1.What a person reads can affect how they perceive the world and the people who live in it. Unfortunately, not everything a person reads can be an entirely factual representation of what goes on in reality. In a 2009 speech done by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, titled, "The danger of a single story," she discusses, how her reading of a single genre of books caused her to have an inaccurate view of the different cultures of the world. Adichie stresses the importance of reading a variety of books to gain a better understanding of other cultures, and how not doing so can have negative consequences. After listening to Adichie's speech, I would have to agree with her. Because of the problems reading about other cultures from one genre of books, how
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Growing one's knowledge about other cultures from a single genre of literature can cause a person to become ignorant about those cultures. When an author writes a book about their own or another's culture, they might not represent that particular culture accurately to their readers. For instance, when an African born novelist shares the history of her country, she is sharing her first-hand experience of what life is like there; although not every person experiences the same things in life and the writer can depict the life of the masses wrongfully. Another issue that readers face is that some authors may focus heavily on the negative aspects of the culture, this is apparent in how some people view the Mexican people to be. Some Americans have come to think that Mexicans come to America just to take advantage of its' government subsidies, while in actual sense they do not. People should read a variety of books on different cultures to better empathize with them instead of making assumptions about …show more content…
Media, movies, television, and literature can influence the way people think about other cultures. For instance, I have noticed media outlets tend to report more negative stories than good about people from the middle east; this has caused some Americans to fear and stereotype them. In recent years, police officers in the U.S. have been accused by members of their communities, of stopping and arresting people based on racial stereotypes. Some people have been so angered by the police stereotyping, they have started riots and looting in cities in protest against local the police departments. Unfortunately, our country has become divided because of it's on growing racial issues, and racism is more prevalent today than it has been
Growing one's knowledge about other cultures from a single genre of literature can cause a person to become ignorant about those cultures. When an author writes a book about their own or another's culture, they might not represent that particular culture accurately to their readers. For instance, when an African born novelist shares the history of her country, she is sharing her first-hand experience of what life is like there; although not every person experiences the same things in life and the writer can depict the life of the masses wrongfully. Another issue that readers face is that some authors may focus heavily on the negative aspects of the culture, this is apparent in how some people view the Mexican people to be. Some Americans have come to think that Mexicans come to America just to take advantage of its' government subsidies, while in actual sense they do not. People should read a variety of books on different cultures to better empathize with them instead of making assumptions about …show more content…
Media, movies, television, and literature can influence the way people think about other cultures. For instance, I have noticed media outlets tend to report more negative stories than good about people from the middle east; this has caused some Americans to fear and stereotype them. In recent years, police officers in the U.S. have been accused by members of their communities, of stopping and arresting people based on racial stereotypes. Some people have been so angered by the police stereotyping, they have started riots and looting in cities in protest against local the police departments. Unfortunately, our country has become divided because of it's on growing racial issues, and racism is more prevalent today than it has been