Did The Internet Just Rediscover Nuance?

With each and every new catastrophe that strikes — and let’s be honest, lately that’s pretty much every day — I’m astounded by how quickly the internet demands that we pick a side. From the Olympic hockey controversy to the Super Bowl halftime show, everyone seems to scramble within seconds of an event occurring to declare that they’re “right”. Because let’s face it, at the root of the insistence for everyone’s opinion on every subject is the fundamental desire to be right. Or perhaps simply righteous.

Nowhere is this phenomenon more apparent than in politics…and I’ve been equal parts astounded and horrified to watch social media distill complex and devastatingly human situations down into a simple soundbite. Today’s world loves nothing more than a headline. Because let’s face it, very few people are reading an entire article anymore anyway. We read one line, see one meme, watch ten seconds of a horrifying video clip, and we decide how we feel instantly. If we’re unsure, maybe we look around at our peers — the ones we know are also on the right side of history — just to make sure our gut instinct is “correct”. But once the herd has begun coalescing around a single stance, it’s pretty rare to see even a minor shift in either direction. New information be damned. 

Social media would have us believe that it really is that simple. Good versus evil. Right versus wrong. Left versus right. But let’s not forget that it’s the algorithms that fuel social media that reward this headline-centric behavior in the first place. 

So what happens when a situation is simply too complex to break down into a meme or a TikTok video or even a 20-slide IG post that you know everyone will abandon after five or six if you’re lucky? Do we simply put our trust in the few of us who are still doing the work to find the facts — the people who still read long-form content, still watch entire videos at (gasp) 1x speed to make sure we catch the details, or maybe even re-watch or re-read when we feel some lingering doubt? Just how much confidence do you have in the influencers, political or otherwise, who you demand so much content from. Who you insist have a clear stance within twenty-four hours of today’s unprecedented event. 

For the first time in a long time, I’m beginning to see the cracks forming. The situation in Iran seems incredibly difficult for people to wrap their minds around. And even more challenging for the faces of the internet to decide where they land on. Last month when the Iranian government was gunning down its citizens in the street for protesting, it was a little more clear cut: indiscriminately murdering your own people = bad. Pundits on the left in particular took up the cause of the Iranian people proudly — this was yet another in an endless line of examples of oppression (clearly bad) and an authoritarian dictator (also bad). Very few people that I saw seemed to feel the need to dig any deeper than that (if you’re looking for actually comprehensive coverage of the situation in Iran from someone well-informed, personally invested, and infinitely more knowledgeable than I am, check out Yashar Ali). They simply declared that “the Iranian people” needed to become free. And that must mean the end of the Supreme Leader. What does “end” mean in this case…? I never really saw anyone delve further into that detail either. 

Then Trump got the US involved directly. Suddenly we were coordinating with Israel to bomb Iran. And he wasn’t really telling us why or for what purpose…this is when the confusion really began to grow. I saw panic on both sides. There was simply too much to unpack in this conflict to be able to form a clear take. Something concise enough for social media. For the first time in a while, I saw real hesitation in what people wanted to post. 

Let’s break down why…after a brief note from our sponsors don’t be mad but I really don’t want to make you guys have to pay for these articles…

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Ok we’re back and we’re digging into the muck. 

Why might someone on the left feel conflicted? Well, originally this seemed like yet another conflict tailor made for the progressive agenda — freeing the oppressor from the oppressed (like the war in Gaza), giving the government back to the people (i.e. upholding the tenets of Democracy), and ending the rule of a brutal authoritarian who’s done unquestionable evil unto his own people (i.e. anti-Trump). 

But Trump…he’s the one that took the action that theoretically aims to achieve points one and two…how can the left support this action when it’s our orange-hued president at the helm? 

In today’s bi-polar world, being against Trump’s agenda automatically means you’re supposed to disagree with every single thing that he does in order to maintain your status as a card-carrying liberal. So how could you possibly support his getting us involved in this situation, even if it could — maybe, possibly — result in some outcomes that you might deem worthwhile? 

Then what about the right? The current conservative movement’s headlines are so deeply held that they’re embroidered onto hats: Make American Great Again. America First. So how could they support Trump getting us involved in another foreign conflict when there’s still so much that needs his attention back at home? 

Watching each side do backflips to try to manufacture a way to remain outraged “in the right way” has been fascinating to watch. Those on the left jumped quickly on the (horrifying) bombing of a school that left more than 100 people dead, mostly schoolchildren. Here was a cause that was cut and dried — how could they have flubbed this operation so poorly as to execute a strike on a freaking elementary school? But then conflicting reports came out that the bomb may have been a misfired Iranian missile. And anyone who tells you they have definitive proof of what happened (in Iran, an active warzone, where I’m pretty sure no one in my audience currently works as a wartime journalist…) is someone you should pretty obviously not believe. Meanwhile, people on the right celebrated the clear demonstration of “US power” — a sideways mechanism of still maintaining their America First ethos.

But if I’m being honest it’s all ringing a little hollow to me at the moment. Every person claiming a definitive take seems to know deep down that they simply don’t know enough to feel confident that they’re on the right side quite yet. But social media demands near constant opinions. And condemns you if your perspective changes. 

I’m hoping this might be the beginning of a swinging of the pendulum back to reason. Back to nuance. Back to a world where our perceptions can shift as we gather new information. Because despite what internet personalities might be saying (I’ll be breaking down that viral Mr. Beast clip in another article), it actually takes much longer than thirty seconds to genuinely understand a complex topic such that you can form an opinion on it. 

Were you hoping that this article was going to give you a clear stance on the ongoing situation in Iran? Too bad. Not at all sorry to disappoint you. There is no “right” answer here — or almost anywhere, if you’ll allow me to philosophize for a mere moment. 

Iran is a country full of more than 92 million individuals, many of whom vehemently opposed the regime and a subset of whom actively supported it. Former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was an evil man who perpetrated unspeakable atrocities upon the people under his rule. But his death does not immediately equate to the freedom you so glorify for the brave Iranians who dared stand up to him. The United States has just dropped a bomb (both literally and figuratively) on a country with no clear plan and no clear justification for its actions. 

So for me personally? I feel hopeful that the people of Iran can claw back control of their country from the deeply entrenched network of leaders who aligned with Khamenei and are likely now consolidating power amongst themselves while the country still shakes under US-led airstrikes. And at the same time I feel deeply uneasy that our President got us involved in (yet another) foreign conflict without Congressional approval (almost certainly a violation of the War Powers Resolution) and so obviously with no real plan or objective for what comes next. 

But I really do hope that this small moment of nuance might help lead the greater “attention economy” back to a place where that attention is actually used with effort and insight rather than mere efficiency. And most of all, I hope that we get back to a society where it’s okay to say that that’s all I feel confident about at this moment — as to the rest, I defer to the experts and will listen with open ears and an open mind.