Screw all the alternatives!
Yep. I'm talking about
alternative lifestyles
alternative energy
alternative schools
alternative books
alternative newspapers
alternative medicine
I'm talking about all those alternatives. We seriously need to get rid of them. And by them I mean the word "alternative" itself. Sure, we hip, progressive, types may like to pride ourselves on being alternative, but in the political and economic reality of the world, and especially of the US, the "alternatives" are always the losers.
So if we want to be politically successful, we need to reframe our ideas and promote them as great, not "alternative" solutions. How do we do that? Well, follow me into an Earth Day discussion of How to Screw the Alternatives and find out...
I work in the progressive non-profit world, where "promoting alternatives" is the buzzword you hear over and over in the green tea and lavender scented meeting rooms. My own brand of "alternative" is that up and coming trend of alternative transportation, namely human powered vehicles (you know, like bicycles). But a while back, it occurred to me that bicycles were not just "alternative", they were very traditional too. Hip, artsy post-postmodern types used bikes, but then so did my grandfather during the early 1900's, and by my very practical dad during the oil crisis in the 70's. The bicycle is not just some second class form of transportation, is is an exceedingly efficient, cheap, healthy, versatile, and sustainable form of vehicle. So why were we using the term alternative?
And then I read Lakoff. And I realized that my suspicions were correct. The use of the term alternative was completely counterproductive to our cause. In fact, it was probably exactly what the opposition wanted. I realized that if we wanted to promote bicycling and other highly efficient, sustainable, healthy, versatile, and cheap forms of transportation, we should promote them as being excellent choices. We didn't even need to talk about other forms of transportation at all. Talking about bicycling as an alternative (presumably to cars) was reactionary, and not especially productive. I decided to start reframing our advocacy message by tossing out that confusing and reactionary term "alternative" and using the more accurate terms highly efficient, sustainable, healthy, versatile, cheap, and excellent.
Similarly, as political, social, and environmental advocates, we would do well to axe those other terms: alternative lifestyles, alternative energy, alternative schools, alternative books, alternative newspapers, alternative medicine.
Instead tell it like it really is. Call them:
Healthy lifestyles
Renewable energy
Creative schools
Inspiring books
Informative newspapers
Traditional natural medicine
Or whatever best describes what you are promoting. And remember, we don't want no stinking alternatives, we want the good stuff! If you don't want to completely remove the word alternative from your vocabulary, start using it for the solutions you don't want. (I consider cars to be a poor alternative to bicycling, public transit, walking, electric scooters, etc.)
What other misnamed "alternatives" should we dump in celebration of Earth Day?