In the transcript of “The Danger of a Single Story” as verbalized by Chimamanda Adichie, a crystal clear portrait is painted of one of the world’s most seemingly normalized shortcomings. The danger of a single story is that of misconception. A single narrative of one’s brief experiences, or life as a whole, can create bias and an unfair judgment of the other party involved. A single story can create a sense of pity, disgust, or whatever emotion that was handpicked for the listener to feel, towards that of either a single person or an entire group of people who have a much different narrative of the events that occurred.
The argument that Adichie presents is one that I agree with wholeheartedly. In my own experience, I have constantly been at the receiving end of people’s uneducated assumptions about what they believe to be my race, such things as being “dirty” or “unknowledgeable”. They fail to tuck their privilege and bias away for even a second, simply letting their first thoughts and grievances out in hopes of almost making me feel less than or unequal to themselves. Only knowing one side of a story in today’s society has grave consequences. If we were to bring into question the Trump administration’s barrage of false and hateful narratives about those of Mexican or Asian descent, we could see how such oversights can directly cause both minor and life-threatening consequences. In assigning this reading, I believe that Professor Barnes desired to open a conversation about how important it is to analyze and understand all perspectives that media can have, whether it be in written form or that of video.
