A521.2.3.RB_SchreterPaul

The single story, as shown throughout history, can be a means of motivating others into action. It can also be a means of control and power. The two examples that most come to mind when talking about a single story is with the Nazi perception of Jews during the early 20^th century and the North Korean perception of Americans today.

During the time period of Hitler’s reign of power, he blamed Jews for the economic downturn of the German nation. This single story painted the Jews in such an incredibly negative fashion. What was most fascinating though was how much enthusiasm Hitler had with his stories. As Whalen described, “of all the emotions that will move your audience to embrace your point of view, enthusiasm is the most important.” (Whalen, 2007) Many would say that Hitler’s enthusiasm was the driving force of his campaign. Imagine if he wasn't enthusiastic at all, but rather mundane and boring. Imagine if he gave a boring PowerPoint presentation that looked like the following:

Another single story that’s get told is one that is found in North Korean. From a very early age Americans are portrayed as “cruel, ghoulish barbarians with big noses and fiendish eyes. Teeth bared, they brand prisoners with hot irons, set wild dogs on women and wrench out girl’s teeth with pliers.” (REPORTER, 2012) While I don’t believe it is our call to make, as far as how or what North Koreans are taught in these schools, I do think it’s unfortunate that they are taught only the single story. These kids are being indoctrinate into adopting a very negative view of a particular race. It’s as if the government were domesticating its people as one would of dogs.

The two examples that came to mind when talking about a single story was one of Nazi views of the Jews and one of North Korean views of Americans. I do believe that these were/are a means of control and power and it’s rather unfortunate as the whole story is not given. Granted these were an effective part of the means of motivation, just not very moral or ethical in nature.

References

REPORTER, D. M. (2012, June 24). How North korean children are taught to hate the 'American b*******' at kindergarten. Retrieved from MailOnline: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2163817/How-North-Korean-children-taught-hate-American-b----kindergarten.html

Whalen, J. (2007). The Professional Communications Toolkit.