DMB
10 Apr 2009, 11:31 AM
A lot of people really don't understand the difference between them. Quote mines are a subset of quotes in general. Quote mining is the process of searching out a quotation from a writer that, taken out of context, presents a misleading impression of that writer's views. Many creationists become notorious in discussion boards for persistent quote mining. Part of the trouble is that they may go to creationist websites that are already quote mining and simply copy and paste the quotes they find there, not necessarily realising that they are examples of quote mining.
A classic example is quote mining Darwin on the evolution of the eye.
Here is the quote mine:
To suppose that the eye, with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree.
Here is the full quote:
To suppose that the eye, with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree. Yet reason tells me, that if numerous gradations from a perfect and complex eye to one very imperfect and simple, each grade being useful to its possessor, can be shown to exist; if further, the eye does vary ever so slightly, and the variations be inherited, which is certainly the case; and if any variation or modification in the organ be ever useful to an animal under changing conditions of life, then the difficulty of believing that a perfect and complex eye could be formed by natural selection, though insuperable by our imagination, can hardly be considered real. How a nerve comes to be sensitive to light, hardly concerns us more than how life itself first originated; but I may remark that several facts make me suspect that any sensitive nerve may be rendered sensitive to light, and likewise to those coarser vibrations of the air which produce sound.
A lot more information about quote mining can be found here (http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/quotes/mine/project.html).
Although creationists are far and away the worst culprits, anyone can do a bit of quote mining in the interest of promoting a particular POV. Quote mining won't get you banned from Secular Café, but it is likely to bring down a heap of scorn on your head, so beware!
A classic example is quote mining Darwin on the evolution of the eye.
Here is the quote mine:
To suppose that the eye, with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree.
Here is the full quote:
To suppose that the eye, with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree. Yet reason tells me, that if numerous gradations from a perfect and complex eye to one very imperfect and simple, each grade being useful to its possessor, can be shown to exist; if further, the eye does vary ever so slightly, and the variations be inherited, which is certainly the case; and if any variation or modification in the organ be ever useful to an animal under changing conditions of life, then the difficulty of believing that a perfect and complex eye could be formed by natural selection, though insuperable by our imagination, can hardly be considered real. How a nerve comes to be sensitive to light, hardly concerns us more than how life itself first originated; but I may remark that several facts make me suspect that any sensitive nerve may be rendered sensitive to light, and likewise to those coarser vibrations of the air which produce sound.
A lot more information about quote mining can be found here (http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/quotes/mine/project.html).
Although creationists are far and away the worst culprits, anyone can do a bit of quote mining in the interest of promoting a particular POV. Quote mining won't get you banned from Secular Café, but it is likely to bring down a heap of scorn on your head, so beware!