:: wow:: must see VIDEO:: the danger of a single story

[Camel_herder]

WOW! This is the most captivating story i have ever come acrosss.

Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding

PLEASE |WATCH THIS MY SOMALI BROTHERS/SISTERS, there is truely a veil upon our eyes, and upon the eyes of the world, a viel of hate and indeferrence::


HERE IS THE VIDEO: PLEASE CLICK THE LINK BELOW, YOU WILL LOVE IT:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/chim ... story.html

[sheekh-Farax-zero]

Great video!!!

This is what happens when you believe stories you had been told,, iam having problem with my cousins
who were born in the Hamar or the south, whenever i talk about returning to Gaalkacyo or living it in the future
they ''ll go ( meehaas kuleel waay ma lugu noolaan karo maxaa ka jirihey),, when the average temperature
of Hamer is 29c throughout the year while Galkacyo is 33c.

[abdalla11]

Great video, she is well spoken

[surrender]

I like her. She’s got a point. Western literature is so biased. I remember taking my niece to the library and whilst she sat down a mess of toys playing with them, I picked up a book nearby just because I was bored I flicked through it. It was about a boy who starting new school. All through out the story-very short one, they named him as the ‘African child’. “Class we have a new boy. Welcome”- and he introduces himself- “hi my name is (some long name) I’m from Africa”!!! "Class anyone like to tell me what they know about Africa?" "that’s where all the lions are". Haha goes the teacher. "You quite close Simon". (as if the only thing Africa has is lion )

They tell us the stories in the eyes of the white men. Is not just literature but take a look at TV, magazines and newspapers?
Eastenders for example, just look how they portray Muslim men. Not just the gay story. Before that, the father is weak and frail and fears of he’s wife. He’s brother was violent and abusive man.
This is what we see everyday. In newspapers, Notice when they reporting certain place of Africa,Asia and Middle East a person, or even story that happened there. Notice how they mention so and so is the poorest country in the world (as if to say btw keep that in mind whilst reading this story ) or so and so’ parents were immigrant from so and so country. They have to say something negative about the identity of the person before telling you the whole story. Is the same when they dealing with Muslims. Notice how they always mention Muhammad from Bristol is British born Lebanese Muslim for example. Er..duh we know!! hence the name.
But when is white man’s story, they never mention he’s colour, religion and what not.
what annoyes me most is how we supposed to be guilty of something before the whole story is told. It seems being certain colour, religion and ethnicity is a crime of some sort.
I remember one of my Indian friend saying to me...me? Go to work in Afghanistan as volunteer?? no thank you, they probably crawl out of their caves and bomb me the minute they see me in western style clothing. This is what she heard from the news on daily basis.
Western media conveys messages in subliminal way.

[Somaliman%]

Woow Chimamanda is such a inspiring women, am gonna go read her book half of a yellow sun.. shes so well spoken how real is the single story. its not just western literature. But all of us hear something from somwhere or someone and think that person or place is a certain way in our heads. we stereotype for example people think that all somalis are dumb, welfare dependent, ignorant people, and when they come across you they're like oh your somali, you speak english loool... people just need to open their eyes and see whats around them rather than just consuming stories. if you here something about a country doesnt mean that everyone in that country is like that nooo..

Education is the key... but the single story is dangerouse indeed.

[Ahmed-Gurey]

The problem is that we from the "South" are too egalitarian and moral with our surroundings like environment and other species that learning the science of our surroundings conflict with our core belief system, but we can culturally learn not to exploit them to exhaustion but to guard against its threatening evil. Culturally, the "North" have this technological edge over us to appreciate the wonders of environmental science and to keep exploring it for their own well-fare and security.

Literature is therefore useful in motivating society to get good grasp of the world and to reason better. It can also be used to demonize the enemies so that the public will be more sympathetic to supporting wars. It acts like a dormant media.


Camel-Herder, Great Story. Wow.