In public discourses (by that I guess I just mean arguments online) one of the accusations that often gets bandied about is that someone is βnuancingβ an issue to death. βNuanceβ is an excuse to say nothing meaningful or serious, so the criticism goes.
Sometimes this criticism is valid, sometimes it isnβt. Thatβs not the point of this essay. In fact, Iβm not going to give you any specific examples from social media.
What Iβm much more interested in is what sins lie behind a corrupt use of nuance. When the critique is valid, when someone really is misusing nuance in an argument, what does that mean, is there a sin behind that, and if so, what sin or sins?
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