<p>Evidence has accumulated over time against the correctness of certain existing concepts in understanding earthquake source and ground motions. They pertain to: the parameters that can be realistically resolved from seismic spectra, the reality of earthquake scaling, the true sources of short-period radiation, the reasons for the unexplained suppression of high frequencies in recorded motions, the applicability of point-source models, or the definition of the seismic near field. The alternative views on these subjects can be addressed in a non-contradictory manner from a single unifying platform. Such a paradigm views the earthquake rupture as one fundamentally controlled by two independent parameters, the static slip and the slip velocity, each respectively defining the low- and high-frequency ends of the radiation spectrum. It also considers the earthquake source as fundamentally having a finite size that cannot be neglected even for the smallest events of practical interest.</p>