Here’s one of the most common spins used by politicians and the media. Maybe it’s confirmation bias or maybe it’s cognitive dissonance, but it’s quite common in politics to clip and frame someone as saying something they clearly did not say (or mean) in context.
Quoting out of context (sometimes referred to as contextomy or quote mining) is an informal fallacy in which a passage is removed from its surrounding matter in such a way as to distort its intended meaning.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quoting_out_of_context
JACK PROSOBIEC is quoted as saying he want’s, “…to end democracy.” CNN aired the clip and condemned him, even to the point of SE Culp to want to ‘light her hair on fire’ because of how horrible it is that Prosobiec wants to ‘end democracy’ (see: https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2024/02/23/jack-posobiec-cpac-remarks-democracy-cnc-vpx.cnn ) . Of course, in context there is general laughter in the crowd because they understood that Prosobiec is satirizing his opponents and defining the opposition’s ‘democracy’ as akin to what North Korea might claim as democracy (see: https://rumble.com/v4fb8p0-jack-posobiec-what-you-call-democracy-is-the-same-thing-that-north-korea-ca.html ).
DONALD TRUMP is still accused of saying that neo-Nazis are ‘fine people’ (known and labeled as the ‘Fine People Hoax’). As recent as February 2024 one writer alludes to it as proof of Trump’s racism (see: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/24/trump-black-voters-indicted-mug-shot/ ). However, the ‘Fine People On Both Sides’ hoax has been thoroughly debunked (see:
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/03/21/trump_didnt_call_neo-nazis_fine_people_heres_proof_139815.html ). The full transcript of the discussion shows that within seconds Trump clearly stated, “I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and white nationalists because they should be condemned totally.”
JOE BIDEN was also taken out of context as merely claiming, “Antifa is an idea, not an organization.” His opponents were quick to emphasize his words as meaning he didn’t condemn Antifa as a group/organization. However, he clearly condemned Antifa as a group (see: https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN2712YI/ )
You can call it what you want, but Quote Mining (like Cherry-picking) is a good description. If you are a thinking person, you’ll instantly have a sense of ‘no way’ they said that. Chances are you’ll be right if you look to the context of the moment or the context of all the words surrounding the quote. Frankly, it looks like some people do this sort of thing accidentally because they are so motivated to think the ‘other side’ is pure evil. Yet, when it comes to the media, most likely they are lying and attempting to manipulate the public. They simply have too many sources and too many editors for someone along the way not to know the full story. Of course, they can later ‘retract’ what they said, but that’s inconsequential because the spin is out their in the wild.
Don’t get spun!
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