Single Story
Mai Nguyen
Professor Ramona
PHIL 202
Words count: 2045
The Danger of a Single Story and the Application of Ethical Theories
In 2009 the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie gave a fabulous TED talk called “The Danger of a Single Story.” It was about what happens when complex human beings and situations are reduced to a single narrative: when Africans, for example, are treated as pitiable poor, starving victims with flies on their faces. Her point was that each individual life contains a heterogeneous compilation of stories. If you reduce people to one, you’re taking away their humanity. Thus, in this paper I will argue that it is an obligation to avoid the practice of single storyism as much as we could.
I begin with the assumption that stereotypes …show more content…
It takes away the fact that people are rational and autonomous, that they are ends in themselves, responsible of their own actions. None of us are really just “objects” that can be related to as if we are just things, easily reduced to someone else’s stereotype or “use”. Philosophers put it like this: we are objects, …, centers of our own experience and thinking, our own hopes and fears and dreams, choices large and small (Weston 113). Crucially, we should recognize others are just like us – and just as precious – in the same way. Relation is reciprocity. We should not treat others as a single story unless we want the same principle to be applied on us. Kant’s universalizability principle then also comes into play. By refusing to avoid single storyism, you are implicitly willing that others not to do that in the same situation, so that the general expectation of people towards you will be favorable. That people will treat you with kindness and consideration instead of simply go over the surface and pile up information. Thus, you are only making an exception for your own benefits. And there is no basis for taking yourself to be somehow different or more special than other people in a way that could justify the maxim that you expect everyone to follow. Recognize that, says Kant, and a recognition of equal dignity and equal standing, or simply to avoid the practice of single story, necessarily follows the second form of
Professor Ramona
PHIL 202
Words count: 2045
The Danger of a Single Story and the Application of Ethical Theories
In 2009 the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie gave a fabulous TED talk called “The Danger of a Single Story.” It was about what happens when complex human beings and situations are reduced to a single narrative: when Africans, for example, are treated as pitiable poor, starving victims with flies on their faces. Her point was that each individual life contains a heterogeneous compilation of stories. If you reduce people to one, you’re taking away their humanity. Thus, in this paper I will argue that it is an obligation to avoid the practice of single storyism as much as we could.
I begin with the assumption that stereotypes …show more content…
It takes away the fact that people are rational and autonomous, that they are ends in themselves, responsible of their own actions. None of us are really just “objects” that can be related to as if we are just things, easily reduced to someone else’s stereotype or “use”. Philosophers put it like this: we are objects, …, centers of our own experience and thinking, our own hopes and fears and dreams, choices large and small (Weston 113). Crucially, we should recognize others are just like us – and just as precious – in the same way. Relation is reciprocity. We should not treat others as a single story unless we want the same principle to be applied on us. Kant’s universalizability principle then also comes into play. By refusing to avoid single storyism, you are implicitly willing that others not to do that in the same situation, so that the general expectation of people towards you will be favorable. That people will treat you with kindness and consideration instead of simply go over the surface and pile up information. Thus, you are only making an exception for your own benefits. And there is no basis for taking yourself to be somehow different or more special than other people in a way that could justify the maxim that you expect everyone to follow. Recognize that, says Kant, and a recognition of equal dignity and equal standing, or simply to avoid the practice of single story, necessarily follows the second form of