Some months ago, I took great pride in being blocked on Facebook by a member of the Tea Party. It was amusing to me as I had not only worked with this person before, but she also prides herself on being the voice of “grassroots” conservatism in Georgia (whatever that means), which tends to vocalize a lot of dissent. For so many, they can dish it out yet cannot take it. From my experience in politics in the peach state, people can call themselves anything nowadays and with a mic loud enough, others will believe them. Uninformed assertions are more welcome than humble questions. Yet for successful navigation of policy, business, and most human interactions a little nuance goes a long way.
“Nuance” is a word of French origin (but don’t hold that against it), coming from the infinitive of “nuer”, or “to shade”, referring to the slight shades of gray that are the embodiment of nuance- both literal and figuratively policy-wise. So as we embark on the campaign cycle across Georgia, the black and white contrast between candidates will be hotly purported as a means of each candidate to differentiate him/herself from the other. The otherwise gray-areas of difference between stances taken on transportation, RFRA, same-sex marriage, and the Opportunity School District will help sculpt the images of candidates in vibrant litmus-test tinged hues as office seekers assert they are the “true” conservative/progressive/believer/liberty lover/tax payer champion/ethics guru/patriot.
Take your pick.
This is somewhat amusing as we exist in an area of the country where the term “bless your heart” can mean so many different things. There’s very few things more Southern than nuance.
Yankees don’t understand that the Southern way of talking is a language of nuance. What we can do in the South is we can take a word and change it just a little bit and make it mean something altogether different.~ Lewis Grizzard