Lately we have been hearing a great many leftists talking about “nuance”.  They assert that conservatives do not have a “nuanced” understanding of politics.  They assert that conservatives do not have a “nuanced” understanding of democracy.  They assert that conservatives do not have a “nuanced” understanding of foreign policy.  And, of course, they assert that conservatives do not have a “nuanced” understanding of the legitimate role of the United Nations in bringing about…something. 

Nuance is defined as “a subtle shade of…expression” (Random House Dictionary).  Guess what?  The leftists are correct.  Conservatives do not view the world in subtle shades.  We do not view the world through a screen coated in Vaseline.  Conservatives see the world as it is.  We see that there is good and evil.  While those on the left (e.g., Neville Chamberlain, Ted Kennedy, and John Kerry) don’t even recognize evil as a fact, conservatives recognize evil and are willing to take it on and to beat it.  As noted by Dennis Prager, people on the left are scared by global warming but not by evil.  They will fight the non-enemy of climate change but will not fight the TRUE battle against evil. 

The left truly DOES have a “nuanced” view of the world.  Often, that “nuance” leads to a strange inconsistency in logic. One of many examples is the recent leftist idea that parents of the “stillborn” should be granted a certificate called a “stillbirth certificate” (Minneapolis StarTribune, 4/26/05). The premise is that the parents could have closure by having such a certificate.  Surely, no one would minimize the pain experienced by a family whose child is stillborn.  BUT, the issue here is one of consistency.  The left asserts that life does not begin until birth.  This is the only way they can maintain their belief in the right to abortion.  A baby is not being killed…just a fetus that is not really a baby.  At the same time the left calls for a certificate recognizing the stillBIRTH of a child.  That is what seeing the world in a “nuanced” way does.  It leads to illogical thinking.  It is all about how the person “feels” right now and not about reality.  In fact, reality, to the leftist, is relative; a shifting thing to be defined at the moment depending on...something.

Conservatives understand that reality is not relative and it is not nuanced.  Judgments can be made and should be made.  There is right and wrong and good and evil.  If the good are to survive, we must understand evil and we must be willing to conquer it.