Meeting Title: “Containment Strategies for Epistemological Ambiguity”
The Thought Occurs
Monday, 14 July 2025
EMERGENCY URGENCY RESPONSE SUB-COMMITTEE (EURSC)
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
Immediate establishment of the Office for Simplicity Vigilance.
Tagline: Complexity Is Privilege.
Mandate: review all syllabi and casual conversations for unsanctioned ambiguity.
Mandatory “Nuance Is Violence” placard placement in all staff rooms.
A reflexivity boot camp titled “Binary Is Beautiful: Why Either/Or Saves Lives.”
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.”)
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