Social Issues in Thomas Kings The Truth about Stories Free Essay Example, 1750 words

As a Canadian citizen of Afghan background, I can definitely understand where King is coming from in his book The Truth About Stories . I have experienced similar racism and oppression where I work as a Client Service Representative. Despite my ideas, which are good ones that would probably help the company to make money, I am continually kept outside of the decision-making process because, I think, I am not White enough. The other eight employees where I work and my manager all have a sort of distance from me, and the first time I hear about important Client Service decisions is usually after they have been decided in a meeting that I was not invited to attend. Although nobody is trying to take away my land or deny me my cultural heritage, I do feel like I am being made a sort of second-class citizen. Perhaps because of my own personal experiences, I think the stories King tells in his book, and the way in which he chooses to tell them, have a powerful impact. The way his tone seems to change between that of a scholar and that of a story-teller, for instance, is useful as a way of thinking about how Native peoples can and do adapt and change, and would seem convincing to people who like to pretend that they are all just sitting around on a reservation being mystical and Indian. King's choices of stories are also convincing, whether they are from his own experience or whether they are the stories of other people, Native or not. Ultimately the book is a very useful one for those who want to find out more about the way stereotyping and exclusion work in society. I think The truth About Stories would be especially useful for social workers, and should probably be required reading. That seems like a strange opinion, because the book is not really about how to do social work or even necessarily about the socio-economic conditions that create a need for it. However, King's book is about what creates those conditions, at least in part. It is also about the dangers involved in classifying people at all. We will write a custom essay sample on Social Issues in Thomas Kings The Truth about Stories or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now