I’ve spoken about this before but it’s a super important topic.
Due to the nature of the interwebs and specifically social media, nuance is dead and I don’t see it ever coming back to life.
When was the last time you heard anyone on the Internet say about any political figure or topic “Yea, I don’t have a strong opinion. He/she is great in some ways, and not so great in others.”?
All you hear is “He/She is the worst!” Or “He/She is the best!”
Because nuance isn’t sexy. Nuance doesn’t sell. Nuance doesn’t get clicks.
Extreme statements sell. Controversy sells.
But the truth is, that’s not how the world works.
Exhibit A: The new Israeli government that was sworn in yesterday.
Let me just start by stating that I was sitting on this post for days; maybe weeks. Why? Because I was scared to express my opinion. Need I say more?
What kind of world do we want for our kids? A world in which a person should be afraid to express their opinion due to the mob mentality of the Internet? A world in which a person can’t say anything out of fear of being canceled?
Did you ever stop and even think about the term “Getting canceled?”
What has our society come to that humans can be canceled?
Well, I am not willing to play along or to cave to the pressure of political correctness.
So here are some thoughts.
First of all, relax. Everyone just relax.
This government won’t kill democracy just like any government before it didn’t. And yes, that includes the previous government of which I was not a fan, to say the least.
Netanyahu, despite his shortcomings as a person and a politician, has sacrificed much of his life for this country.
He served the country in an elite unit. He lost his brother. He lost his brother!!! Don’t you dare belittle that.
Can’t anyone just understand that he’s given so much to this country? Can’t anyone just try to focus not only on his alleged corruption or his perceived love of being in power?
Could it be, hypothetically speaking, that the man isn’t all bad? That maybe you can’t actually read his mind and know his incentives to become prime minister? Maybe he does actually have good intentions?
And no, I did NOT vote for Bibi.
But you can’t take away his contributions. You also can’t take away his talent and brilliance as a speaker and an expert on countless topics.
Is it problematic that a person who is on trial for corruption can become prime minister?
Legally, no. Morally, yes.
So there are issues here with this government. Ben Gvir has a shady past, to say the least. He’s made offensive statements and he has opinions I strongly oppose. But could that be the case without calling him a terrorist?
Could he be rough around the edges and still have the best interest of the citizens of Israel in mind?
Could it be grey and not so black and white?
Maybe there are topics that are going to get heated in this government but maybe, just maybe, these people in government are not the actual satan?
Homophobia? Maybe. But put aside the press and look at actual facts. What’s the first thing this new government did?
They unanimously voted for Amir Ohana to serve as the Knesset’s first gay speaker. That is fact, the rest is news, and we already know how the media works.
Vilifying someone will always get more clicks than defending someone.
And again, I’ll stress, there are some very problematic opinions in this government.
We want to look at Smotrich’e past? Sure. But then why didn’t we do the same with the Arabs in the previous government who literally supported actual terrorism in the past? I mean, an actual Arab mk worked directly with Arafat, a globally recognized arch terrorist.
Gay rights? How about the Arabs in Knesset? What happens to gay people in Gaza? Where is the outrage on that?
Consistency here is key. Otherwise, it’s called a double standard and that’s hypocrisy.
This new government not only has problematic opinions and a really bad tendency to not keep those opinions to themselves but for some reason, to make irresponsible declarations that offend many people.
I don’t know why they do that.
I’ve personally sat with ministers in the new government and told them to stop making dumb remarks.
But again, say what you want about Smotrich for example. You might despise his opinions, and that’s fine but perhaps it’s worth checking if what you think is his opinion is actually accurate. Maybe you are being fed false information for clicks? (Spoiler: You are!)
Could it be that Smotrich has opinions you disagree with but he’s a man with integrity and cares deeply about this country? Is that possible or is he just the devil who has no redeeming factors?
Nuance, folks. Nuance!
What about respecting the democratic process?
When one side (and this applies to both sides!!) wins the election (In israel or the US!), they say the other side needs to respect the results, even if not fun to admit defeat.
But then when that same side loses the next election, all of a sudden respecting the democratic process goes out the window??
Like most things in life, facts are facts but what changes is how we react to those facts.
The right won this election. One might even say, this election was the final nail in the coffin of the left.
Now what do we do with those results? Do we accept them and do the best we can with the reality on the ground or do we trick ourselves into believing that reality isn’t reality? How does that help anything?
Is Bibi perfect? Hell no. Has he sacrificed endlessly for this country? Yes he has and if you deny that, you know your opinion is emotional and not factual at all.
Does Ben Gvir love this country? Yes. Does he have a problematic past and controversial opinions? Absolutely, and if you don’t accept that, again, it’s time to check your opinion and how accurate it is.
The same is true for American politics. Is Trump a normal adult human being? No, I don’t believe he is. A normal adult who is running for president doesn’t announce his own NFT playing cards for people to buy. Total insanity.
Did he do good things? Yes.
Again, nuance.
Is Biden all there? I don’t believe he is. Has he done some good things internally? Yes, he has.
Nuance.
Not all good. Not all bad. Not black and white. Grey!
But nuance also has its limitations.
Where nuance does not apply is when facts are involved.
There’s no nuance to the fact that Jews are indigenous to Israel. There’s no nuance when looking at history. Claiming there was ever an Arab Palestinian state that Israel occupied isn’t nuance. It’s a lie, a historical fabrication.
To say that Palestinians commit terror against innocent Israelis because of “occupation” would imply that before there was this so-called occupation, there was no Arab terror against Jews. Well, there goes that claim…
With facts, there is no room for nuance.
With opinions, it’s all all about nuance, as much as the internet doesn’t support it.
So this post will offend the left because I said that Bibi, Smotrich, and Ben Gvir are not the devil.
It will offend the right because I said that Trump is a lunatic and a child. I said that the previous government, with all its problems, was not going to kill democracy.
As I saw the new government being sworn in and how the previous prime minister avoided shaking hands with Netanyahu, that should tell you that there is something wrong. Something very wrong.
As I listened to Smotrich’s speech (which was incredible by the way, assuming you can actually objectively listen to it!) in which he clearly stated that this government would not discriminate against anyone, I asked myself why no one is listening and why my feed is full of false statements labeling him a bigot, despite his actual words?
The answer is the lack of nuance, a flame that has constant fuel poured on it by the failing mainstream media.
But here’s the kicker. If nuance would somehow return to our world, if somehow, positive politics aka voting for someone because of their virtues and not because they’re not someone else, would return, we’d all benefit.
How we are going to revive nuance despite the forces of the Internet working against it?
I don’t know the answer.
What I do know is that if we continue down this path, there will be two Israels and two Americas.
That would serve no one’s agenda. So it’s our collective responsibility to stop spreading hysteria and fear. We need to start focusing on being productive and uniting over our similarities as opposed to focusing on our differences.
If you asked me, a right wing observant Jew and a left wing secular Jew about ten pressing topics, we’d probably see eye to eye on 8/10.
So we need to stop. We need to stop feeding the algorithms controversy. We need to stop pretending anything is black and white.
Everything in life without exception has advantages and disadvantages.
Just because you admit that Bibi gave a lot to this country doesn’t mean you agree with him or support him politically.
And just because you hate the tactics of the previous government does not mean Bennett or Lapid are bad people or that they had malicious intent.
Just stop it already.
This government won’t kill democracy and it won’t be throwing gay people off of roofs (like they do in Gaza!)
The new government might have some very problematic policies for a democratic country but that doesn’t mean we’re headed back to the dark ages.
Everything will be ok and instead of promoting negative politics, perhaps try to change the situation by using actual democratic tools and resources.
Just because you support this government does not mean that Ben Gvir doesn’t have very questionable opinions. He does.
You can agree with Bibi’s leadership abilities and oppose the fact that he is allegedly corrupt and shouldn’t be allowed to avoid the judicial system.
In other words, someone please bring nuance back!
We all have what to gain…
Hillel Fuld, named Israel’s top marketer and “The Man Helping Transform Startup Nation into Scale-Up Nation” by Forbes, is a tech journalist, startup marketer, and technology expert. Hillel’s work has been featured in CNBC, Inc. Magazine, Fast Company, Entrepreneur Magazine, TechCrunch, The Next Web, and many other leading tech publications. Hillel was recently named the 7th most influential tech blogger on the Internet and among the top 100 most influential social media personalities across the globe.
