Design Scheme and Graphics - by Ka @ Triple-spiral Designs and Silverfox.
Used with permission

Introduction to the Campaign

~The Purpose of the Alternative Awareness campaign is to better understanding between those who walk alternative lifestyles and mainstream society, via education, friendship and respect. It is not an attempt to "convert" others to our way of thinking or to force others to become like us, yet merely an attempt to seek a mutual understanding.

~Too many people are still afraid to be open about their beliefs to their families, friends, and in public and many are rightfully so. There is still so much misinformation about various alternative lifestyles in public. For some beliefs there is no information available at all. This leaves the public to interpret it on thier own when confronted with it, usually only with misinformation and fear of the unknown on their side. It is of human nature to fear what it does not understand, and as such, no one can blame society for reacting in fear when confronted all of a sudden with an alternative belief they do not know anything about, or only have heard discussed in the past in bad light.

~Sadly it is not that the information is not out there, it is in some cases, yet oftentimes it is written/explained in ways that mainstream people have either trouble to understand it, or cannot relate at all to it. Other times it is presented not by those who are walking alternative paths, but instead mainstream media. Sometimes it is even presented by those who do not care if they spread misinformation about an alternative lifestyle, or whose main purpose is to spread misinformation about us.

~Misrepresentation occurs more often still, one only need to look at the incident of the Columbine High School Schooting and other such events to see how often blame is shifted towards those things mainstream society does not understand, or where information is misrepresented.

~I remember a case only recently, where someone claimed to be pagan and tried to use this to lure young girls to have explicit "initiation" rites with him. As soon as the pagan community became aware of this individual, them and those they knew acted fast to call to report this individuals actions. The media, not really aware of paganism, nor of the values of that community, slanted the story to their wishes, by one not mentioning that the pagan community were the ones who alerted the authorities, and by claiming that the guy who did this was pagan. Not that he alleged to be a pagan, not that he claimed to be a pagan, but that he was pagan. They made no notice that not all pagans believe such. In cases like that the public cannot help but see paganism in a bad light.

~We know that we can probably not make much of a difference with the mass media and how they portray things, but maybe we can attempt to make a difference with a few people. We may not be able to stop those who willingly spread misinformation about us to instantly stop doing so, we may not get them to ever stop their attacks on us, but we can speak to people one on one. We can go out locally and tell them the truth about alternative lifestyle beliefs and alternatives in general, give them the ability to find out more about it on their own from reliable sources. Then if someone presents misinformation about it to them, they know several places they can go to see what it is about.

The Basics: Some Questions Answered

What is it?

~The Alternative Awareness campaign is a joint effort by individuals to better relations between alternatives and mainstream society.

Who may Participate?

~There is no requirement to be a member of any organization or community in order to participate, anyone who is interested may be involved. It is even recommended that those who have interest in these areas after being made aware of it, get more information on their own and speak to others they know to make them aware of it as well. However, we request that you keep in mind your personal safty and the safty of alternatives in general while you participate. Approaching the mass media, giving out personal information about people, and other such actions may cause more harm then good.

When is it?

~This is an ongoing campaign. As to make any significant changes in this area we will require much time and effort, this will probably last several years. There may on occasion be different focuses/activities for this campaign that may only last a certain time, but the overall actions are permanant.

Is this Campaign affiliated with HOPE.?

~Yes it is. Our members are running this campaign and it is one of our projects, although it is a public project. That means anyone may participate in it.

Will there be anything special Available for this campaign?

~Yes we are planning to have a sigil/graphic that people can place on thier websites to show that they support this campaign. We will also provide a listing of informational sites about alternative lifestyles and perhaps people who can be contacted for further information/to answer questions people may have. We may also place information on our website to aid in spreading the awareness, as well as provide information which can be printed up and given as handouts to people that you speak to. If there is a local chapter of friendly groups or communities, or several members/participants in your local area, they may hold events to spread awareness. As this may take some time to compile, please be patiant for some of these special items to be available. Not all items will be made available via this website. Please contact us for more information.

Who or what is HOPE?

HOPE is an alternative friendly service and volenteer organization which strives to aid alternatives in several areas. These are to provide support systems and resources for them, aid in networking both with other alternative groups, as well as with the mainstream society, and activism in matters and issues which may have an impact on one or more alternative groups which are out there. If you would like to help in furthering those goals, write to us at: webmaster@alternativenet.zzn.com

To send people here simply tell either of these:

https://www.angelfire.com/weird/alternativenet/main.html
clik.to/alternativenet or
go.to/alternativenet

--View Disclaimer | Write E-mail --

-This site last updatedDecember, 2001-