Controversial ABC journalist Stan Grant has quit. Now I don’t use
that word lightly – “controversial”. But in recent years, he has become controversial,
which I have spoken about in other videos. For example, in March 2022, he kicked an audience
member off his show for having the “wrong” view on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Apparently,
all views are welcome in democratic Australia, except when Stan Grant says they’re not.
Now don’t get me wrong. I like Stan Grant. I think he speaks really eloquently. I think he’s
really smart. I enjoy reading his articles (even the ones I disagree with). But he seems to have
this hang-up of late where he’s obsessed about Australia’s dark past. And I agree with him,
Australia does have a dark past, but to bang on it about it all the
time and make people feel guilty (who weren’t even there, mind you). I mean,
surely we can’t be held responsible for what our ancestors did or did not do, but apparently,
we have to keep going on about it. It becomes divisive. Here’s a couple of recent examples.
A couple of months ago in a piece for the ABC, he wrote, “If our people [Aboriginal people] being
the most imprisoned people in this country is not enough to make white people stop being racist,
then I don't know what is. If our people dying 10 years younger than everyone else in this
country is not enough to make white people stop being racist, I don't know what is.” Obviously,
that in itself is racist. He’s essentially accusing all white people of being racist,
which is very inflammatory, if not defamatory.
By the way, obviously, I’m not making any of this up. I’ve linked to all these articles
in the description below. These are the words that Stan Grant chooses to use.
Another example. In a piece for The Australian last month, he wrote, “The White Queen is dead.
The republic. Colonisation. Empire. Genocide. Racism. At one point it is suggested to me
that we don’t discuss the Queen’s death at all. No. We will do it, I say, and I will put Black
voices front and centre. And Black women. As journalists, we cling to our objectivity. But
that is a lie. Who is objective? What a bloodless idea. There is nothing objective about the way my
people – my family – have been treated. And what is objective about this ritual mourning of the
White Queen? I am expected to ask the questions. To give the guests ‘equal time’. To make sure all
voices are heard. As if truth can be divided and weighed. Tonight I find my anger rising. The White
politician (we have invited onto the show for balance) talks about ‘ugly scenes’ in our history.
That’s right. Invading someone else’s country, importing disease… These are ‘ugly scenes’.”
And the last example, which ultimately led to Stan quitting the ABC. During the King’s
coronation coverage a couple of weeks ago, he used the platform to essentially attack the monarchy,
not for what it is today, but for what it did 200 years ago. He said,
“The Crown is not above politics to us, because the symbol of that Crown represented The Invasion,
the theft of land, and in our case, The Exterminating War, which next year will
mark 200 years. It is alive and it is real. I was back in Bathurst just last week meeting
with our elders who say that they want an end to the war that’s never ended. Where’s our treaty?
The only Commonwealth nation in the world not to have signed a treaty with First Nations
people. We’re still looking for recognition in the Constitution. We’re still fighting for
that Voice. Where is the recognition of what happened under the name of the Crown and the
resolution before we even begin to talk about the fantasy Australia or the reconciled Australia?”
The point is, Stan Grant has become a very divisive figure, and unsurprisingly
copped a lot of backlash. But what does he expect? If you kick people off your show,
if you constantly refer to white Australians as racist, if you bash the monarchy during
the coronation coverage, what do you expect to happen? Look, I’m not a monarchist. I couldn’t
care either way whether we remain a monarchy or not, but I understand that there’s lots of
people in Australia who fully support the Crown. It’s a centuries-old institution.
If you start publicly bashing it, you’re essentially bashing everyday Australians.
And to do it during the King’s coronation, well, what can I say? Expect resistance!
It’s no different if you started bashing any other human tradition.
If I started bashing meat-eating, well, obviously, I have to expect resistance.
Stan must have known he was going to start a war by saying what he said.
Anyway, a lot of the media are claiming he quit because of racism. They quoted terrible
things that were said about him on social media. But come on! Social media? Social
media is a cesspool! To use that as any sort of evidence of racism is like interviewing drunk
people at a pub late at night, and using that as evidence that Australians are loud, obnoxious,
uncouth drunkards. Every public figure gets abused on social media. Here’s some examples:
(In reference to Donald Trump) “If you peel enough layers of orange skin away, you’ll find a white
racist”; “Kim Kardashian’s butt is so big, it’s been classified by the International Astronomical
Union as the sixth dwarf planet”; “The Secret Service now have to carry around Depends just in
case the President leaks in front of the media”. The point is, if every public figure quit because
of something bad they read on social media, there would be no more public figures. Everybody gets
targeted. Everybody. And a lot of these trolls are just there to stir the pot. Stan Grant,
and everybody else, should learn to take social media with a grain of salt.
That said, Stan Grant himself didn’t really blame racism for why he’s leaving. In his final speech,
he said: “To those who have abused me and my family, I would just say,
if your aim was to hurt me, well, you’ve succeeded. And I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I
must have given you so much cause to hate me, so much, to target me and my family, to make threats
against me. I’m sorry. I am down right now, I am, but I’ll get back up and you can come at me again,
and I’ll meet you with the love of my people. We in the media must ask if we are truly honouring
a world worth living in. Too often, we are the poison in the bloodstream of our society. I fear
the media does not have the love or the language to speak to the gentle spirits of our land. I’m
not walking away because of racism – we get that far too often – I’m not walking away because of
social media hatred. I need a break from the media. I feel like I’m part of the problem,
and I need to ask myself how, or if, we can do it better. To my people, I have always wanted
to represent you with pride. I know I might disappoint you sometimes, but in my own little
way, I’ve just wanted to make us seen, and I’m sorry that I can’t do that for a little while.”
I get it. People say horrible stuff behind the anonymity of their keyboards, but no official
media organisation has ever been racist towards Stan Grant, probably quite the opposite. You
know what I think is the biggest problem with Stan? And I hinted at this at the start. Stan
Grant is focused too much on Australia’s dark history, a history that no-one can change.
Instead of focusing on that horrible history that obviously keeps him in a very negative space,
he should instead focus on Australia’s bright future. You know what he should do? He should
go around to every school in Australia – I’m sure every school would love to have
him – and then he should give a speech to all the Aboriginal children – No, to every child!
“Hi, I’m Stan Grant. Despite being picked on at school. Despite being the victim of racism.
Despite being treated as a second-class citizen, I rose above it all! Not only did I do that, I
bloody well excelled! I’ve worked for f***ing CNN! I had my own f***ing TV show on the ABC! Hell,
I found myself a beautiful wife! Don’t get stuck in the past. Don’t play the victim. Be your best
self, and ignore the f***ing haters! Now if I can do it, you can f***ing well do it too!”