The danger of a single story | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
I thoroughly enjoyed this TED Talk for a number of reasons. Firstly, I enjoyed Chimamanda's approach to telling of her story, and how she wasn't attacking or being vengeful in her argument. She made it a universal problem, one that everyone can work on. I feel this was an overall eye-opening TED Talk.
Secondly, I remember when I took Discoveries of Archaeology, we often discussed the racism among common myths, legends and conspiracy theories we have today, an argument that I feel can contribute to this TED talk. For example, a wild conspiracy out there is aliens actually built the pyramids, not the Egyptian. There are books, reddit threads and several t.v. shows that claim this. Although not pointed and obvious racism, to claim this is stripping the Egyptians of an incredible accomplishment that spurred technological and cultural advancements. I think this follows along with only reading a single story. The consequence of reading a single story is stripping a person or collective group of earned merits and accomplishments.
Lastly, I was raised in a diverse neighborhood. On my right was a Hispanic family, on my left an African-American family, two doors down was a Yemeni family, and then there was my Irish-catholic family right in the middle of the cul-de-sac. Due to this, I never felt I had one single story of any background because I got to see several different cultures engage in the same experiences as I did. This doesn't mean I haven't mindlessly stereotyped or (shamefully) jumped to conclusions about people, but I have grown to be aware of the dynamic backgrounds people have. I liked how she called herself on it, too. Overall, one of my favorite TED Talks to date.
Caption: What happens when you only read a single story. Obtained from giphy.com
I enjoyed this TED talk as well! It is funny though because I began zoning in and out, but when she started talking about Taylor Swift and Olivia Pope (a.k.a my queens) I was zoned in. I experienced, what she later identified as, a social facilitation effect. I enjoy psychology and the cognitive behaviors which lead us to do the things we do. Overall, I enjoyed this video, maybe not as much as the first, but it was very interesting and informative.
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