The Danger of a Single Story:
I have seen this video before, my professor last year in my human diversity class showed it to us. It is actually a Ted Talk that I think of often. Being a future social worker, I understand the danger of a single story. I see the impacts of it when I work with some of the most vulnerable and oppressed people in society. They know the stereotypes and single stories people have of them and it wears on them more than they probably would like to admit.
One of my favorite parts of this Ted Talk is when she talks about how she went to visit Mexico and got so wrapped up in the single story American was showing of immigration, she forgot that there was another side of the story. She talked about the shame she felt and if she had listened to the other side of the debate on immigration in American media, she may not have been so set on the single story.
I thought this was important because it shows that we as humans make mistakes and often get caught up on a single story even though we know it is not the only story. It is easy to get caught up, but as long as we catch it and open our mind to the other stories, it can be okay.
Watching the Ted Talk for this class also made me realize why we write stories almost every week. It gave me a new perspective. The stories that we read are a single story if we have no background knowledge, so when we recreate them, we give a new perspective and add our own touch to the single story.
Imaginary Friends and Real-World Consequences: parasocial relationships:
This is a topic I have never thought of really. Being an avid reader, I have definitely grieved fictional characters and while it sucked sometimes for my favorite character to die, I never thought about the real emotions with it. I thought it was SUPER interesting when she talked about the results of people being more sad about a fictional character dying vs. a real person dying. I understand why this can be though, especially with celebrities. The other week when Kobe Bryant and his daughter died, I was so sad, I cried in bed for a few nights when I was watching videos and reading about it. I didn't know them, heck I don't even watch basketball like that. But as a mother who has also lost my sons father, I related on a personal level. When we read and develop "relationships" with our favorite characters, often times they are our favorite because we can relate to them on some level. When a stranger dies that maybe we talked with a few times, it is sad but if we didn't know them on a deeper level or ever connect with them, I can see why we'd be more upset about a celebrity or fictional character. Which in the end is still kind of weird, it reminds me of people that cry when dogs die in movies but not when the humans die (no offense to dog lovers). This Ted Talk gave me a different perspective on my "relationships" with fictional characters.
Ted Talks
I have seen this video before, my professor last year in my human diversity class showed it to us. It is actually a Ted Talk that I think of often. Being a future social worker, I understand the danger of a single story. I see the impacts of it when I work with some of the most vulnerable and oppressed people in society. They know the stereotypes and single stories people have of them and it wears on them more than they probably would like to admit.
One of my favorite parts of this Ted Talk is when she talks about how she went to visit Mexico and got so wrapped up in the single story American was showing of immigration, she forgot that there was another side of the story. She talked about the shame she felt and if she had listened to the other side of the debate on immigration in American media, she may not have been so set on the single story.
I thought this was important because it shows that we as humans make mistakes and often get caught up on a single story even though we know it is not the only story. It is easy to get caught up, but as long as we catch it and open our mind to the other stories, it can be okay.
Watching the Ted Talk for this class also made me realize why we write stories almost every week. It gave me a new perspective. The stories that we read are a single story if we have no background knowledge, so when we recreate them, we give a new perspective and add our own touch to the single story.
Imaginary Friends and Real-World Consequences: parasocial relationships:
This is a topic I have never thought of really. Being an avid reader, I have definitely grieved fictional characters and while it sucked sometimes for my favorite character to die, I never thought about the real emotions with it. I thought it was SUPER interesting when she talked about the results of people being more sad about a fictional character dying vs. a real person dying. I understand why this can be though, especially with celebrities. The other week when Kobe Bryant and his daughter died, I was so sad, I cried in bed for a few nights when I was watching videos and reading about it. I didn't know them, heck I don't even watch basketball like that. But as a mother who has also lost my sons father, I related on a personal level. When we read and develop "relationships" with our favorite characters, often times they are our favorite because we can relate to them on some level. When a stranger dies that maybe we talked with a few times, it is sad but if we didn't know them on a deeper level or ever connect with them, I can see why we'd be more upset about a celebrity or fictional character. Which in the end is still kind of weird, it reminds me of people that cry when dogs die in movies but not when the humans die (no offense to dog lovers). This Ted Talk gave me a different perspective on my "relationships" with fictional characters.
Ted Talks
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