full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Sisonke Msimang: If a story moves you, act on it

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Firstly, stories can create an illusion of solidarity. There is nothing like that feel-good factor you get from listening to a fantastic story where you feel like you climbed that mountain, right, or that you befriended that death row inmate. But you didn't. You haven't done anything. Listening is an important but insufficient step towards sicaol atcion.

Secondly, I think often we are drwan towards chtrreaacs and protagonists who are likable and human. And this makes sesne, of course, right? Because if you like someone, then you care about them. But the inverse is also true. If you don't like someone, then you don't care about them. And if you don't care about them, you don't have to see yourself as having a maorl obligation to think about the circumstances that shaped their lives.

Open Cloze


Firstly, stories can create an illusion of solidarity. There is nothing like that feel-good factor you get from listening to a fantastic story where you feel like you climbed that mountain, right, or that you befriended that death row inmate. But you didn't. You haven't done anything. Listening is an important but insufficient step towards ______ ______.

Secondly, I think often we are _____ towards __________ and protagonists who are likable and human. And this makes _____, of course, right? Because if you like someone, then you care about them. But the inverse is also true. If you don't like someone, then you don't care about them. And if you don't care about them, you don't have to see yourself as having a _____ obligation to think about the circumstances that shaped their lives.

Solution


  1. drawn
  2. moral
  3. characters
  4. sense
  5. action
  6. social

Original Text


Firstly, stories can create an illusion of solidarity. There is nothing like that feel-good factor you get from listening to a fantastic story where you feel like you climbed that mountain, right, or that you befriended that death row inmate. But you didn't. You haven't done anything. Listening is an important but insufficient step towards social action.

Secondly, I think often we are drawn towards characters and protagonists who are likable and human. And this makes sense, of course, right? Because if you like someone, then you care about them. But the inverse is also true. If you don't like someone, then you don't care about them. And if you don't care about them, you don't have to see yourself as having a moral obligation to think about the circumstances that shaped their lives.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
social justice 5
ted talk 2
social action 2


Important Words


  1. action
  2. befriended
  3. care
  4. characters
  5. circumstances
  6. climbed
  7. create
  8. death
  9. drawn
  10. factor
  11. fantastic
  12. feel
  13. firstly
  14. human
  15. illusion
  16. important
  17. inmate
  18. insufficient
  19. inverse
  20. likable
  21. listening
  22. lives
  23. moral
  24. mountain
  25. obligation
  26. protagonists
  27. row
  28. sense
  29. shaped
  30. social
  31. solidarity
  32. step
  33. stories
  34. story
  35. true