" How impressionable and vulnerable we are in the face of a story, particularly as children."
––––– Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Prejudice is what stops us from learning and progressing. And where does prejudice come from? Chimamanda raised one possibility that is "show a people one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become." As an African woman, she specifically described how Africans were falsely pictured as "poor" as a general image to people. And that stereotype is formed not because it is untrue, but because it is incomplete.
As a Chinese living outside of China for about 10 years, I can deeply relate to her experiences. Lots of people have asked me if we really eat dogs, and do I get arrested if I try to get onto Facebook or Google during the past few years. The answer can be easily figured out if they have ever tried to visit China. Not to mention the international vibe in Beijing and Shanghai, any other non-famous secondary cities are growing in an unimaginable speed. For example, my lovely hometown Chengdu, has built up to 12 different subway routes from 2010 till now. Both Chimamanda and my story have stressed the importance of critical thinking skill.
But while Chimamanda points that if we reject the thinking of there is only one single story, we can regain the paradise. I would rather say that to develop the critical thinking skill is far more important than just listen to multiple stories. To listen to a story from multiple perspectives is vital for knowing the complete truth, but really what matters is the thoughts you have developed after receiving the informations.
So why are we continuously reading just one story? There are political reasons involved as mentioned by Chimamanda that "Power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person, but to make it the definitive story of that person." I can't agree with this more from my own experiences. Due to the growing political tension between China and the U.S, news you see from a Chinese local TV show can be largely different from the news you would see from the U.S. I was worried that while the Chinese government is trying to depict America as a dangerous country where gun shots are happening everywhere, and the Covid cases are out of control, and then when I arrived in New York found people are just living a normal life.
All in all, we need to thrive to find a full story, a story from different perspectives, and then develop critical thinking after gathering enough of the full sides. To be more specific on what critical thinking refers to, it is to stand in other people' s shoes to give opinions that can best cover each side of the story. The more we learn, the less we think we have learnt.
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