"Misquoting" is when you change the meaning of a quote by omitting key portions. Emerson's "Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds" is often used as an argument against [logical] consistency. That's incorrect, and misquoting. What Emerson was saying is that it's ok to change your mind in lieu of new information, and consistency for consistency's sake is a "hobgoblin" of little minds.
Want a different example? How about
your misquoting of Twain, in what I'm sure you believed was a clever rebuttal. You missed the sarcasm of America's most famed satirist (which in your case is not surprising), and thought it meant something completely different. I pointed that out to you two posts later, and you ran away (again, not surprising).
The portion of the Sowell quote I shared is:
but you think omitting the last sentence...:
"They want villains to hate and heroes to cheer — and they don’t want explanations that do not give them that."
...changes it. It doesn't. It is additive. It is a reiteration. It is redundant, and unnecessary. The point expressed is not changed with or without the last sentence.
It perhaps shines a light on the reasons you and your fellow wokenistas grab your rhetorical torches and pitchforks and storm this section of the forum. Look at the "why can't Trump folks believe he lost" thread. It is much more emotionally satisfying for you and yours like to ignore an objective answer to the question. To assign motive for emotional satisfaction.
Sowell was commenting on a principle I also cite Mark Twain about.
We all do no end of feeling, and we mistake it for thinking.
That quote (like all quotes) is taken "out of context".
Twain continues:
And out of it we get an aggregation which we consider a boon. Its name is public opinion. It is held in reverence. Some think it the voice of God.
Does that change Twain's first sentence? Does that negate the notion of emotion overriding reason? Of course not.
Sowell (and Twain) are talking about people like you.
Thus endeth the lesson.
QED
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