TED Talks - The Danger of A Single Story

Out of all the speeches I watched, Adichie's speech about the danger of a single story was exceptional and deserves recognition so that more individuals can become enlightened about this topic.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a Nigerian novelist, gave a speech about the danger of a single story. She talks about how she has encountered people with single stories about certain places, including herself. She gave an example of how at an early age, her parents hired a houseboy, Fide, whose family was so poor that they couldn't afford food. With that mentality embedded in her mind, she pictured the Fide's family as one incapable of being in possession of something worthy let alone have the ability to make/do something astonishing. One Saturday she visited Fide's family and was startled to realize that his brother had made a beautiful patterned basket; their poverty was Adichie's single story of Fide's family. She also gives an example of how when she visited Mexico, she was overwhelmed with shame due to the fact that what she encountered wasn't in her range of Mexico's perspective, which she had been fed by the media. Adichie also tells a story of how her roommate had a single story of Africa, which she had also been fed by the media (poor, populated by AIDS victims, babies lacking nutrition, e.t.c.). So when her roommate asked to listen to Adichie's tribal music, she was surprised to hear Mariah Carey's voice; Africa's poverty and misrepresentation was her single story of Africa. Adichie continues further and adds how individuals continuously refer to Africa as a country. Because of all these single stories, danger arises of stereotypes.

As an analysis to Adichie's speech, she succeeded in every category because of the way she presented her speech, not only was she relaxed and dressed accordingly, but she also used techniques to appeal to her audience. Her stories about individuals having single stories about people and/or countries based upon their poverty due to influenced perspectives by sources like media, appeals to the audience's pathos, which makes them more sympathetic to Adichie's concern about the dangers of a single story. Another technique Adichie used to appeal to her audience is humor, which is how she grabbed and kept the audience's attention. She started her speech with her former perspective of an American (white, blue eyes, always talking about weather), which was humorous and made the audience want to know more about her speech. Although many may argue that Adichie's body language wasn't engaging since she was just standing at one place for eighteen minutes, I refute that statement because even though she wasn't moving she used eye contact to her advantage and with that, along with her amazing speech, she was able to draw in the audience and captivate the audience into the moment. So much so that, as an individual watching the speech online, I couldn't look away or open a new tab even though the attention and the camera was on her the whole time. So, in my perspective, this speech didn't fall short at all, in fact, it exceeded my expectations due to the speaker's and the speech's greatness and relevance to our day to day lives.

Naked Photo Leaks: Sex Scandal or Crime?

The dictionary definition of a scandal is a damage to reputation; public disgrace while that one of a crime is an action or an instance of negligence that is deemed injurious to the public welfare or morals or to the interests of the state and that is legally prohibited (DictionaryReference.com). Regarding the recent occurrence in some celebrities' lives, like Kate Upton, Ariana Grande, Jennifer Lawrence etc., every individual (at least those who have heard about it) has made judgment on the situation, including Scott Mendelson who wrote an entire article on what to make of the situation. Mendelson refutes with People and CNN's conclusion that this is just a scandal by counter arguing that, " The actresses and musicians involved did nothing immoral or legally wrong by choosing to take nude pictures of themselves and put them on their personal cell phones." He continues, "...It (the act of stealing said property) is a crime of theft with the intent to exploit its victims as punishment for the unpardonable sin of being female" (Forbes.com). Mendelson basically writes that this situation shouldn't be treated as just a damage to a celebrity's reputation but rather taken measures upon what it is; a crime.

Taking into consideration Mendelson's argument and based upon my morals, I agree with his argument that individuals should terminate poking fun at the situation these celebrities tragically found themselves in. In his article, Mendelson's states that everyone has the right to store such pictures of themselves (or anyone) anywhere but it might not be a good idea. I think it's a bad idea also especially if you are going to store it in something electronic because due to the generation we live in, it's very easy to obtain such files. In the wake of this occurrence, every author is expressing their opinion and recommendation online and I came across articles that were stating that one of the victims, Jennifer Lawrence might be associated with a sex tape leak which is soon to follow her naked photo leak (Jennifer Lawrence 'Naked Sex Video' Leak Next). Another claims that this whole situation will not affect the victims' careers (Why Photo Scandal Won't Hurt Their Careers). I find it pitiful that there are individuals in this world who would prioritize the victims' career in situation like this instead of worrying about how authorities are going to handle this situation to make sure it doesn't happen again. In conclusion, individuals should take the matter of leaked naked pictures, not only of celebrities but those of civilians, more seriously in the sense that they should first stop calling it a scandal and address it as it is; a crime!

Introducing Me!

Hello,

 My name is Emma Njuguna and I'm originally from Kenya, Africa. I've been living here in the United States for 5 years and 3 days now; I officially became a citizen on the 29th (Yay!). Anyways, I'm currently a Computer Science major, planning to double major or minor in Math, somewhere down the road. My reason for being at UK doesn't correspond with my classmates at all because I wasn't actually going to attend UK. I was set on my 1st choice college until my decision was altered last minute and I found myself here but so far I have LOVED attending UK and I have a feeling I'm going to be here more than 2 years.

Regarding the icebreaker question, the song I would use to describe 2014 is Good Life by OneRepublic. This is because the lyrics relate tremendously to how my life is playing out right now; time passed by so quickly in high school and suddenly I woke up in college yesterday, not really knowing how I got here but I'm enjoying and cherishing every moment of it because this has gotta be the good life.