In Chimamanda
Adichie’s Ted Talk, I found many elements of stereotypical values that
even I have fallen for. We all think of Africans with the same sort of pity she
described, even though we don’t mean it to be degrading. Even though I have
never described Africa as a country, I have thought of it as one entity of
countries that all suffer the same trials and catastrophes. Needless to say,
this embarrasses me more than anything else, especially because I come from,
and have lived all my life, in a country that suffers the same problem Africa
does. Colombia has a single story throughout the world: the story that was born
with Pablo Escobar and the M19.
As Colombians, we are all seen and judged by the endless guerrilla
wars, the drug traffic, the violence and the insecurity of our country. This
judgement can be seen in things as trivial as pop stars not coming here to
perform, and in things as personal as people being surprised of where I come
from when I have talked to them in English. People tend to view Colombia as a
country of violence and drug lords. They see Bogota as it was shown in the first
five minutes of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, a
desolate town with no hope or future.
Why is it then, that we still do the same for other people
around the world?
Even within our same country we have the fear of a single
story, people who refuse to go to the south of Bogota because of the tales of
poverty and insecurity in that part of the town, people who don’t want to visit
Choco because they imagine it as a poverty stricken place full of starving
people. True, Colombia is far from peaceful, Choco is very poor and the south
of Bogota is not the safest place; but this doesn’t mean that we are hopeless.
Furthermore, I have noticed that there may also be a kind of
positive single story, which may also be a danger in the world, “The American
Dream” being a prime example. The fact that the U.S is a prosperous country, doesn’t
mean that everyone in it is rich and has two cars, a suburban home and a
perfect family. This stereotype is, as all others, incomplete.
There is a single story about every country in the world,
good or bad, and as this Ted Talk demonstrates: neither of them is good, yet we
still fall.
No comments:
Post a Comment