EMERGENCY URGENCY RESPONSE SUB-COMMITTEE (EURSC)

Meeting Title: “Containment Strategies for Epistemological Ambiguity”

Location: Crisis Pavilion (formerly the IT helpdesk)

Attendees:

• Chair: Braxleigh (ve/ver)

• Minutes-taker: Morgan (xe/xem)

• On-call Emotional First-Aid Liaison: Ashleigh (she/her)

• Observer from the Department of Feelings: Jordan (he/they)

---

OPENING REMARKS

BRAXLEIGH (ve/ver)

Comrades, thank you for assembling on such short notice. As you are all aware, at 2:14pm yesterday, during a lunchtime dialogue circle on “Reparative Gazes in Decolonised Lunchboxes,” a senior lecturer reportedly used the term nuance without prep materials, a content advisory, or a disclaimer that binary logics are inherently colonial.

MORGAN (xe/xem)

To clarify: was the term weaponised in good faith or bad vibes?

JORDAN (he/they)

According to three witnesses, it was said like this: "I think we need a bit more nuance here."

ASHLEIGH (she/her) (gasps, hand to chest)

That’s a silencing structure.

BRAXLEIGH (ve/ver)

Exactly. Nuance is a tool of the privileged. It operates like a smoke machine in a fire drill—it distracts from the clear lines of moral alignment we’ve worked so hard to colour-code.

---

ACTION ITEMS

MORGAN (xe/xem)

Do we know what the context was?

JORDAN (he/they)

Someone suggested that not every misstep should lead to immediate social death. The response was: "Well, it’s complicated. We need nuance."

(A collective groan. Ashleigh starts fanning herself with a zine titled Safe Rage for the Soft Hearted.)

ASHLEIGH (she/her)

“Complicated”? That’s the gateway drug to dialogue.

BRAXLEIGH (ve/ver)

This is worse than anticipated. We’ll need a full-spectrum epistemic decontamination.

---

PROPOSED INTERVENTIONS

1. Immediate establishment of the Office for Simplicity Vigilance.

   • Tagline: Complexity Is Privilege.

   • Mandate: review all syllabi and casual conversations for unsanctioned ambiguity.

2. Mandatory “Nuance Is Violence” placard placement in all staff rooms.

3. A reflexivity boot camp titled “Binary Is Beautiful: Why Either/Or Saves Lives.”

4. Compulsory screening of the training film: “If You Say ‘It’s Complex,’ You’re the Problem.”

---

CLOSING MOMENT OF CLARITY

BRAXLEIGH (ve/ver)

Let us end with a collective affirmation. Please repeat after me:

“I disavow the grey.”

“I stand on the right side of history.”

“And I will never pause to understand the wrong side unless I’m writing a grant proposal.”

GROUP:

I disavow the grey. / Right side of history. / Grants only.

---

FOOTNOTE: LEAKED ANONYMOUS EMAIL (LATER THAT NIGHT)

Subject: “Nuance wasn’t always a slur.”

I miss when we could ask hard questions without being reported. I don’t want to be fascist about anti-fascism. Can anyone meet—quietly—to talk? Maybe not even about justice. Just about… truth?”

(Signed only: “A formerly brave person.”)