Heydi, Conversation 2

In The TED TALK “The Danger of a Single Story” by Chimanda Adichie, she talks about how people make their own perspectives or assumptions about a person or a culture just by hearing one single story. Chammanda Adichie was born and raise in Nigeria. She only had read British or American books since she was little but at the age of seven, she discovered African books, by reading these books, she realized that there were characters with similar physical characteristics as her. At the age of 19, she moved from Nigeria to the US to go to an university. There, she meet her roommate, an America girl who was shock when she realized that Chimanda spoke English, and even felt sorry for Chimanda just for being an African girl. From there so on, she keep encountering different singles stories where people make assumptions without knowing all the story behind. She discovered that is important to have different perspectives and not limit yourself to just one way of seeing things.

I agree with Adichie’s main idea in this TED TALK. Most of the time people tend to make assumption about others without knowing the full story including me. Adichie’s experience with her roommate relates with me. I emigrate to the US at the age of 14 in 2016. The worst era El Salvador had faced. People would often say to me how my home country was full of gangsters, the most dangerous country to ever visit. I knew that is was an unsafe country but I also I knew its beauty, rich culture and how strong community bonds people. But no one wouldn’t see that, I mean they were right because the news were only showing the worst things. I think professor Barnes assigned this reading to teach us to look beyond assumptions.