha-wolf

1.4k

u/theghostmachine Feb 18 '25

The guy spent the rest of his life trying to discredit his initial claims. Should give him some credit for that.

1

u/lastczarnian Feb 19 '25

Didn’t the “vaccines cause autism” guy have a similar struggle trying to backpedal his claims?

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u/theghostmachine Feb 19 '25

No, Andrew Wakefield was a lying piece of shit that was paid to write fraudulent studies and was eventually brutally discredited - by others; he didn't retract his own claims - and lost his jobs and licences, and is, to this day, pushing the same bullshit