Misquoted

There are so many quotations out there that are, ironically, mis-quotes! The most famous one is “Ignorance is bliss”. What Thomas Gray really said was:
“Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise.”
Totally different statements, aren’t they?

Another such instance is what almost all companies believe in:
“What can’t be measured can’t be managed.”
What Paul Drucker actually said was:
“What gets measured gets managed — even when it’s pointless to measure and manage it, and even if it harms the purpose of the organization to do so.”
The first part got faithfully (albeit in a twisted, double negative kind of way) rephrased, but dropping the rest of what Drucker said distorts his message altogether.

During their fight with Hachette, Amazon willfully quoted George Orwell (but only partially) to distort what he said entirely. Amazon wrote:
“The famous author George Orwell came out publicly and said about the new paperback format, if "publishers had any sense, they would combine against them and suppress them." Yes, George Orwell was suggesting collusion.”
So what did Orwell really say?
“The Penguin Books are splendid value for sixpence, so splendid that if the other publishers had any sense they would combine against them and suppress them.”
Amazon, Amazon. Did you really think you wouldn’t get caught in an age when everything is just a Google search away? Really?

But, of course, there are folks whose alarm bells don’t ring no matter what they read on the Net. So it’s Facebook to the rescue! Here’s how:
“The big-brains behind Facebook are testing out new [Satire] tags, so that unsuspecting ideologues the world over will stop sharing fake news articles as the real thing. Because we’re all too stupid to know the difference and because we obviously care less that Facebook is sucking out our brains.”
To those who say that Google’s making us stoopid and Facebook is sucking out our brains, I ask: Why not just stop using them? But of course, nobody can do that, can they?

Then again, didn’t Mark Twain not urge us to take misquoting to the next level when he said:
“Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.”
Twain did say that; that’s not a misquote!

Comments

  1. Ramiah KumarJuly 14, 2017 at 4:09 PM

    The end part with “Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.” Twain did say that; that’s not a misquote!" is good to have. It has the Mark Twain mark of humor and helps concluding with a smile. :-)

    ReplyDelete

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