The responsibility of reading different stories
Whose stories do we read?
When you read about or hear a news story, how often do you think about the version of a story you are finding out about? And how often do we all think about the other side of what we are being told? We are all absorbing our own versions of anything we read about and hear about. And we act on what we believe from what we find out and the stories we create in our minds. There’s such a responsibility in that though, and do we all consider that when we make up our minds about something? Do we take enough time and care to read around the subject and find out another perspective.
The Lion’s story
With so many complex things happening around the world, I ponder over what versions of the truth we are seeing and hearing about. Sathnam Sanghera opens his latest book Empireworld with this quote about the lion’s story. When do we get to hear these different stories? The truth is, we don’t. We get fed a version of the truth that people want us to know about. Then we have a responsibility to find out more for ourselves. We’re all too busy though. We have things going on in our lives. So we’re reliant on someone telling us about the things we find out about.
A lot of people tell me they don’t read the news, they don’t watch the news and they prefer not to find out what is happening around the world. And I get it. These things are traumatic and stressful to find out about. Then I think about my friend’s husband who was a news reporter. He died in Ukraine reporting on the news about the war there. And people like him are risking their lives for us. So that we can find out about what’s going on. They tell us the story. So we have a responsibility to do so, and if we can, to find out what the lion’s story is.
Different stories matter
It doesn’t all have to be through serious news stories though. We find out about things through other stories too. That’s why stories matter, and different stories matter even more. What can we all do to reach out beyond our echo chambers to find out more about different things and different people? That’s what is on my mind.
I’ve always loved the writing of Toni Morrison. That’s what she does in her writing. She tells us about the stories of people from a different perspective. She tells the story you might not have heard. And in doing so, she often puts the reader in an uncomfortable place. She forces you to look at things in a different way. She explores who created the definitions, and how we all define people from the perspective we get to see.
Read a different story
And I’m just the same as most people. I confirm my biases by reading about things I want to, reading the stories I want to read, talking to people who want to talk about the things I do. And I watch the things I want to see.
Can we challenge ourselves more in this? Can we try and see things from a different perspective?
That’s the challenge I am setting for myself, how about you?
