It seems almost every single interview I've seen or read lately concerning the Rev. Wright issue and Hillary's having misspoken about Bosnia contains the term "taken out of context". Does this serve to pardon the speaker of such vitriolic comments about America or accounts which have been conveniently padded to suit ones needs? I don't know about you, but I'm absolutely sick of hearing this word used in relation to these issues.
2008-03-26T09:00:30Z
I totally understand and agree that a person should not make judgments based solely on snippets. What I'm referring to is the overuse of the term "out of context", said as though to excuse the original remarks, despite the entire speech or document being totally in line with the supposed "out of context" portion. It seems these days that "out of context" is more a talking point and less a reality.
Pragmatism Please2008-03-27T20:59:31Z
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"Out of context" is being used out of context. By the time November rolls around, the phrase will be so exhausted we will have to retire it from modern English.
Absolutely. The fact is that they take a tiny little piece of something bigger and either use it for themselves or against someone else. So everything is always taken out of context when you use three words to describe someone's foreign policy experience from a menu at a restaurant in Bosnia. Sure the three words look good, but the whole document doesn't make anyone look good. Maybe we should start quoting things word for word as they happened instead of cutting and pasting and then getting on the defensive when the cut and paste is discovered.
Complex things have a certain context in which they are meant to be viewed. Simpletons can only deal with 5 second soundbites and do not see the context and cannot hope to understand what is going on. Cynical politicos take advantage of that by quoting things out of context.
Look at it this way - If I were to characterize your question by saying that regarding Rev Wright and Hillary, Nikki S said people should "pardon the speaker" - wouldn't you say that was taken out of context?
No, context is a great word. The problem you are having with the word is that these individuals are using the phrase out of context. "Out of context" means that the entire meaning of an excerpt or claim is different than the excerpt or claim implies; the people you are referring to are just lying and using this phrase to cover their tracks.