"Taken Out of Context" - What Does It Mean & How Do People Abuse This Phrase?

What does it mean to be taken out of context? Here is one way it's defined.

If a statement or remark is quoted out of context, the circumstances in which it was said are not correctly reported, so that it seems to mean something different from the meaning that was intended.

So let's give a basic example of this, being taken out of context. If I were interviewed about a legal case, and the newspaper reporter asked me, what do you think?

And I said, there is no way this person is innocent, I believe they are guilty.

If the newspaper quoted me as saying, this person is innocent, that would be taking me out of context.

Because while I did utter those words, they left out what I said before and after.

So that now people believe, I think, the opposite of what I actually think. But here's the thing, you don't always have to include the whole statement.

It's okay to leave out the before and after, just as long as doing so doesn't change the meaning of what was said.

Now speaking of out of context, the things I talk about on this YouTube channel are of a religious or Christian context.

So here's what I've noticed. People constantly are misusing this phrase. They will claim something is taken out of context, but what they mean is that you just quoted a statement or a verse without providing what came before or after.

And they will say it's out of context, but that is not what the term means. Again, it's only taken out of context when you leave something out in order to change the meaning.

Whether it's intentional or inadvertently, it doesn't really matter. The meaning has to be changed.

The main reason I'm doing this video is I have been noticing more and more people are misusing the term.

Anytime someone wants to muddy the water or they want to defend the indefensible, they just repeat this term, it's out of context, but they can't explain how.

So in conclusion, when somebody says this, make them explain it. Don't let them get away with it.

Because much of the time, it's just an excuse. They're trying to wiggle out of taking responsibility or they are defending the indefensible.

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