On Quotes

*I started writing this post toward the end of last school year.  Then I got tired of writing my blog, so I never finished it.  I'm still quite sympathetic to the issue, though, so I decided to finish the thought and post*

Today I was once again reminded exactly why I can't stand people who say, "I love quotes," and then proceed to include 75 of them in their PowerPoint presentation.  Here's the story:

Today in my Classroom Management and Discipline class, all of us education majors were giving our final presentations.  Girl X begins her presentation by saying, "I love quotes."  She then proceeds to start quoting.  Not just one quote, but one-liner quote after one-liner quote from probably 10 different random people.  Bear in mind that she is supposed to be presenting her own, personal philosophy of education.  Has she ever read Jean Paul Sartre?  No.  Does she have any idea what he thinks about anything?  No.  She Googled "quotes about education" and found a couple by him.  She has no idea how well they represent his views on education (and neither do I...or anyone else in our class for that matter).  She certainly doesn't know anything about his communist sympathies or his pure anti-theism - if she did she definitely wouldn't have quoted him so readily given that I happen to know that she's a churchgoing conservative.  She undoubtedly has no idea how much he influenced the Khmer Rouge when they committed one of the worst genocides of the 20th century in the name of communist reform.

What's my point?  I'm so tired of people quoting those whom they know little or nothing about.  The quotes found on the internet (where most people get their quotes) rarely even come with a citation.  They are quoted without the slightest regard for their original context or intended meaning.  Taken in such small sections, these sorts of quips can be manipulated to mean anything the quoter wants them to mean.

Isn't this just one of the worst forms of plagiarism imaginable?  And lazy plagiarism at that.  I, for one, prefer that if anyone ever chooses to quote me they provide the quote in context and with reference to me.  I'm sure Mr. Sartre feels the same way...from his grave.

Just imagine: Paul Draper submits his most recent defense of the Evidential Argument from Evil to Faith & Philosophy for publication.  He begins the paper with a quote that reads: "There is no God - Psalm 14:1"  How would it be received?  Most likely as a joke, given his stature.  But what if I were to submit the same paper?  I'm guessing it would be thrown away prior to even getting read.

I don't know how to conclude this post from here.  That's all I have.  For the love of Pete, respect some context!  Rant concluded.