In this TED talk, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie speaks about the importance of viewing people and places from multiple perspectives instead of taking a single story as objective truth. Mass media is often guilty of broadcasting one-sided narratives and reducing groups to stereotypes that deny members of that group individuality. As Adichie explains, this not only harms the global perception of a group, but also the perception that members of that group have of themselves. Without diverse representation in media, children grow up believing that they don’t belong in literature or media because these are spaces dominated by Western representations and ideas. This reminded me of Edward Said’s book, “On Orientalism,” which discusses the problematic practice of the West otherizing and exoticizing Eastern cultures. As Adichie said, there is a “tradition of telling African stories in the West: A tradition of Sub-Saharan Africa as a place of negatives, of difference, of darkness.” This stems from centuries of orientalism that dehumanizes “the other” as negatives that only exist when in comparison to Western culture and ideals. This flattening of human stories is a harmful practice of thinking that reduces individuals to a group identity and doesn’t stop to consider the many exceptions to that narrative. Adichie’s talk is a reminder for everyone that it is necessary and responsible to portray people and events through multiple dimensions because stories are never one size fits all.