JFK And The Media's Messiah Complex
"False quotations are the bane of the internet," said Thomas Jefferson. I tend to agree. But there's a particular breed of quotation error in which I delight. It's the one where the really smart media people attribute to their favorite literary or political figures something that is actually from the Bible.
A few months ago, the New York Times wrote something about the death of Paris bookseller George Whitman:
He welcomed visitors with large-print messages on the walls. “Be not inhospitable to strangers, lest they be angels in disguise,” was one, quoting Yeats. Next to a wishing well at the center of the store, a sign said: “Give what you can, take what you need. George.” By his own estimate, he lodged some 40,000 people.
The Associated Press and NPR all had the same problem. Kind of weird (the line's from Hebrews).
But the Washington Post today has a good one:
[Apple chief executive Tim] Cook also skillfully fielded questions on bringing jobs back to the United States (Will they come back? He “hopes so.”) and said he wanted to work more with Facebook (“stay tuned”). He told the audience that Apple’s recent philanthropic work would go even further; quoting John F. Kennedy, Cook said, “ ‘To whom much is given, much is expected.’ ”
Try Jesus in Luke 12:48.
- Comment (16)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (2)
Comments:
Re: JFK And The Media's Messiah Complex
I saw one on SportsCenter last night: "In the big inning..."
Feb '11
Re: JFK And The Media's Messiah Complex
So much of our cultural heritage is linked to knowledge of the Bible. The unanchored, disconnected people who consider themselves to be the intellectuals of the day are so poorly educated that they should be embarrassed. Instead, they float blithely along in their little echo chamber bubbles... I am heartened that there is a revival of classical education amongst some of us...
Apr '12
Re: JFK And The Media's Messiah Complex
I don't blame anyone for being ignorant of the Bible, but you'd think a responsible editor would recognize biblical quotes. Then again, perhaps in their secularism, they choose to misrepresent the origin to appropriate biblical wisdom for themselves.
Mar '11
Re: JFK And The Media's Messiah Complex
What is worse, attributing quotes to somone else when they come from the Bible, or attributing quotes to the Bible when they belongs to somebody else, ie "God Helps those who help themselves"? It's an ancient phrase, but not from the bible. It's not even a particularly biblical notion. It's a great theme of American Civil Religion, but not Biblical Christianity. More accurate - "God gives grace to people who don't deserve it". Sorry, I used the post to get on my soap box!
May '10
Re: JFK And The Media's Messiah Complex
How does this get past editors?! These are suppose to be the premier enterprises in journalism and they can't even properly identify quotes from the Bible. I would seriously considering firing someone so incompetent at the job.
Apr '11
Re: JFK And The Media's Messiah Complex
They have software that prevents plagiarism, right? I'd have thought it'd be worth having that highlight biblical quotes, as it'd surely be easy, and useful to keep sub-editors from fixing the grammar.
Re: JFK And The Media's Messiah Complex
Definitely the latter. The made-up Bible quotes usually run completely counter to the actual teachings of Jesus.
Nov '11
Re: JFK And The Media's Messiah Complex
James Of England
They have software that prevents plagiarism, right? I'd have thought it'd be worth having that highlight biblical quotes, as it'd surely be easy, and useful to keep sub-editors from fixing the grammar. · 3 minutes ago
As a fun though experiment I googled the quote (something that's not actually intellectualally rigorous I admit). JFK is not the first result, but the Gospel of Luke is. How bankrupt is your editing that you can't spend ten seconds on Google?
EDIT: I made a typo criticizing someone about editing! Ah, sweet irony.
Edited on May 31, 2012 at 4:42pmMay '11
Re: JFK And The Media's Messiah Complex
"To whom much is given, much is expected."
Hmmm, I thought that was Spiderman.
Mar '11
Re: JFK And The Media's Messiah Complex
Rather than edit this I thought I'd mock myself. I proofread it and in the process made it worse. Good thing I am not an editor. Who knows what false quotations I'd miss.
Edited on May 31, 2012 at 4:50pmMay '11
Re: JFK And The Media's Messiah Complex
What is worse, ignoring provisions of the Constitution (e.g., 10th Amendment), or making up provisions that aren't there (e.g., separation of church and state, right to privacy, right to trial by a jury of one’s peers, innocent until proven guilty)?
Jan '11
Re: JFK And The Media's Messiah Complex
Let's not skip over how well the media interprets the Bible, not just the quotations.
You can always tell when it's Jesus whispering in your ear ... it's the voice that says to go ahead and do whatever you want, and anyone who criticizes you is obviously wrong.
Surely God would never disagree with you, right?
Mar '11
Re: JFK And The Media's Messiah Complex
Larry3435
What is worse, ignoring provisions of the Constitution (e.g., 10th Amendment), or making up provisions that aren't there (e.g., separation of church and state, right to privacy, right to trial by a jury of one’s peers, innocent until proven guilty)? · 22 minutes ago
I am not sure I take your point. Was there something in my post that made you think I would not agree with any of those provisions?
Feb '12
Re: JFK And The Media's Messiah Complex
"Cleanliness is next to Godliness" is another favorite quote of mine that gets attributed to the Bible. I've found remarkably easy to find persons highly critical of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, whom cherry pick passages to ridicule/chastise without knowing their context, based on an inherited Judeo-Christian morality from which they lift quotes and presuppositions while attributing them to others.
Oct '10
Re: JFK And The Media's Messiah Complex
Because no one should hire an editor who doesn't know his Bible word for word? Because an editor's primary responsibility is to check each and every quotation in each and every story that crosses his desk?
Get back to me when someone attributes the Golden Rule to Buddha. Or when the President of the United States mangles his Biblical quotations in major speeches. Oh, wait...
Apr '11
Re: JFK And The Media's Messiah Complex
Larry3435
What is worse, ignoring provisions of the Constitution (e.g., 10th Amendment), or making up provisions that aren't there (e.g., separation of church and state, right to privacy, right to trial by a jury of one’s peers, innocent until proven guilty)? · 6 hours ago
What's wrong with the 6th and 7th Amendments (trial by jury), the 5th Amendment (innocent until proven guilty), and rights to privacy in one's home and belongings (3rd and 4th Amendments)? There are all kinds of rights that liberals make up, but those seem like rights conservatives believe in, too.
Clearly I'm missing something; could you enlighten me?