Rhetorical Analysis of Stan Grant's Speech Essay Example

“Racism and the Australian Dream” presented by Stan Grant was a speech in response to the booing and harassment of Adam Goodes. In 2015 at the IQ2 conference Stan Grant positions himself against the endemic racism of the Australian people. Stan Grant’s contention is that the racism in Australia especially towards indigenous Australians needs to be addressed and stopped. The purpose of the speech was to inform and influence the audience about the challenges and racism indigenous Australians face. His speech was targeted at all of Australia. He did not divide the country into indigenous and nonindigenous but rather address the country as community and gave middle class people a chance to see the indigenous viewpoint. He uses a range of persuasive techniques to share his viewpoint on racism to aboriginal Australians. He conveys his ideas by using traditional Australian literature to bind all Australians, this brings together Australia as one community. He appeals to patriotism by using inclusive language and national pride, to convince the audience of his viewpoint. He used anecdotes to make the issue more personal to him and to connect his audience to his struggles, this drives across his contention of the racism indigenous Australians face.

Grant uses Dorothea Mackellar’s poem to bring together Australia’s communities by using a common national treasure. Grant uses the poem as it is a common ground between indigenous Australia and nonindigenous Australia. This connects the middle class to the issue and makes it more personal to them. This gives the white middle class an insight into the struggles indigenous people face through their life. After reciting a line from the poem, he says “It reminds me that my people were killed on those plains. We were shot on those plains, disease ravaged us on those plains.” This contrasts the bringing together of the community he had previously said. This spotlights the issue and drives his point across that Australia neglects what it has done to the indigenous people. It proves this, as the poem to non-indigenous is a reminder of the beauty of Australians harsh desert, while to indigenous people it is a reminder of the invasion of their country. Stan Grant uses the poem to bring the community together, then spotlight the issue of racism and that the Australian dream doesn’t include the original owners of this land. 

Grant appeals to the national pride of Australia by using inclusive and patriotic language, he also uses the idea of the Australian dream to convey the neglect to indigenous culture. He recites a line of the Australian anthem to bring out national pride of his audience, then he says, “My people die young in this country.” This gives the audience an insight into what the national anthem means to indigenous people. That an anthem that represents everything good in the country also reminds our traditional owners of the land about their peoples slaughtering and their injustices. Grant brings up the Australian dream to show that the Australian dream does not include aboriginal people, and the ideas that Australia is built upon is exclusive to nonindigenous people, this was used to bring a sense of national shame and appeals to the national pride of the audience. He mentions that he was successful in spite of the Australian dream not because of it this gives insight to the nonindigenous audience, showing them that the Australian dream neglects and excludes indigenous people. Stan Grant appeals to national pride and patriotism to make the audience feel a sense of national shame and guilt towards racism. 

Stan Grant uses anecdotal evidence, by talking about his personal experiences, this gives extra value to his argument as the issue becomes personal between the audience and Stan Grant. Stan Grant refers to his grandfather being imprisoned to draw emotion from the audience, this makes them side with Stan Grant more as the audience feels personally responsible and a sense of guilt. Grant compares his personal stories from war zones in Iraq to the racism issue in Australia, this drives across the seriousness of racism towards indigenous Australians. By using his personal anecdotes, he makes the audience become more personally attached to the issue, and therefore are more likely to be persuaded by Grant’s contention. 

Stan Grant uses many persuasive techniques to convey his contention on the issue of racism in Australia. Grant used prized Australian literary to bind Australians to one community, then shows what the poem meant from an indigenous point of view, this gave the audience an insight into the problems indigenous people face. Grant appealed to patriotism and national pride by reciting national anthem verses and the Australian dream, but then contrasted the pride with showing how the Australian dream is rooted in racism and how history neglects the abuse of aboriginal people. He finally used anecdotal evidence to connect his audience to his personal and his families struggles. The anecdotal evidence also drew out personal guilt about the issue of racism towards indigenous Australians. Stan grant uses these techniques to prove the injustices of indigenous people in Australia.