Here’s a quote for you:
I hate ugly people – Joe Schmoe
Bob Smith read that statement in a recent article and said: “Did you know that Joe Schmoe hates ugly people? I mean, my GOSH! How can someone say something like that. Sure, it’s just his honest feelings, but how can anyone be so blatantly disrespectful and insensitive towards another human being. That guy is completely…”
From that simple quote, Joe receives a bitter response from Bob and many others.
It’s so easy to alter the meaning of something just by changing the context in which it was stated.
What if I told you that Joe’s Schmoe’s quote was taken from a comedy sketch he performed live on stage? Here’s a little more of his act – Joe said…
And then my buddy Phil said, “I hate ugly people.” (*laughter*)
Ah, well that changes things now, doesn’t it? It turns out that in our example, Joe was actually quoting somebody else. Not only that, but being a comedy act, it was probably just a fabricated story anyways. Even still, Joe said it, and therefore he was also quoted as saying it, which led to the tragic downfall of his reputation.
Perhaps this example is a bit too blatantly obvious to accurately imitate real life, but you’d be surprised how close our culture comes to this type of ludicrous misrepresentation (have you ever watched the news?). This type of scenario happens all the time, even in the health and fitness industry. One little piece of information is taken as gospel and a multitude of conclusions are drawn from the literal meaning of a string of words and sentences – even if the original meaning has completely vanished, been ignored, or even been covered up.
Continue reading Context is Everything
