We 've All Experienced A Single Story

Stereotypes are this planet’s number one flaw. Not all of them are bad, but what do most people think when they hear that word? When I hear it, my mind jumps to every single negative thing I can think off. Such as our current crisis right now about “Black Lives Matter” or anything racial for that matter. Other examples that pop up in my head are, “He wears black, he must be emo/goth”, “She’s a teen mom, she’s trashy and irresponsible”, or “Women are terrible drivers”. The thing is, science doesn't back up any of these stereotypes; although these may be true in certain cases. There is not just negative things that come out of this, stereotypes can ACTUALLY be good for you.

In the essay The Way We Lie, Stephanie Ericsson writes that “All the ‘isms’-racism, sexism, ageism, et al.-are founded on and fueled by the stereotype and the cliché, which are lies of exaggeration, omission, and ignorance. They are always dangerous. They take a single tree and make it a landscape.” This quote is important due to the fact that stereotypes play a major role in many aspects of our society. In American society we have a tendency to pass judgment on people just because of a pre-existing stereotype that our society has formed on particular groups over the years. American Society tends to create stereotypes because of the simplicity it adds to our lives, but stereotypes can cause us to oversimplify the characteristics

Single stories create stereotypes because they offer only one view of the issue from the media. That’s where the problem comes in. Since most people look to the media for the news, it creates a sort of monopoly for views. Whatever the media has to say about the issue, people will usually believe it. This brings us to the next complication: they can hurt people. For instance, if the news shows that a specific minority group is a problem, many people will adopt that view. Now many people will react harshly to that minority, and it will afflict harm to the

Chimamanda Adichie is a novelist and a narrator who delivered a persuasive speech on what she calls; "The Danger of a Single Story" but in reality what it means is the danger of stereotyping. Dictionary.com defines Stereotype as “A generalization usually exaggerated or oversimplified and often offensive, that is used to describe or distinguish a group.” Adichie delivered her presentation on a very well-known website called Ted.com, with one objective in mind, to prevail upon everyone to share their personal stories with the world so that there no longer is a “single story” defining any one person or group. Although, Adichie is aware that the damage that has been already created may take some time to undo, she felt that

In certain situations, stereotypes can be negative, which in hand, can harm certain ethnicities, racial groups, religions, and other backgrounds. This often alienates certain groups from mainstream societies, as if they are an "other." This further in hand can, lead to heated friction and division among groups, which is not a good thing, and is the "cancer" of a benevolent, developed society. Certain examples of negative (falsified) stereotypes are that African-Americans are violent, Asian-Americans are bad drivers, Latin-Americans can't speak English properly, Middle Easterners are misogynic, White Americans are racist, etc. Of course, these stereotypes in all cases are NOT true, yet sadly the general population tends to seek them as true.

Human nature allows us to stereotype a situation in less than a minute, this reflex creates a void of knowledge and deep understanding. Stereotypes create a lack of understanding, they deplete the ability to listen and pay attention to all the facts. Tim O’Brien even after serving America for

“To believe unfairly that all people or things with a particular characteristic are the same” is one of many definitions for a stereotype. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary makes it seem like it’s nothing at a;l and something small and innocent when, in all honestly stereotypes are cruel and wrong. Using stereotypes in our daily lives should not be allowed because it causes people to think less of themselves and limit themselves from one 's full potential. Having these stereotypes in our minds really limits our thoughts and opinions about certain things or people. Both essayist Judith Ortiz Cofer, and Brent Staples have personally experienced stereotyping and people thinking wrongly of them. In Cofer’s essay “ The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria” and Staples “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Spaces”, they talk about what they have been through with racial stereotyping and what affects it has them, personally. But even with those stereotypes in play they both prove that stereotypes do not determines someone 's future and people are able to prove stereotypes wrong.

Over the years, stereotyping has reached an all-time high especially in this contemporary society. Everyone is stereotyped in different ways whether it is their race, religion,  gender or culture  and unfortunately this only results in negative outcomes.For example African Americans are stereotyped as violent and wild individuals that are uneducated gang bangers, but the real question is how did this stereotype come about and why is it still relevant today? In the movie "Crash it gives great examples of stereotyping and prejudice behavior towards different racial groups. They had two different examples of  a group of people that are the same race living completely different lifestyles. What people fail to realize

An example of these stereotypes would be saying all muslims are terrorists, when we know that's not the case. Racism has gotten so bad that “black lives matter” has become a huge movement. Pew Research Center had conducted a survey and the results are as followed. 59% of Americans say racism is a “big problem in our society,” while 29% say it is “somewhat of a problem” and 12% say racism in the U.S. is a small problem or not a problem (Neal). This survey included 1,893 adults.

The single story is about how a people stereotypes one another based on what they learned through books, media, people, and other sources. For example, Chimamnda announced how she viewed Mexicans as immigrants and them trying to get through the borders, but the moment she stepped foot into Mexico the perspective she got from other sources changed everything. She was ashamed of herself because when she visit the view was completely different because what she saw was happiness, love, and fun. The single story is an image that is created based upon information that was given, but not on your own perspective. In other words, it is the truth to the reality. For example, when people hear of Niagara everyone think of land, poor, Africa, homeless,

For example, it is a popular misconception that Australia was “unsettled” and that there were no forms of agriculture before white settlers arrived in 1788. Despite archaeological evidence and historical testimony suggesting temporary settlements, and ongoing traditions and methods of cultivating the land in ATSI communities, it nonetheless serves white Australians well to believe that white settlement brought modern technology and ideas to Australia, since this mitigates any guilt or blame for the devastating effects of white settlement on Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander people. What feeds into this shifting of blame from the shoulders of white Australians to ATSI people is the stereotype that all ATSI people are “lazy”, “arrogant”, have poor morals, or otherwise to blame for rates of poverty, addiction, and abuse in, for example, remote Aboriginal

The entire cycle of social stereotype can cause a bias in textbooks, which in turn, spreads more stereotype. It’s a never ending cycle, and one we can’t seem to find the end of the tunnel with.

perspectives that people discover from their parents and from others in society might be stereotypes and they do not realize this is happening(Parrillo 517).

Misconceptions are generally formed about groups by people who are uneducated about the subject. Furthermore, having no background knowledge can influence one’s thinking to create misconceptions about the group. Assumptions are formed to create meaning where actual truths are not known about the subject, causing faulty views. Creating stereotypes about groups tends to help people associate its members with the particular group. Stereotyping categorizes people by associating them with the behavior of a group.

Although prejudice and stereotype seem similar, they actually have two different meanings. While stereotyping involves the generalization of a group of people, prejudice involves negative feelings when “they” are in the presence of or even think about members of the group. “Prejudice comes from direct intergroup conflict, social learning, social categorization and other cognitive sources” (Ferguson). Not all stereotypes are negative; there are also positive and neutral stereotypes. Some stereotypes do not slander a race, culture, gender, or religion, but nonetheless generalize a group of people that may or may not be true. For example, some people say that all Asians are smart or good at math. Though people of Asian descent may often be more studious, not all Asians do equally well in school (Floyd, 62). Another common example of a positive stereotype is that all black people are good athletes, dancers, and singers. Though these are positive stereotypes, when people believe them, they don’t take into account that every person is an individual and different. A neutral stereotype