The Danger of a Single Story

We watched this video today in our YAV meeting with Doug. I think it really provokes a lot of different questions that I had never thought about before. A lot of our lives are single stories. I have fallen into this trap.. so has everyone else.  Many people, cultures, religions, countries, etc. are bottled up into a single story.. many news clips are single story. Most of history is written by the winning side. Think about how different life would be if we started with a different perspective.. a new angle.. another side of the story.

An example we talked about today, was how have we've seen this single story play out in our year here in Belfast. I said before I even came, I witnessed the single story of Belfast.. the story of tragedy, violence, and danger.  The Troubles were what was broadcast across the world of Belfast, giving the world a narrow perspective of the city. The people coming together to make changes and do cross-community work were not the headlines and therefore today the world still is apprehensive about Northern Ireland.

That is the danger of the single story. We overlook the good or bad in people, countries, cultures etc. because we have been bombarded with one single story that most of the time we choose to accept. It is easier to do that... easier than to get to know other people and realize that there are far more similarities than differences. It is easier to accept stereotypes than to delve pass them.

America is included in these single stories as well. I cringe at what I hear the kids I work with say about America. "Well can't anyone own a gun and shoot people if they want to?" ... No. "Everything must be perfect in America." ... No. "Isn't America just a whole bunch of gangsters?" ... No. "America is full of obese people." That one I can't really debate since we have a very high rate of obesity. However, these thoughts are all based on single stories the kids see and hear through television and other media outlets. Another YAV had someone at her church react in surprise when they found out there are YAVs in the States. They asked "Why? America has it all figured out." Yikes.

I am merely posting this as food for thought to provoke questions within yourself. What single stories are you a witness to?

And I'm not omitting myself from this, I have easily accepted single stories before. But now becoming aware of its danger I want to try to break away from that.