 Are you mainstream or are you alternative? These categories have been with me sort of automatically as a way of thinking since growing up in the 90s when it was alternative rock against mainstream pop and it became this statement of identity To be alternative Another word was Indie Are you mainstream or Indie? So it became the statement of you know, I am alternative. I am not like the mainstream. I Am you know, I think for myself, you know, I'm I'm part of this different thing side stream you might call it adjacent to the mainstream And I always Felt a little bit uncomfortable with this Division because on the one hand I love being an eccentric original So I clearly don't feel allegiance to the mainstream and I always enjoy hearing from people that are Just completely different and see things in different ways Rather than just saying, oh, you know, oh, that's weird You know, you just just be normal that that to me is very boring to just say, you know, just being normal So I feel that attraction to the alternative view But then, you know meeting a lot of these alternative Indie people They have their own kind of club of particular beliefs that Make them, you know that that they see as correct and So it becomes almost like It's own mainstream. It's like, well, you know, you have to know these are the good bands and these bands are sellouts You know, so you can't like those you have to like these bands and on these ones, you know They're just that's this mainstream so it becomes almost like this kind of like shadow mainstream where you have this particular set of things that are now considered to be normal and correct and Things that are outside that are just as weird and bad as The mainstream people might see the alternative people So yeah, I'm sort of left out It just being an eccentric original and that's okay I know there's others of you out there eccentric originals who just try to think in their own way and Don't necessarily fit into either mainstream or alternative It has some things about mainstream. I think are actually good. I mean, there's a reason like a lot of Mainstream pop music. Oh, it sounds good because you know, it's just because a lot of people like it There's a chance that sometimes a lot of people are right and doing normal things a lot of things that are normal are Normal for a good reason because they work and they're basically good. So It's okay to be mainstream sometimes and it's okay to be alternative Sometimes certainly sometimes they get it right too So this whole division. Yeah, I wonder how much it's still You know a thing now, but I think this is something that comes back every generation possibly with some different terminology, but you certainly see it now to a big degree with The whole issue of news and current events. You know, I've been using the example of music, but with current events we see this sort of mainstream consensus and then you have alternative so I Have this same issue of being stuck in between because you know mainstream news telling us certain stories in a certain way with a certain narrative and a lot of it I find is clearly mistaken or not the right way to look at things and So I object to the mainstream. So then I'm a drawn to the alternative, but then what do you get into the in the alternative? so many different Views some of which are I think like completely wrong So, you know, you have some people will just say like oh, you don't believe this particular theory. Oh That must be because you're just mainstream, you know, you don't you know You just listen you just follow the propaganda you've been brainwashed and that's why you don't believe this correct alternative theory So It's like you see all these alternative viewpoints where they're kind of reconstructing their own kind of mainstream Propaganda you could say of you know, finding the correct way to look at things just their alternative version of it and of course you see that with the C word and the V word with the current Situation COVID and vaccines. So you see the mainstream will say that the vaccines are a hundred percent safe. It's absolutely sure and That clearly You know anybody that Disagrees with that view is denying science Okay, then I mean that's clearly a very simplified line. It could be described as propaganda since it's clearly trying to encourage people to get vaccinated by Telling them a simplified picture of it's all settled. It's all fine. So I immediately challenge that I immediately stand against that and So like, you know, I'm all you know, I'm alternative. I'm not mainstream there but then I see some the anti-vaxxers and I think anti-vaxx is a dead end and there's no There's no point. I can see I have some sympathy for the the choice to not take the vaccine and I appreciate that, you know, it's it's a break from the standard line of everything's perfect but at the same time I think it's not actually helpful and I it's probably more useful for most people to get the vaccine. So I Am stuck in no man's land Once again when it comes to these views So I'd be curious to hear what you think about this Where do you stand on? Alternative versus mainstream