Stereotypes make us painfully unconfused. They are incredibly dangerous and cause much of the inequality around the world.
Stereotypes are based on the one-sided stories that we hear and share. They are nice and easy for us – they divide people into different cathegories and make us think that we understand something about the world. Friends and families, the media, as well as our school systems create and spread stereotypes. The one with the power can easily decide who are the bad guys, who are the victims, the good ones and who is telling the truth.
Watching the TED talk beneath you will see what this issue meant for a young Nigerian girl. By only having access to certain books, the author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ended up writing her first stories about blonde, tea-drinking little girls whose lifes were nothing like her own. She had never read a book about a Nigerian – and therefore thought that obviously they were not supposed to be written about.
Through the books that the young Chimamanda read, a stereotype about “white” people was created in her. She spread these stereotypes by inventing stories of her own, based on this knowledge. The single stories mean that people, human beings around us, get reduced to stereotypes. At the same time, they restrict who we are.
Two simple examples:
– If you are a woman, you learn that men are a certain way. Through this, you also learn that you should be in a different way.
– By learning that white people are rich, normal and helpful, you also learn that other people are not and therefore need white people’s help.
We need stories which stand up and face the “single stories” and false information around us. This is needed to show that other people are complex – and that we are too.
We also need more stories which are completely different. The problem we face is that we only post stories which say the opposite to the “main” story. This means that they are not completely new stories, but answers to the old one. The second story either wins or loses against the first story, but it will always be competing with it.
But how do we find different stories? Where is the space for them? Who is allowed to speak for other people? What power do we have when we talk to others? Why do we say what we say?
We are not sure. But we really think this is a good thing. It will keep us confused. And maybe we owe this confusing, complex, wonderful world to realize what we are actually saying the next time we share stories, information and so called “facts”.
Reference:
getconfused 