Quoting Out of Context

Alias: Accent1

Taxonomy: Logical Fallacy > Informal Fallacy > Ambiguity > Quoting Out of Context

Examples:

Here are some headlines:

Trump suggests "it's going to be a bloodbath" if he loses the election2

Trump says there will be a 'bloodbath' if he isn't reelected3

Trump says there will be a 'bloodbath' if he loses the election4

Exposition:

To quote out of context is to remove a passage from its surrounding matter in such a way as to distort its meaning. The context in which a passage occurs always contributes to its meaning, and the shorter the passage the larger the contribution. For this reason, the quoter should always be careful to quote enough of the context not to misrepresent the meaning of the quote. Of course, in some sense, all quotation is out of context, but by a "contextomy", I refer only to those quotes whose meaning is changed by a loss of context. The fallacy of quoting out of context is committed when a contextomy is offered as evidence in an argument. Such fallacious quoting can take two distinct forms:

  1. Straw Man: This form is especially common in political debates, when opponents are quoted out of context in order to misrepresent their position, thus making them easier to refute. Frequently, the loss of context makes them sound simplistic or extreme.
  2. Appeal to Authority: Naturally enough, arguments from authority often quote experts as a premiss. However, it is possible to quote even legitimate experts out of context so as to misrepresent their opinions, which is a form of misleading appeal to authority.

Context of the Examples:

If you look at the United Auto Workers what they've done to their people is horrible. They want to do this all-electric nonsense where the cars don't go far, they cost too much, and they're all made in China, and the head of the United Auto Workers never probably shook hands with a Republican before. … China now is building a couple of massive plants where they're going to build the cars in Mexico, and they think that they're going to sell those cars into the United States with no tax at the border. Let me tell you something to China: … those big monster car manufacturing plants that you're building in Mexico right now, and you think you're going to not hire Americans and you're going to sell the cars to us now, we're going to put a 100% tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and you're not going to be able to sell those guys. Now if I don't get elected it's going to be a bloodbath for the whole―that's going to be the least of it―it's going to be a bloodbath for the country, that'll be the least of it, but they're not going to sell those cars.5

Analysis6:

Trump is often difficult to understand because he tends to talk in one long, rambling, run-on sentence, frequently interrupting himself in the middle of a thought to go follow some other thought, sometimes returning to finish the first thought and sometimes not. So, there's often some excuse for reporters misunderstanding what he says, but little excuse in this case. In context, it's clear that "bloodbath" refers to what's supposed to happen to the automobile industry, and not some kind of civil war or rioting. Out of context, in the headlines and elsewhere, the false impression is created that Trump is predicting, or perhaps threatening, political violence if he loses.


Notes:

  1. S. Morris Engel, With Good Reason: An Introduction to Informal Fallacies (Sixth Edition, 2000), pp. 114-18. See the entry for the fallacy of Accent for why this is a misleading name for Quoting Out of Context.
  2. Kit Maher & Alayna Treene, "Trump suggests 'it's going to be a bloodbath' if he loses the election", CNN, 3/16/2024.
  3. "Trump says there will be a 'bloodbath' if he isn't reelected", Today, 3/17/2024.
  4. Emma Barnett & Jillian Frankel, "Trump says there will be a 'bloodbath' if he loses the election", NBC News, 3/16/2024.
  5. "Donald Trump talks about Bernie Moreno, his presidential campaign WCPO 9in Ohio", WCPO 9, 3/16/2024.
  6. This section is based on the following weblog entry: How to Lie With Headlines, 3/18/2024.

Revised: 9/18/2024