Whenever anyone is caught saying something that might be a tad controversial, stupid, or down right hateful, resolutely they excuse themselves by stating the media report or critical interpretation of what was said was "taken out of context". Unfortunately, for many, that magical three-word phrase is sufficient explanation. It also feeds the myth of the notoriously left wing media attempting to hijack the words of a God fearing, patriotic, Republican American.
Whether it is Bill O'Reilly justifying his sexually bullying of an underling to the unpleasant comments regarding the spate of violence against the judiciary from the distinguished senator from Texas to Ann Coulter and damn near anything she has ever said and been called out on, context is the magic bullet which dispels any question of judgment or an impaired thought.
The annoyance, and that which compels this brief diary, is the inability of anyone in the media to ask the question "then what IS the context?" If we got what was said wrong because we do not understand the spirit in which it was said or the venue, then enlighten us. Instead, the media, in fact most folks, will give the speaker a pass in a knee jerk reaction. Why? The speaker plays on our collective empathy: we have all been in a situation where what we have said was taken out of context. At minimum, it's embarrassing. In extreme cases, something taken out of context can destroy lives and careers. I remember a lecturer in high school pointing out to my lily-white classmates how unlikely it was for an inner city black person to every see our ritzy Chicago suburb. I piped up "I hope they don't"; she took it as me saying that I didn't want to see a black person in town. I meant that our shitty little town was full of "large yards and small minds"(Ernie Hemingway) and there were times when I wished I never saw our burgh. She took what I said out of context. She never asked the follow up question.
And that's the beauty of the question. You ask it; you get instant clarity and avoid being the destructive avatar "out of contextual"-ism. Or, you ask it, and like a stake through a vampires heart, you watch the vile rhetoric stumble, fall, and turn into dust.
So I call on all my fellow Kossaks to demand the follow up question. Let no cry of context go unmet. This is the first step to reviving civic discourse and enforcing long neglected accountability.
Peace out.