Thursday, January 28, 2010

"The Danger of a Single Story" and "The Color of Fear"

In the video "The Danger of a Single Story," Chimamanda Adiche discusses her life experiences regarding the limitations that the "single story" has on people's lives. Adiche states, "the single story creates stereotypes... they make one story become the only story." This conveys that when people hear one particular story about a person of a different culture, they automatically generalize and assume that this story is true for all people of that culture. I agree with Adiche's speech because people make assumptions instantly, especially when they hear a negative or frightening story which in turn generates stereotypes. Everyone is guilty of stereotyping and falling into the trap of the single story. Adiche illustrates this by telling her assumptions about the house boy she had in Nigeria and her thought about Mexicans on her trip to Mexico. I enjoyed her final quote, which stated, "when we reject the single story... we regain a kind of paradise," because if everyone listens to the stories told by both sides of the argument, then maybe people would get along better and not generalize as much.

In the video "The Color of Fear," they started off the video going around the room and introducing themselves. Some men introduced themselves as American and others said Chinese-American, African-American, etc. Later David questions why people say so and so-American because we live in America. He wonders why people feel the need to add the extra identity. I understand what he is trying to say because they were born and raised here but the appeal of this country are the many different ethnicities and cultures. I do not believe that people should throw away there cultural identities in order to live in America. I also think that a woman's point of view would have made the arguments more interesting because women would offer a different perspective on the issues. Women have had to overcome struggles and still are today.