- Thinking About It by Zee Feed
- Posts
- Who gets to thrive?
Wiradjuri man and renowned journalist Stan Grant has stepped away from media and journalism indefinitely. The cause: an avalanche of racist abuse from the public, whipped up by shamelessly targeted coverage by conservative media, and with a telling lack of support from ABC management, executives and colleagues.
Grant’s farewell letter in the ABC is a gut punch. Please do take a few minutes to read it here, but this part is echoing in my head: “Barely a week goes by when I am not racially targeted. My wife is targeted with abuse for being married to a Wiradjuri man. I don't even read it, yet I can't escape it. People stop me in the street to tell me how vile it is. They tell me how sorry they are. Although I try to shield myself from it, the fact it is out there poisons the air I breathe.”
Poisons the air that he breathes.
It’s a stunning description of the way racism moves in Australia.
You cannot see a noxious gas with your eyes. Right now, a lot of social media commenters are insisting that no one has been racist towards Grant – no, they’ve only ever seen genuine criticism of his style or opinions. Racism? No racism! It’s just intellectual disagreement. The lack of proactivity from ABC management in protecting Grant is the same logic: only open use of slurs qualifies as racist abuse. Everything else is just engagement, the media’s success metric.
Blak, Black, brown and Asian people in Australia… we know what racism looks, feels and sounds like. We sense it in the moment before it manifests, brains fine-tuned and on constant high alert for the tiniest shift in vibe. Even though you can’t see the gas, the poisonous air, you can explain how your chest feels tight in the moments before you’re suddenly struggling to breathe.
Almost everyone understands the feeling of walking into a room and sense the energy shift ever so slightly. But what a lot of people don’t understand is how exhausting – mentally and physically – it is for that feeling to never ever go away. I’ve written before about the physiological toll of racism. How are you supposed to thrive when your brain is in constant state of vigilance, fear and self-protection?
Grant has been forced to give up his highly coveted positions because of all this. He is senior, powerful and valuable at the ABC – if Stan Grant can’t catch a fucking break, how will anyone else? Accepting that media figures and journalists must cop rampant racism and misogyny, unprotected, means the only people allowed to succeed in this industry will be wealthy, white men and the women they deem ‘acceptable’. In 10+ years, I’ve never had a boss that wasn’t white. My bosses boss has always been white. So it goes, up.
People say they want journalism to be about truth. I believe in that, and Grant does too. He does not strike me as a man that is very sensitive or precious – he literally welcomes critique in his letter. But we are burdened with entire sections of the media landscape dedicated to obscuring the truth and misleading people for profit. Sky News Australia, 2GB and all of the talkback radio, 9 News, 7 News, A Current Affair, 60 Minutes, The Australian… their editorial teams and audiences cannot handle hearing genuinely hard truths about Australia.
I don’t mean "facts over feelings" bullshit, but honest reflections about why things are the way they are. It is honest to discuss the impact of the British colonisation on the current lives of First Nation’s people, while covering the coronation of a new monarch. It is honest to include the hurtful transphobia when recounting the legacy that Barry Humphries left the Arts. It is honest to question whether there is a minority or majority of ‘bad apples’ when a police officer tasers a 95-year-old woman in a walking frame.
Why does it make people angry to hear these things? So angry they resort to abuse, hatred, vitriol? This is the attitude that forced Stan Grant out of journalism and it’s a widespread problem. It makes telling the truth difficult. It makes journalism difficult.
Good stuff on Zee Feed rn:
Someone on IG said this essay was the voice of Australian youth, and that’s worth more to me than a Walkley award lol. For what it’s worth, Anthony Albanese just told the SMH he has “a driving ambition to bring a legion of former Liberal voters into the Labor fold”. So it turns out everything I wrote in this piece is also: correct. CLICK HERE TO READ.
Smart stuff on the Internet 💭
All the stuff I found on the web that made me think, smile, or have an ‘aha!’ moment. Spend your Sunday reading them – you'll be better off for it:
Fence-sitting at fashion week on Bri Lee’s substack
As far as I’m concerned, Bri’s FW recap is the only one you should bother reading – as independent publishing with no advertisers is the only place that can be honest. “None of the [clothes] makers get invited to see the garments their hands have brought into being. They don’t get to sip the complimentary drinks…. Is the designer is the only person in the manufacturing process who has the creative genius that ought to be rewarded?”
Are selfish people happier? on Bobo’s Void pocast
Bobo Matjila used to have a podcast with Flex Mami - do you remember Bobo & Flex? Her new podcast gets really deep into philosophy for the modern, digital age - there is a video version of every episode on YouTube, and they shoot in gorgeous outdoor locations. This episode is shot on top of a rock at the beach 🌊
‘The Lucky Country’ Let Me Down: Australia’s Broken Disability Support System on Refinery29
“There’s an implied link between medicine and disability. The assumption is that if you’re disabled enough to need support, you’ll have an expert team of medical professionals at your disposal to verify this. But people fall through the cracks of our healthcare system every day, unable to find specialists who understand what’s happening to their body.They’re left to drown.”
Exclusive: UN set to sanction Australia over human rights abuses on The Saturday Paper
“More than five [after signing on to the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT)] Australia has failed across the board at implementing its obligations under the agreement, which is aimed at preventing human rights abuses in places of detention. Australia is expected to become the first OECD nation to be placed on a non-compliance list.”
And for a laugh… this Morning Brew TikTok about female CEOs finally outnumbering CEOs named John on the S&P500.