I watched this TED talk before and absolutely loved it. Chimamanda tells us the power of books and the stereotypes it leaves in the readers minds. She does this by literally telling it to us like a story and the flow of her ideas makes it so easy for me to understand what she is trying to say. The whole concept of people seeing others that are foreign or different from them as a single story is sad. This is why I personally do not like people labeling me or categorizing me based off of solely my nationality, my ethnicity, my skin color, or sex. I also find it sad that the people or culture or nation that is being talked about in a single story probably has no say or control whatsoever about how accurate that perception is. It could probably be so far from the truth, but as long as it satisfies the author it is okay.
Personally, this reminded me of all the times I say I’m from Hawaii, and the only stereotype that comes to people’s mind is hula, grass skirts, beach, and island paradise. Some of these are true, but like Chimamanda was trying to explain, there is no single story for anything, and with that there should be no single perception or narrow-minded view on things just because of what one might see or hear on media. My life couldn’t be farther from the truth, as I never really liked going to the beach, and I didn’t like the humidity and hotness of Hawaii. (It will always be my home don’t get me wrong, but I never could relate to the stereotypes about Hawaii)