Monday, September 6, 2010
The Dangers of a Single Story
This video addresses important issues concerning the way people's opinions are formed. Too often people accept what they are told or what they read from TV or newspapers without any hesitation because it is convenient, rather than seeking multiple accounts of an event in order to form their own opinions. Consequently, the individuality of people does not show, instead societies as a whole can be represented by one idea like how Adichie's room mate assumes she does not know how to use a stove and listens to tribal music because she is African. If people are told something enough times they will begin to believe it, even if it is not true. Every person is unique, yet certain places are identified by certain actions or beliefs according to the single story as Adichie points out. The danger of this is what if the public opinion is formed to be aggressive or hateful towards a place or society. If this happens, then the government (or whoever created the public opinion) will be able to manipulate the public in the same way as the public is manipulated in 1984. Therefore, individuality and personal opinions are valuable to ensuring freedom. In today's day and age, so much focus is put on finding a supreme answer of some kind that will solve all problems, settle all disputes, and create uniformity, but this is not what we should be trying to find, nor what we should want to find because the problem is not being unable to solve all disputes, the problem is assuming there is an answer to fix everything. An example of this is the textbook issue. There will never be an objective history textbook that represents everyone equal, but the history book should be just one source of knowledge, people should use the textbook, but also use a variety of other sources before their opinions are formed. As it pertains to the video, Adichie believed the negativity she had heard about Mexicans, but when she traveled to Mexico, she found it was not true. In this case, the other source she used was going to Mexico, and she used it to changer her opinion in to her own opinion. The beauty of being human is the diversity that exists between people. Two people may see the same thing, but describe it in different ways, this is not a bad thing, rather it is good because it allows a third person to make his or her own opinions after hearing both of the other people's accounts of what happened. People have a remarkable ability to think for themselves, but a lot of times they do not because it is easier to believe what they are told, but in order for the world to move forward, people need to form and believe their own opinions.
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Giancarlo, I liked how you presented the textbook issue, 1984, and Adichie's video; you tied them together very well. Also, how you stated that "People have a remarkable ability to think for themselves, but a lot of times they do not because it is easier to believe what they are told, but in order for the world to move forward, people need to form and believe their own opinions. " I strongly believe in your statement, people should not void out their own opinions; but make them heard. People do have a hard time breaking out of the shell of following a "single story", but would you agree that people may be too comfortable with going along with whatever is presented to them about an event/topic? That maybe they can't think for themselves because whatever they have been told has soaked in? Like in 1984, no matter how hard you try to reject what you don't believe in and try to deviate away from it, it always has a way of coming back into the thought process. So no matter how hard people try to break away from the single story they will always lean back on it when they aren't confident enough about their own understandings. Should people be more independent? I think yes. Should people be more optimistic and apathetic? Definitely.
ReplyDeleteHello G. I personally think that you did a very good job in tying outside sources into your discussion along with your own opinions to prove your point. This stregthened what you were trying to prove. Also, I agree with your idea that hearing only one side of a story is dangerous, and i like how you used specific examples like how Adichie's roomate thought that she didnt know how to use a stove or listened to tribal music. This shows how the media feeds us information that gives us very stereotypical views of people and does not give us the full story, but only what they want us to see. So, overall, i think you did a very good job.
ReplyDeleteGiancarlo, I like the you presented the idea its fine to break away from the crowd and formulate your own opinions about different subjects. Also the way you bring up the fact that people sometimes just do not want to conjure up there on ideas instead they can just relate to the popular opinions and they d this out of the fact of laziness, convenience, or shyness. Furthermore the way you tied in the parallel between the video The Dangers of A Single Story and 1984 was very well put; describing the fragile consistence of personal opinions being persecuted like the way big brother brainwashed the free thinking citizens into puppets. Also you added the fact that Adichie’s roommate cannot use a stove or and listen to tribal music cause she is from Africa. This shows how narrow minded people can be when they think the have to act a certain way cause there from a different place, damping there confidence in expressing there own experiences.
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