Tilt[ed.16, 2026]
I spent the second half of last week down in Canberra, talking about Build a Ballot — and civic education more broadly — with a whole heap of politicians, policy folks and campaigners.
(Side note: want to be part of those convos? Reach out!)
As I was driving back up the Hume on Saturday morning, I decided that instead of my usual political podcasts, I'd put on something that felt a little less work adjacent. On my ‘anything-but-politics’ playlist I included a recent episode of Shameless, unpacking the conversation around Ariana Grande’s recent weight loss.
I’m not a big pop culture podcast gal, nor do I have any thoughts or particular interest in Ariana Grande. But it was one of the most interesting podcasts I’ve listened to in a while.
The conversation was incredibly thoughtful, kind and nuanced — particularly considering the complicated subject matter — and despite how easily it could have slid into hot takes and headlines, the hosts resisted the urge to lean into outrage.
Across the episode they talked through their hesitancy to cover the topic at all, why they eventually decided to speak about it, then carefully stepped through a conversation about thinness, beauty standards and the role of social media in shaping our relationship with our bodies. They constantly acknowledged where they felt conflicted or uncertain and, whether you ultimately agreed with them or not, they prompted you (or at least me!) to think deeply, in a calm and respectful way.
In a lot of circles these days, the conventional wisdom seems to be that nuance is dead. The way we win online — how we gain attention and build audiences — is through anger and excitement; the algorithms and their incentives have given us no choice.
But I’ve been noticing something else. I believe there is still room for nuance, and it’s essential that we try to create it.