Re-thinking Tulsa's Conventional Wisdom

Tulsa is, it seems safe to say, a hotbed of conventional wisdom in politics, ideas, art and literature. Few Tulsans, it seems, are inclined to challenge the status quo or "color outside the lines" in any substantive way. We do, of course, have a number of naysayers and fringe characters who stir the local political pot, and who can be interesting and occasionally useful.

But Tulsa seems to lack a core community of informed readers and thinkers, those folks who actually read intelligent books, talk about ideas and issues, and arrive at informed decisions about local, state, and national concerns. Surely such people live in and around Tulsa, quietly going about their lives, increasingly irritated by the prevailing winds of conventional thought in northeastern Oklahoma.

We at Alternative Tulsa (or AT for short) offer this modest site as a place for critiquing the status quo—presenting ideas, facts, opinions, and commentaries from a critical perspective. The word "critical" is used advisedly here; we don't mean simply negative. We mean, instead, news and views that present alternatives to the easy and simple answers that most people adopt unthinkingly. Here at Alternative Tulsa, we want to push the boundaries, to present ideas—even unpopular ideas—that expand the public dialogue about Tulsa's political, ideological and cultural life.

Stay tuned for new posts from Alternative Tulsa.
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