FATHER BRESSANI CATHOLIC HIGH SCOOL: A SCHOOL FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES AND ADVANCED PLACEMENT CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Post #8 - Reflections on The Single Story
Students are required to spend some time reading and reflecting on peer's initial posts to the TEDtalk "The Single Story". Please comment on two peer posts . For each of your posts begin your comments/reflections with, " My response to Post #7 written by (name of student) is..."
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My response is to post number 7 written by Michelle Di Ceglie. She was right; we are all guilty of the single story about Africa and India. Because of all the images we see on TV today, it influences my mind about what that country might look like. For example, I knew Africa was a continent and there were countries within it that are wealthy. However, I didn’t know that a university was there and there was where there were students going to school and learning. I didn’t know that there were African novelists. In fact, the media did make me believe that all countries in Africa were poor.
ReplyDeleteMy other response is to 7 written by Zachary Smart. He mentioned that us as a public need to stop listening to the single stories and to believe the two sides of every story. When having a class discussion, Zach was in my group. He made a very good point that if we were to say all Muslim men are wife beaters; we are saying all Germans were for Jewish extermination, or all Australians are surfers with blond hair.
My response is to post #7 written by both Sarah and Erica
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sarah's ideas about Bruno being affected by German culture, even though he did not fully understand it. When he began to associate” Heil Hitler” with a means of saying goodbye, he started to think it was completely natural to do. In a way, we take on the ideals of our culture as a young child simply because that is what we see. So when we are speaking of serious issues around kids, we must be reflective, and try not to encourage incorrect or inappropriate things, such as the single story.
Erica makes many fine points about the single story, but I want to focus most on the point that it dehumanizes the subject. Usually, a single story makes us feel one of two emotions, pity or frustration. When we hear the stories over and over again that cause pity or frustration, it begins to make us see a people as something less than what we are. For instance, with all of the publicity about poverty in Africa, the African people become a problem to help and care for, not a proud nation full of hopeful individuals. Likewise, the constant reminders of tyrannical Nazis killing Jews en masse cause us to grow angry with an image of soulless, monstrous killer from Germany instead of a vibrant, efficient culture.
As I read through all the posts in response to the Ted Talk, there were two specific comments from two different authors that surprised me because I never really thought of that side of the story, which shames me, but also emphasizes the significance of taking the time to learn the multiple sides to one story. The first quote is from the post written by Melissa Paul. She says, “Listening to only the single story is like only looking on one side of the fence…we see only what that side tells us. For example, in the book The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, we see both sides of the fence. Previous to this book, I knew almost nothing about the German side of the war. I only knew the single story. Because I was ignorant…I believed that the Jewish were the only true sufferers.” Her connection to ‘The Boy in The Striped Pajamas’ was both relevant and clever. It allowed me to re-evaluate the book, specifically the significance of the fence. It gave the fence a more definite meaning in both the context of the book as well as in the Holocaust. Melissa’s draws upon another interesting point, that “previous to the novel” she didn’t know much about the German side of the war. This makes me realize that ‘The Boy in the Striped Pajamas’ was an invaluable insight to the “other side of the fence”, the side that is often left unexplored by historians and students alike, the German side. I had never noticed that Bruno’s ignorance ended up eradicating much of the ignorance in my mind, that everything he knew I did not, but he managed to teach me it. Subconsciously I recognized this book was from the German perspective, but I never understood what this meant. I didn’t realize that I was delving into a side of the Holocaust I never cared to explore, that my unintended exploration alongside Bruno taught me countless opinion-altering things I will never forget. That revelation was amazing, a revelation that Melissa’s writing provoked. Thanks Melissa!
ReplyDeleteThe second post I chose to comment on is Mary-Ann’s. Two comments really caught my attention. “I could not see an African young girl pitying others or believing that they are poor (when she herself was also counted as poor in my eyes).” This statement made me realize that I unconsciously thought so too. After so many commercials of children in Africa lying in flea-infested houses, starving and crying the image does become engrained in my mind, to the point where the word ‘Africa’ is synonymous with ‘poverty’ and with those depressing images portrayed on television. It’s an unwanted reflex, one that frustrates and embarrasses me, makes me feel as juvenile as Bruno in ‘The Boy in the Striped Pajamas’. These feelings flared up when Mary-Ann continued in pointing out that, “People in Africa don’t do this we create these footage ourselves. We use the power of media and technology to create a story that Africa is a very poor country. The purpose behind this may not be an evil one but it still created a ‘single story’.” How could I be so dumb as to forget, after all we have learned, that we ourselves paint that picture? That we probably send people over, let them manipulate the setting and people to create the best footage, then they pick up and leave. Yes, the intent may not be evil, but I don’t appreciate the expected guilt trip every time I see the commercial break has started, guilt that is only amplified when I get so annoyed I change the channel to watch different brain-melting garbage instead. It upsets me because it is not as if I want to feel a degrading sense of pity ever time I see a person with a skin colour darker than my own. I know I hate it when people don’t know me yet believe that they do. They create different lenses for me based on any (and every) stereotype that has to deal with me. She’s a girl, that’s a blue lens. She’s white, that’s a red lens. She’s in AP, that’s a green lens. She’s tall, that’s an orange lens. They think that by overlapping all these lenses and looking through them they’ll discern the real me, even see something about the real me. Anyone who passed elementary school art knows that blue, red, green and orange makes an ugly black. The same black you get when attempting to mix too many colours whose properties you don’t understand. Hypothetically, they wouldn’t see anything, not even grasp at anything on the surface, nevermind deeper. Although anyone who does attempt this, would definitely see me “plainly roll[ing] my eyes.” I thank you Mary-Ann, your piece successfully reinforced my belief of the danger of the single story, along with my willingness to erase it from my mind and the minds of others.
ReplyDeleteMy response to Post #7 written by Thomas Hewitt is in regards to how he provided another side of the single story, I had grown to learn, know and believe; one that I have never really taken the time to process and think about. Before this whole experience of reading books and interviews, watching documentaries and listening to presentations, mainly about the single story in relation to the Holocaust, I always looked at the story from the Jews point of view. How the Germans had to be horrible, disgusting, inhumane creatures because they could go around killing innocent people without even caring. But thanks to Thomas, I can now look at this one story I have believed in and actually look at it from another side. Many of the Germans, were not how I once described and frowned upon. In fact, they were just like me; they listened to the people in higher power, the ones who were supposed to be making their country stronger and better, the government, in their case the Nazi government. They were painted a picture that Jews were greedy, secretive and deceptive. It did not take long for them to fall for this propaganda. The Nazi government perceived the Jews as one thing, and this became the single story for many Germans. It was so effective that they believed in everything they were hearing. But for the first time, I actually reflect upon this unique turn to a story I had thought I knew and think maybe the Germans were not actually how they had been portrayed. Now I can really ask myself, can u blame them, because in their eyes they were doing what was right and if I not known any better, like many of them, I probably would have done the same thing.
ReplyDeleteMy response to Post #7 written by Erica Smenderovac is in regards to how despite everything she had been taught and all the research she had gathered, she still found the topic of the Holocaust incomprehensible. To be honest, if I had read this exact statement, a couple weeks ago, I probably would have said, “Are you out of your mind? What else is there to know? The Germans killed the Jews and that’s pretty much how it went.” But it’s funny how now I feel the exact same way. The story of the Holocaust really is incomplete and this kind of goes hand in hand to what I commented on Thomas’ response. We do not know what the common, everyday, German citizen was thinking when they heard about all these Jews dying. We do not know what the Jews were thinking, the ones in the concentration camps dying and the ones that were hidden and saved by a German soldier. The fact is, we will probably never know, just like we will never even come close to figuring out the real, exact reason for why the Holocaust went down. Because like Erica said, “There are just too many possible endings of too many possible stories to consider.” And although this is hard to swallow, especially when I think about all the horrific things that took place, by destroying that single story in my mind, to me it is like now the real story does not matter because I now know there really is no right answer, no single story that says it all.
The two classmate’s comments from blog post number seven that I’d like to comment on are Kyle’s and Michele’s. Kyle talks about how our sources of learning about certain cultures and events like the Holocaust are very biased. Obviously, if we are reading a story about the Holocaust written by a concentration camp survivor, they are going to say that all Germans were horrible and wicked because that’s the only side of them they’ve seen. In reality, some of the Germans were gentile, kind-hearted people who wanted to help the Jews and were completely against Hitler’s ways. Kyle tells the readers that we have to open up to different stories to get a better understanding of the two cultures. Just saying “I read one book on the holocaust,” does not mean you know everything about the holocaust, in fact, you probably know very little. He says that knowledge is power and I could not agree more.
ReplyDeleteMichele’s comment talks about society’s exposure to prejudice media. When we hear Africans we see a little child covered in dirt, sunken face, striking rib cage, bugs flying all around him in desperate need of money and care. We assume these people know nothing and have nothing in common with us. The truth is, as Chimamanda clearly explains this is not always the case. At one point in the video she says that her roommate once asked her to play “folk music” and was disappointed when she played Mariah Carrey instead. I found this funny but interesting how the naïve roommate had no idea that people in developing countries could be so alike to us. As Michele concludes, we must stop judging people on the little we know about them because even though we think we know a lot, it really is just medias way of brainwashing us into believing what they want us to believe.
My response to Post 7 written by Kyle Ngyuen is in response to his comment about how “Knowledge is power and there is so much to learn, so we should never look in a narrow way. And with that we will see everything with a brand new light.” I agree with this comment because I firmly believe that we should never stop learning and always continue to educate ourselves about what is going on around the world. In our modern time, we have access to information instantly. All it takes is a click of the mouse and we can find dozens of pages of research about a certain topic. If we work to educate ourselves about both sides of the story then Kyle is right, we will never look at issues from a narrow perspective again. Kyle is also correct in saying that we will see situations in a new way. Having a firm understanding of all sides of an issue will allow us to make more informed judgements about an issue and prevent us from falling prey to the single story created by the media.
ReplyDeleteMy response to Post 7 written by Sam Cesario is that I agree with her comment about how little she knew about the life of people in African countries. Before watching this video I had not even realized that there was a middle class in Africa; I had always thought that there were only extremely poor or extremely rich people. Now, I realize that I too had fallen for the single story and had never taken the time to consider that there might be more to Africa then what we see on the news. I felt ignorant and guilty because I had never bothered to “read between the lines” and analyse the media reports. It was a mistake that I now regret and one that I will try not to make again.
My response to Post #7 written by Sarah Natale and Veronica Cesario
ReplyDeleteI think that Sarah is right, kids are affected the worst by stereotypes. Especially if those stereotypes are in the media. Even today the media controls kids by making them want to get the newest toys and go and eat at McDonalds etc. Bruno was affected by the stereotypes the Nazi’s were putting about about themselves and the Jews. He did and said things when he didn’t even know what they meant, simply because he is a kid and he will follow his parents. He moved with his parents from his old house to Out-With and he said “Heil Hitler” without knowing what that meant either. I also agree how our society enjoys stereotypes and I must say I enjoy them too. It makes TV and movies more funny and interesting. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as you keep in mind that these stereotypes only show us one side of the story.
Veronica also has very interesting comments. Stories definitely have power and even more power when told by someone with power. Just one story, if told by the right person and heard by the right people could turn an entire society against another. Stereotypes are just stories that have parts cut out of them to show a certain group, culture or person in a certain light, whether that be good or bad is up to the person editing it. If people took a moment to think about what they are hearing and think about how realistic it really is, there would be less ignorance caused by stereotypes.
My response to post number 7 written by David is that I thought he had a clear idea of stereotypes and that he understood the African woman very well. He wrote in his comment, "Watching the Ted Talk video was important to me. Even though I know that stereotypes are not the entire story, I have fallen victim to a lot of them." This really hits home with me as admittedly, I too have fallen victim to believing in stereotypes. Haven't we all? Through David's words he confirms the woman's ideas by agreeing that a single story, is what we should all fear. A single story can never give us a full understanding of a culture or person. It is better that we search for more stories in order to better understand. Overall, I thought his comment was well written and that he helped me get a firmer grasp on the moral the woman was trying to portray.
ReplyDeleteMy response to post number 7 written by Melissa is that she really linked the Ted Talk well with the Holocaust. She writes "Because I was ignorant to what may have happened on the other side, I believed that the Jewish were the only true sufferers. But the book, along with the Ted Talks, broke my way of thinking. It showed me that people were hurt everywhere." Because the book only offers one story through the eyes of a Jew, we are unable to see or hear the stories of other cultures or religions that were hurt by Hitler's actions. Because we can guarantee that there are more stories from others. It is a common fact of life that there will always be more than one side to every story. If the book provided multiple stories to us, we would know that there were many people other than Jews that were affected by the Holocaust. Maybe this is the fault of the media, or perhaps maybe even society. Melissa truly understood the idea presented by Ms. Adichie.
My response to post #7 is written by Zachary Smart. I agree with him when he says that single stories are framing cultures. They are creating the borders and fences that we wish to destroy. I like how he questions “how often was an image like this true” in reference to the Nazis. We know cultures are defined in the media by the single story, but how often do the people fit into the stereotypes we’ve given them? I think that when a person is introduced to the culture firsthand, they learn that the single story is not a fair account of their lives. The single story is binding, tying these cultures down with the images of them that are in media.
ReplyDeleteMy response to post #7 is written by David Jardine. We all have listened to stereotypes at some point in our lives. The media is a large influence on our views. It has convinced most of the western world that Africa is a place that needs our help, and they are savages. In reality, there are probably cities that are not unlike ours. I agree with David when he says power creates stereotypes. The people with power are usually responsible for stereotypes because they can influence their people. Hitler had power, so he convinced his people that the Jews were horrible. He also had the power to silence the people who disagreed with him. I like how David suggests that Hitler’s views on Jews started as a joke. This makes me think about why Hitler chose the Jews as the targets.
My first response to post #7 is the comment posted by Kayla. Two of the things she said stuck out to me. She said “When she said a young boy came up to her and said its too bad all Nigerian men beat their wives, it made me realize it is the same thing as saying All Germans are Nazis an want to exterminate the Jews." That statement is completely true and it made me think about how many similar situations we come across with a variation of the same statement. I’ve heard so many times things that basically mean the same thing, but with different cultures. Kayla made me realize that even today, with everyone against racism and prejudice, statements like that are still mentioned. The second thing that she said that stuck out to me is “I reflected upon my classmates and wondered "what if I had a single story in my head about all their cultures?" Would they be negative? Would I not have any friends in this class? What about me? Would my friends accept me and my culture because I'm not Italian?” I had the same thoughts as her. I thought about what would happen to me if everyone had only listened to the single story. The stereotypes around Indians could have influenced everyone’s opinion of me before they even met me.
ReplyDeleteMy second response to post #7 was written by David. He mentions that the speaker says that stereotypes come from people with power. I completely agree with him. That statement is completely true, because if it wasn’t then the Holocaust would not have happened. Hitler used the power he had to start the rumours about the Jewish people. If he had no power then he could not have done what he did. This is a good point because while it is the people with power who start the stereotypes, the people of a country give the people the power. We support one person, and we give them the power to start these rumours.
My response to Post #7 written by Melissa is that a lot of things she said really stuck out to me. First, she says "it made everyone, unknowingly realize that they do the same thing." This in my opinion, is 100% true. I don't think many of us will admit that we jump to conclusions about a person we barely know and realize what we are doing in the midst of it. Thinking we know someone based on what we have heard of their culture or their background is second nature to us. Although it is a terrible thing, it's something we don't think about as we ask a person ridiculous questions about their culture. Next, she quotes the woman from the Ted Talks video by saying: "stereotypes aren't wrong, but they are not complete." Yes, some things that we know about Germans, Indians, Italians, Jews, the French or whichever culture may be true, but there is so much more to a person that what we know about their culture.
ReplyDeleteMy second response to Post #7 written by Megan. In my opinion, Megan's first sentence was enough to make me agree with her. She says: "The single story is dangerous; it invades our lives and is killing us, literally and non-literally." The single story is dangerous, mostly because it's extremely offensive. I'm Italian, but no my life is not like an episode of "The Soprano's." Someone may be German, but that does not mean their ancestor's were Nazi's. Our perception of people using The Single Story has taken over or "invaded" our lives like Megan says, and it seems as though we are letting it. We seem to like to know things about a person before we really get to know them. This wrong and unfair to the person, but at the same time, they may be doing the same thing to you. It's all a big chain reaction and if we don't put a stop to it, over time, it is going to make it okay for us to start judging people based on ONE story.
My response to post #7 is written by Michelle and Veronica.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Michelle about the fact that we are all guilty of “the single story”. Whether we like it or not, in our world today we are surrounded by stereotypes and the prejudgment of others. Unfortunately this leads to it being embedded in our minds and becoming almost a second nature. I also agree that there are many unheard of stories about the Holocaust that might change our perspectives on the German or Jewish cultures completely. I believe that it’s important to remember that everyone has a story, and that they are not always what you make them out to be.
I really like the quote Veronica used to begin her post. It is true that stories can be good or bad. From hearing stories, we can grow and learn. In events such as the Holocaust many stories are present. Every person involved (even including us students learning about the events) has a story to tell about the Holocaust. We can listen to the different stories, and provide our own opinions, but problems begin to arise when we refuse to listen to multiple stories. By being a believer in the single story, we are being stubborn and close-minded—refusing to learn. It is when we open our eyes and see the diversity and learn to embrace that, that the single story is eliminated.
My response to Post #7 written by Samantha Clarizio is very positive. Sam made some great points in regards to the TEC talk video our class watched. One point that I specifically agreed with is when she stated, “Society bases their thoughts on what they choose to listen too, and not necessarily what is true”. I love that Sam said this because it is a great point that I did not think of but completely agree with! Sometimes, (and I too are at fault for doing this), people hear a full story but only actually LISTEN to what they may think is relative. As Sam says, in relation to the Holocaust we listen to all the horrible things that the German people but never really listen to hear the stories about all the wonderful things that some German people did. I agree with Samantha when she says that we are all guilty from time to time of only listening to one single story, because it is true that everybody does. It is true that we have NO right to believe in just one story because all of us have more than one single story.
ReplyDeleteMy response to Post #7 written by Sarah Natale is I thought she had a very good understanding of how a single story can be dangerous. Sarah brings up a great point that society most likely bases stereotypes and single stories on NEGATIVE aspects of a culture that may only be demonstrated a small group of people. Why are single-stories never based on positive aspects? But then again, if these single stories were based on POSITIVE aspects, would people really mind? Sarah also relates this to the Holocaust because society based their opinions of Germans on the Nazis. Not all Germans were Nazis and not all Germans were harmful towards the Jewish people. After reading through my peer’s posts, I was left to think about “single-stories” much more.
My response to Post #7 written by Isabella Socci. I agree with her thoughts as she explains that the single story affected how society thinks of the relationship between the Germans and the Jews. As she states, “not all Germans hated Jews, and not all Jews hated Germans.” We base our understanding of cultures on the stories that we hear, usually only one, and remain oblivious to the other views of assorted people. Not only was this the case, but Isabella also mentions that we all have a mind of our own, and they make either good decisions or bad decisions, but these decisions should not evaluate every person in the culture! It is wrong to judge based on a single story, and Isabella discusses this in a very accurate way.
ReplyDeleteMy response to Post #7 written by Veronica Cesario. The quote she used to start her Post was one of the most direct and powerful statements that Chimamanda Adichie had made in her speech about the single story. I completely realize what Veronica is expressing when she says that a single story can be dangerous to society, especially the German and Jewish cultures. As she states, “This single-story broke the German’s reputation and created a very bad image of all Germans. As for the Jews, the 'single-story' made them out to be helpless, and extremely hated toward ALL German people because of what had been done to them.” This line is compelling and it really is amazing how altered stereotypes can be based on one single story, whether that would be positive or negative. Through one thought, becomes the thought of millions of other people. Her last line, “This in essence IS paradise,” is a perfect ending that sums up the paradise that is realized when we open our minds and hearts to multiple stories.
My first response to post number seven is to David Jardine’s post. I completely agree that we have grown up alongside stereotypes, and even though we know that majority of them are not always true but we still fall prey to them. We are tricked and “taught” by the media. They always show the “one single story” alone, so we are thought with a biased and one sided. We grow accustomed to these and begin associating things with that single story. We all think of Africa as a group of tribal people who are totally unaware of the world around them. But truth be told that is only some of Africa, not all of it. I also agree that we know very little of what happened behind the scenes of Nazi Germany’s plans. Who knows what they thought or what they were leading to and what made them do such a horrible things to the Jewish people.
ReplyDeleteMy second response to post number seven is to Isabelle Nicholls’ post. I agree with her saying how most of us do believe what we are told, unless it is very far-fetched. Hitler used the vulnerability to drill a story into the minds of his followers. He also continuously told them the same thing over and over, progressively becoming more and more persuasive. We should also understand that there are stereotypes and we need to like with them, and to not judge people. First thing you see in a person, is usually their skin colour and what you do and how you apply at that point will completely decide your relation with that person. We cannot judge a book by its cover, like Isabelle says, we need to dig deeper in and embrace the story or at least try it out. We meet someone of a different culture or race and we try to distinguish the differences between us, why not look for the similarities, I am sure you will find many.
Unfortunately I deleted all my reflection on Michelle DeCeglie's and Kayla Terceira's posts by accident, so I will quickly reflect on my feelings about them. While reading Michelle's post she stated a comment which I believe is very true "we are always so fixated on the bad". This statement just proves why stereotypes are always negative, most of us seem to complain about things more than being grateful and we tend to judge people cynically at times. We are blessed with many things that we tend to zoom in on the negative things in life, and like Michelle stated fixated on the bad. All stereotypes are twisted, and incomplete but negative due to our negative, judging human nature that we see one person with a certain story and base all other people of that decent that way too. We get these feeded negative stereotypes that we tend to believe in after awhile and we becoming judging and labelling people as well. I find this a very interesting statement being pulled out from this information. Kayla's post made me ask questions about "what if"? She made not only made a link from the speech to German and Jewish culture very effectively but she also made me wonder how stereotypes would affect my life as well. How I would be treated if I moved somewhere else or had a different background and how I would feel according to these single sided stories.
ReplyDeleteMy response to post #7 written by Chiara Canaletti. She wrote a statement in her response to the TEDtalk and I felt that it was so true, and really made me open my eyes. Chiara said, "People and I am included hear stories and stereotypes about every type of race and culture which are mostly negative, incomplete and influenced by the person telling it or from whom they heard it from, and we tend to 'buy' into or start to believe these repeated stereotypes. Buying into these stereotypes we create labels and nasty images about certain people and rip away their own person identity calling a single unique person another mobster, gangster, drug dealer, cheapskate, or poor person (etc) according to the race, culture and single sided story about them. We categorize people by the negative stories we hear from others but in reality we don't know the culture or country itself, or base one true story and base it on all the other people of that decent." What a perfect statement. She stated the fact that we can't be stereotyped because we are all different, and that's exactly what I feel. Just because someone may be making the wrong mistakes, doesn't mean you can categorize the entire culture like that as well. That's the point that the woman in TEDtalk was trying to get across.
ReplyDeleteMy reponse to post #7 written by Ryan Baldinelli. He went on to talk about how stereotypes are created through a world image and social media. "A stereotype may hold some truth but it is unfair judgement. That being said, stereotypes are created on cultures all over the world. This can hold burdens on people because of stereotypes and media." What he said was true, infact the part where he was talking about burdens really makes sense. Stereotyping cultures does infact create burdens. Without social media, people wouldn't be aware of the things happening all around the world. Who knows, maybe it might just be better.
My first response is to Post #7 written by Sofia. Through the use of a simile, she compared stereotyping to making assumptions about a book after reading only the first page. I think this is a good way to put it into perspective. When we believe only the single story, we let it invade our minds and it stops us from learning the truth. Single stories, although they may be true, are extremely dangerous because they are almost always incomplete. They tell exactly what their name states—one single story—when there are always multiple stories. Sofia stated, “As people, we have an instinct to judge others right away, and that isn’t the worst part; where that judgment turns into a single story is when we don’t bother to learn more about our neighbours so that the single story is broadened into a dimensional perspective.” I completely agree with this statement; the worst part of listening to single stories is that they often become the only story. Instead of learning more we take the “one dimensional” single story and form it into a “three dimensional” perspective, leaving no room for other stories.
ReplyDeleteMy second response is to Post #7 written by Megan. “All Germans hated Jews and idolized Hitler; they either literally killed the Jews or stood comfortably and okay with the fact that these Jews were dying in the concentration camps. All Jews hated Germans and were helpless and powerless in the events of the Holocaust; they were the sole victims.” Megan said that these are 2 statements, 2 single stories, which have encompassed and described the Jewish and German cultures since the Holocaust, and I completely agree. However, they are only single stories. They do not account for everyone and everything that happened during the Holocaust—there were Germans who didn’t agree with Hitler and Jews were not the only ones killed in the concentration camps—but these stories have become the most widely “accepted” points of view. The Holocaust has become associated with single stories of both the German and Jewish cultures, which may be partly true, but nonetheless are not complete and do not account for everyone. Although one single story may be just as representative of a person or cultural group as another single story, no single story on its own is representative of anything or anyone because there is more to everything than a single story. That is why if we give in to only the single story of anything, be it a historical event or a certain ethnic group, we are left with a very inaccurate and incomplete understanding that may cause us to unfairly form opinions.