Nuance is Dead
03.14.2010 | Chris Bailey | Focused on Creative
Yesterday, during danah boyd’s keynote presentation for SXSWi, she made a comment to which I had to stop myself from jumping up amidst a packed room and shouting, “Amen! Testify, sister!” Her comment consisted of three words printed on a slide deck:
Nuance amidst extremes
It was in reference to quotes and soundbites from folks who have argued that “Privacy is Dead.” In the continuum of extremes, nothing is more polarizing than declaring something dead or evil.
I fear we’re becoming much too accustomed to being at those edges, our interests numbed by a media obsessed with getting people to yell at one another instead of actually listening and having cogent arguments. We’re living in a culture where nuance is getting set aside like a quaint antique writing desk, a reminder of another time.
Why? Because being salacious and provocative gets attention, gets click-thrus, gets retweeted and Dugg and shared virally. It means we really don’t have to take the time to think about instances where our reasoning falls apart. It means we get to stick with our safe, comfortable ways of thinking and doing.
Does this scare the hell out of anyone else?
But I don’t think we’re entirely lost, yet. It’s one reason why I continue to love blogs. Writers can propose a viewpoint and then allow for others to join the dialogue in a very public space. Online communities can function in a similar way. Thriving communities know how to help its members to share feelings and rationales, absorb the points made by others, and consider new perspectives. The point is to help people generate new viewpoints rather than get mired in their own stale ways of looking at the world.
Rather than accepting a lot of other “me too” comments, let’s encourage more diverse points of view. As bloggers, we need to challenge the thinking of our readers, reply to their comments, encourage them to keep thinking more deeply about issues.
I’m continuously hopeful of our ability to grasp “nuance amidst extremes.” But we have to keep listening to each other, keep talking, and most important of all, keep respecting the viewpoints of others we come into contact with.
PS. Yes, the irony of this post’s title isn’t lost on me 
4 Responses to “Nuance is Dead”
Leave a Reply
Nuance is akin to adding fresh herbs to soup stock. It makes it pop in savory ways. Without nuance, life takes on a blah quality, like all the sound bites (blah, blah, blah).
My recent post Moving at the Pace of Guidance
Deb, that's a brilliant analogy connecting nuance to adding flavor and spice to life. It opens up flavors and depth that make conversation and ideas so much better. Thanks for adding your own nuance to the soup
Chris – So nice to have "met" you on {grow}. Love what I'm reading here. Consider yourself RSS'd.
Really enjoyed the ideas in this post, as well as the ones from your January post on a similiar topic about "blogger identity." As a writer who also blogs (vs a blogger who can write … I think there is a difference), I struggle with this on a regular basis. At times the stars align and both sides of my online personality come together in a post that satisfies all my inner critics, but often I find that my "big thought/writer/artist" self winds up going head-to-head against my "quippy/quotable/bullet-list" self.
It's a bit of a left-brain/right-brain thing. It's also, I think, something of a formula vs free-range thing. So much of the "how to" content out there (blogging, copywriting, social media marketing, and the rest) is based on working within a template, creating hooks, and employing triggers – all in an effort to publish quickly digestible content on a frenzied schedule. Not all wisdom can fit in 140 characters or be summed up in a Top Ten Tips or Stuff You Need to Know post. <sigh>
Your post gives me hope that there are people out there who want to create a different kind of content as well as people who want to not just consume it, but savor it.
Really looking forward to reading more. Thanks.
Hi Jamie, I'm glad to have found you, as well. I think there is a place for both types of blogposts. I know I often will seek out the How-tos and the Lists when I need some instant learning on a topic. But there are also times when I need those Big Ideas to gain deeper knowledge (which is usually why I can be found at Mark's site).
I would like to flick that damn critic off my shoulder and just write. I have several half-written posts in my Evernote files that languish because they contain ideas that deserve deeper inspection. So you're definitely not alone. Hopefully, we can find that balance between depth of wisdom and digestible content.
Thanks so much for coming around and look forward to our future interactions.