Bill O'Reilly: Out of Context

Checking what's hot in searches today at Google Trends reminded me to post about quotations taken out of context. Why? Because I've observed the current smear campaign against Fox commentator Bill O'Reilly. The first news clip I saw about this fortunately included more of the context of the radio conversation.

He was pontificating on some white Americans' knowledge of black culture being limited to certain music rappers and their nasty lyrics. As a counter-example, he noted how ordinary was the milieu of the black-oriented restaurant in which he was dining. What did some media pick up? Of course, the latter comment, which, taken out of context, sounds like O'Reilly's amazed at how much the soul food crowd resembles white folks.

The lesson for writers is to be very careful with your quotations of others. Try to imagine how they might be used by people with nefarious agendas. Make sure you include enough of the context to allow readers a neutral (I don't dare say balanced) interpretation.