On Tour With the Kid | In Search of Common Decency
I love having friends who disagree with me. Partly because I live for an intelligent, well-argued debate, and I think to have that, you need to be able to sometimes see things from a different perspective. Given how polarised the world is, it's nice to hear a counterargument from someone you like rather than the talking head on TV who you are already inclined to believe or disbelieve for one reason or another.
Despite the old adage, I think people you like should be able to disagree on most topics. Politics, religion, and even which way the toilet paper goes. I think that's healthy. I have a very close friend (who will hate that I'm mentioning her here) who had conversations with me during the height of covid that, if it had come from a stranger, would have led me to believe they were wearing a tin hat.
We would have long back-and-forth debates, neither really changing the other's mind, but I think all you can hope for is to be heard. I never once came away from those chats thinking we weren't friends anymore. I know her to be one of the kindest people, a hard worker (to her own detriment at times), and she loves her family. Hell, for that matter, she loves mine and would give you the shirt off her back if you needed it.
That was a long-winded way of saying everyone I'm friends with doesn't need to have a monolithic opinion about the world on every subject. That said, I am always shocked when anyone displays behaviour that is counter to something that feels to me like a moral absolute. For example, sending threats of violence to a stranger and their family for something true they said on TV. This seems like something we should all be able to agree on as unacceptable.
Stan Grant has just stepped down from Q&A, and apparently, we don't all agree.
Stan's departing speech and everything I have seen him say publicly has been filled with love and compassion. He is a classy and beautiful human being. So the question has to be asked, what did he say during the coronation coverage that bothered people so much?
He was invited onto a panel show to provide his point of view. What about that left you so enraged? I saw someone say about the coverage, "Well, there is a time and a place", and all I could think was, "Yes, and this was it". They were all there covering an event that was only happening because of history and longstanding tradition, so what better time would there be to be talking about the history of the monarchy and the commonwealth that they controlled? It was factual information, said in context.
Part of being proud of something is embracing the good things that have come from it, acknowledging the bad, and dedicating yourself to not repeating any of that history. Pretending it didn't happen, jumping on anyone who mentions it, and mindlessly waving a British flag makes you devoid of complex thought.
I look after many social media platforms for well-known people, and I'm constantly amazed by the hateful, nasty things people say to "celebrities". Not about their behaviour but about who they are, what they look like, who they love. People seem to think you should be able to take it if you are in the public eye. Just how famous does one have to be to warrant a shred of decency from these trolls? Hopefully, Stan will be back on the air soon. I, for one, will miss his compassion and perspective.
