Stan Grant on taking care on how we describe human beings, and church cats.

An Obadiah Slope Column

Wise words from Stan Grant: “We should also take heed of the way we talk about human beings. All of us.

“Another hallmark of the 20th century was the mass displacement and movement of people. Governments have at various times stripped nationals of their citizenship and interned people who had committed no crimes. All of this needed a language that reduced the human to a “thing”, depersonalised and abstract.

“We see the remnants in the political language du jour. It is there in Trump describing “illegals” or even immigrants as vermin, in Pauline Hanson smearing all Muslims. There are pressing political debates to be had about social cohesion, but it is not advanced by degrading humans in the process.

“I hear the same in the language of protests that demonise all Jewish people for the actions in Gaza of the Netanyahu government. Or those who tar all Palestinians with the actions of Hamas.

“The same applies closer to home. Those who see Aboriginal people as a “problem”, or conversely, brand all non-indigenous Australians as “colonisers”. It reduces people to an idea. They are no longer human, but a point to be made. If we cannot recognise the soul of another, we sacrifice our souls.”

Stan Grant, “Nominal Nixon”, The Saturday Paper, February 28 – March 6, 2026.

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Cat-holics: Obadiah freely confesses to being a cat-holic. His cats insist he tells the truth about this. He walks a cat daily on a lead. He spent months building a cat run. And training a cat to use a human toilet instead of a litter tray.

But this post raises the question, what about your church? Does your cathedral or church have a cat? Obadiah would dearly love to have an Aussie example. Pictures please.