Hi, my name is Chipo.
Greetings Internet! My name is Chipo and I am currently a student at the University of British Columbia. If I had to pick one word to describe about myself, I would chose the word wanderer. I have an intense craving to consume as much knowledge as I possibly can, and then apply said knowledge to make a positive impact on the world. Since I was born, I have been moving across the globe nonstop: I am originally Zimbabwean but I was born in Malaysia where I spent the first six years of my life. From there I moved to Switzerland for seven years, then to New York for the next four years. Right before my final year of high school, I decided to move to Zimbabwe because I haven’t actually lived there before. Although it was a pretty scary decision, I am glad I did something so drastic because in the process I got to know more about myself and the country my passport identifies as home. I chose to move to Vancouver because I haven’t ever been to Canada before and I am the first of my family to call the West Coast home, even if it’s temporary. Through the experience of this ASTU class, I would like to find an answer to why certain voices are not considered significant enough to be heard. What makes this issue so compelling for me is the fact that every human has a platform to express his or her ideas, and I think it is a human necessity to do so. I find it unjust whenever one is prevented from using to his or her voice to the fullest extent or is all together ignored. For example, back in February, Caitlyn Jenner (who was then identifying as Bruce Jenner) was involved in a fatal car crash which resulted in the death of the other driver. News outlets reported mainly about Caitlyn and her side of the story, as seen on variety’s site, but failed to conduct similar amounts of news coverage on the family of the deceased. Since Jenner is a prominent figure in the today’s society, her actions and opinions are seen important to today’s media, thus making an ordinary person’s voice quieter in comparison.
It is difficult to hear a dramatic story on the news or online and not jump to conclusions about the situation. Nevertheless, it is crucial that each perspective be taken into account in order to formulate an accurate opinion. However, just as summaries vary depending on what the writer wants to highlight from the original text so do stories. The issue is that stories and news reports are looking for readers or viewers so the sources used are going to be the most influential and head turning. It is uncommon for a normal person to be chosen as a source over a former Olympic athlete, now celebrity about to change their gender. Despite the fact that she may know more on the subject, her voice won’t be recognized nor will it necessarily be believed over the voice of a celebrity. The voices that get left out in stories are those who appear at first glance not to matter however, it is those voices that we should be looking for because often theirs are the authentic voices with no one pressuring them to side with one party. This calls to mind the questions: is it that those voices are merely being ignored because they’re not considered reliable enough, or are they truly considered insignificant? If the case is the latter, who decides who is significant or not and what right do they have to do so?