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Who: Magaret Thatcher [1], Prime Minister of England in the 1960s
What: TINA — The acronym became a very effective political slogan that is still used today though said in different ways.
There Is No Alternative
The slogan can be phrased in different ways, but it is still used today in the fields of economics, business, politics, social movements, and the like.
- “We have no other choice.”
- “This is our only option.”
- “If this doesn’t work, then nothing will work.”
- “What other choice is there!”
“In a series of policy speeches during the 1980’s, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher famously and repeatedly proclaimed that with the Soviet Union in decline, “There Is No Alternative” to a global neoliberal capitalist order led by Britain and the US. This doctrine was quickly transformed by media pundits into the acronym TINA, with Thatcher herself often tagged as Tina in articles and books about her.” — reimagining
. . . . .
Key Biblical Thoughts:
- failure
- success
- hard work
- evangelism
- losing
- stick-to-it-ness
- witnessing
- running the race
- obstacles
- faithfulness
- temptation
- hope / hopeless
- holiness
. . . . .
Sermonic Example:
[Include the details you find useful]
The goal of this acronym, this slogan, is to persuade others that there is only one answer to a problem. You just have to go along with the idea because there are no other choices available. You have to convince the person that THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE. You either resign yourself to this uncomfortable reality, or you get run over by it.
Satan has used TINA effectively over the centuries. He knows that when you convince a person that there are no other options, that the victory is his. It is an extreme exaggeration of the options which are actually available.
The garments of the High Priest were designed to counter TINA. The neck of the high priest’s garment was to be made of whole cloth and reinforced around to prevent the ability to easily rend it — Exodus 28:31-32. The high priest was forbidden to rend his garment no matter how terrible the situation he or the people of God were facing. BECAUSE — there is always hope if you can call on the Lord God!
Satan’s aim is to cause you, your children, your family to think that there are no other options available; it is hopeless — TINA!
It’s a lie from Hell!
. . . . .
Other Information & Links:
1. Or you may want to go back to Herbert Spencer
https://sk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Spencer
— https://www.news.reimaginingpolitics.org/p/breaking-up-with-tina
— https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_is_no_alternative
— https://www.margaretthatcher.org/search?ps=500&w=%22There%20is%20no%20alternative%22&dt=4
— https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premiership_of_Margaret_Thistorical use of TINA in various fields.]
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Speechwriter Simon Lancaster was only 7 at the time…
He said he remembered a divided political time, where the unemployment figures were emblazoned on the side of County Hall in London.
Simon says: “the thing that really sticks in my mind is just the feeling of conflict in the air and now as a speech writer as I look back on it I can see that is was all of the metaphors and imagery that she was so deliberately creating”.
Julia Langdon remembers Thatcher’s sharp determination and her earliest nickname ‘Tina’ – standing for ‘there is no alternative’.
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— https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-21703018
She’s back. She’s not been heard of since the 1980s. She’s been brought out of retirement by David Cameron. She is TINA – “There Is No Alternative” – the phrase forever associated with Mrs Thatcher in the 1980s.
Today her successor has revived it in a speech which, whilst revealing no new policies, reveals a great deal of the government’s thinking and is clearly designed as a script for its supporters.
“If there was another way I would take it. But there is no alternative.”
RhetoricAndHomiletics.Org 