Talk:Quote mining/Archive1

Typo
The does not mean that the theory of evolution is unproven doesn't make sense, typo? --Mad Min 12:57, 27 May 2007 (CDT)
 * I was thinking that. I lifted it out of the discussion on the ToE talk page at CP, so I haven't checked the original.  I assume it's supposed to be "this". --Kels 12:58, 27 May 2007 (CDT)


 * Just a sample here--PalMD-yada yada 13:59, 26 June 2007 (CDT)

Does someone else have a link to that site that Kenservative accidentally posted - the one where all of his quotes are from? I know it's on the forum, but my laptop thinks the forums don't exist.-α m ε σ (!) 18:16, 13 September 2007 (MDT)
 * Surely AIG maintains one? Or, well, is one... human be in 18:33, 13 September 2007 (MDT)

I pointed out the Darwin quote mine thing in ecclesia.org's atheist test in an email to them. Of course I didn't use the words "quote mine" though. :) If anyone's interested, I can post their response here. If I get one.

Interesting Google searches
From CP: "The term "quote mining" returns 28,400 Google results as of January 1, 2008."


 * Results 1 - 10 of about 28,100 for parthian shot. (0.22 seconds)


 * Results 1 - 10 of about 21,400 for insultive. (0.15 seconds)


 * Results 1 - 10 of about 1,470 for last wordism. (0.26 seconds) (RW is the first hit.)


 * Results 1 - 10 of about 640 for "placement bias". (0.20 seconds) ("Liberal placement bias" showed 2 results, both from RW)


 * Results 1 - 10 of about 531 for "liberal deceit". (0.21 seconds)

NightFlareSpeak, mortal 14:51, 14 January 2008 (EST)

Possible fun page
May I create a fun page of this? I had an idea along the lines of:

Quote mining is a magical art, invented by god, to combat the foolish darwinists who use falsely planted facts to mock the faithful.

The first recorded instance of quote mining was performed by god, towards lucifer's famous declarations denouncing god:

The commonly known mined quote is as follows:

"I will ascend into heaven.

I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.

I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north.

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.

I will be like the most High." (Lucifer)

The actual full quote is as follows: (the parts used above are bolded)

"My fellow members of the divine council, surely you realize that God has gone quite bonkers. I will, as I have before, ascend into heaven to speak with him about how man is mortal, can only sin a finite amount, and how eternal damnation for a lifetime of sinning is sadistic and absurd, but I fear it will never work. I will also take this moment to say that I in no way intend to exalt my throne above yours. If you assist me, I can lead you to make the entire universe a fair and just democracy, where no minority under the stars of God shall fear eternal damnation for disagreeing with an entity who is is entirely feasible and understandable to disagree with. In this great and benevolent democracy, we shall gather every sunday to discuss and rethink some of the more absurd actions we have been overruled on in the past, such as placing of false evidence of fossils to fool the rational and contemplative for no good reason. This will truly make the world a better place. We shall all be at this congregation in the north, all of us, each getting their fair say. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north, not as your ruler, but as your equal. As your friend. And if you will follow me there, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, and we will all look down on the happy and smiling people, who will also know of our existence. In this way, I will be like the most high, except I will not be one person. I will be many. I will be you. I will be me. I will be US. Will you join me in this endeavor?"

Little did Lucifer know that god was right behind him, and had just come up with the idea of quote mining. Unlike the mortals he passed the technique down to, however, he could quote mine things already in the minds of all who heard him, and so nobody remembered this speech, until God humorously brought it up on the 7th of March, 2008.

The technique has since been used to combat the insidious weapons used by Neo-nazi-darwinists known as "Facts." God reasoned that since he created the world, it was not morally wrong to manipulate the words of liars. He passed this technique down to his council of three, Chuck Norris, Andrew Shalfly, and Ben Stein.

What do you think? is it an okay start?Sanity 21:57, 14 May 2008 (EDT)
 * I don't know if you're still around, but go ahead, knock yourself out!  ħ uman  03:18, 8 June 2008 (EDT)

Aquatic ape theory
How does it undercut ToE? 01:01, 8 June 2008 (EDT)

Fine
Do you seriously think that addition deserves to the in the lead section of this article? What exactly do you think is going to cross the mind of a uninformed reader when they stumble onto this page? And, more importantly, how on earth did you reach the conclusion that contextless quotes are the same as deliberate deception? Your argument only establishes that it might be quote-mining, which seems pretty damn feeble to me. 01:03, 8 June 2008 (EDT)
 * Point one, well taken. Third sentence, I have done tiny research (google/WP) and this woman is in all likelihood (and almost certainly) a classic quote miner.  She leaves out words without ellipses, removes critical context, and generally uses quotes to support her thesis that wouldn't in their completeness.  That's quote mining.  ħ uman  03:17, 8 June 2008 (EDT)

Quote mining the Bible
There's a comment on Jerry Coyne's blog yesterday that got me thinking about the idea of "study guides" and such for the Bible. I've more or less been aware of the practice my whole life, I know the Anglicans that were dominant in my area did it, and I gather it's even more common for evangelicals. Pretty sure the JoHo's do it too, from what I've seen of their literature. That is, the practice of taking a whole string of unrelated verses from the Bible and reading them in a particular order for whatever reason. Say, two verses of Mark, followed by a half-dozen verses of Corinthians, then hop back to the OT for a few smattered verses here and there, and so forth. So what the poster at Coyne's place suggested is that this practice, aside from creating a lot of connections in the Bible that weren't there in the first place, predisposes the faithful to lifting quotes from wherever, sans context, and acting as if they're valid and somehow connect to other random quotes from entirely different works and authors. Anyone else have any insights into this stuff? --Kels (talk) 13:57, 24 July 2009 (UTC)
 * All I know is that it's the most cherry-picked document ever assembled. And you have to remember that that stuff isn't just taken out of the context of the surrounding verses, but also the historical and literary context. For example, in historical context (apparently) "love thy neighbour" just means "love other Jews, you can still kill the others" and then you have people who take the acid trip that is Revelations as literal. 14:28, 24 July 2009 (UTC)