"bean soup theory," whataboutisms, & the death of nuance | Internet Analysis

19:53 There's a good point about this in the Technology Connections algorithm rant video - you can be having a conversation that's public but clearly within a particular niche or community that understands (or is willing to learn) the context, and then the algorithm delivers a stranger who's encouraged to form an opinion about it, as if a random person walking past your table at an outdoor café had just stopped and joined the conversation.

3:37 well I will now stop silently being annoyed at anyone holding the mini mic 😅 thank you for clearing that up I’d rather not think about how things are meant to be used 😂❤

THE MATILDA CLIP!! I quote that all the time lmfao

Ugh, imagine being a lawyer where nuance is the core of the thing

Adding another layer of ✨nuance✨ to this convo by saying that while bean souping is ABSOLUTELY an issue and people online LOVEEEE to take everything in the worst possible faith, people do very much weaponize the phrase when people are rightfully questioned on shortsighted takes. An example that I see a lot is when people are bashing things that are common symptoms of neurodivergence and people are like “hey this is true about autistic people/people with ADHD/OCD/whatever” and everyone chimes in with “BEAN SOUP” or “clearly they weren’t talking about THAT” when that absolutely wasn’t clear. I’ve seen people be really backhanded about ND people but not explicitly mention ND to give themselves the get out of jail free card of “well you’re just bean souping” when people notice it a LOT. Hope I explained that well lol.

I think this topic needs to be expanded upon to include analysis on the weaponization of nuance. In an attention economy, people, brands, and politicians use “nuance” as a way to disguise discussing the actual issue at hand. The constant need to listen to “both sides” for everything when one side doesn’t care about the discussion at all. It is a filibuster of sorts, to waste time and energy denying any progress. In reality it is not being nuanced at all, but they will claim it to avoid any accountability.

Would love to see a video on left in-fighting and why it's stopping us from making any real progress!!

what was that post? about leftist puritanism "you'd rather do nothing good, than do something wrong" or something like that

It sucks that the internet seems to be the primary way we communicate with each other, and yet it is the WORST medium for communication we have. I hope we can change that someday.

PLEASE cover the rise of puritanism on the left, it’s awful to see so many young, generally left leaning people be so pro-censorship and utterly refusing to engage with things they believe to be morally reprehensible, when in reality its just the "video games causing violence" argument all over again. Perhaps its not the same on all spaces, but certainly where I am online (fandom spaces) there’s been a sense of moral panic growing ever stronger for a long while now. (This could be tangential and just the fandom experience, but the way so many people place more value on fictional characters rather than the lives and feelings of real, living people has been so upsetting and frustrating to witness)

One of the reasons I've been following this channel for a long time is because you have nuance. You present different sides and perspectives from people of all walks of life.

the nuance of yes no one can always address everyone at once and do 500 disclaimers but also trying to think about what you're saying and maybe adjust the language to make it more clear and not alienate people once in a while is also a good thing. I can't explain for a 10th time in a week how calling people that do x bad or lazy is still gonna hurt disabled people that do x bc of their disability no matter how in your mind obviously they don't count bc they have a "good reason" and then be met with aggressive doubling down bc i as a disabled person dared to include myself in people and spoke up for myself and others

PLEASE make that other video about the exclusionary sense the left gives when you aren’t absolutely synonymous in opinion. It’s something I struggle with - feeling too socially conscious for the right side of politics but too villainized on certain takes for the left.

"nuance is devil's advocate" is an anti intellectual take. People using it incorrectly is the issue.

I see this with fandoms too. My message: The actor is not a manifestation of you and your needs. They *will* do things that shock or disappoint you and it has nothing to do with you. Entitlement definitely a part of it too.

As a person with AuDHD I LOVE nuance. I love looking at things from every single angle. It’s how most great inventions come to be. Without nuance we couldn’t diagnose people like me who have both autism and adhd, you were only diagnosed with what was more prevalent, in my case I was diagnosed with adhd very young in the early 2000s which was pre DSM-5 and I couldn’t have been diagnosed with both. So I didn’t get any help or coping skills with the deficits I had due to my autism and I developed a lot of unhealthy coping mechanisms and was put in a lot of situations where I should have much more supportive help. Now I can see that I have struggled with both of these conditions my whole life and now I’m able to get the help I need

my biggest pet peeve is when someone makes a video bashing a product they consider to be unnecessary and for "lazy" people, and a commenter makes the point that it is a product that can help people with disabilities, and the replies are all "BEAN SOUP," like it's not bean soup in any way.

Whenever this topic comes up, I always think about that one Clickhole joke article titled “Selfish: This Man Found Time To Build A Birdhouse While JonBenét Ramsey’s Murder Is Still Unsolved”. The whole article is exactly how a majority of the internet sounds now.

Dang, the increase in audio quality when the mic is held is so much more than I would have thought

my sister just texted me to let me know I was in this episode - i love nuance and I love tiff ferg!! ♥✨