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Quote mining is debate tactic that is often accused of being intellectually dishonest. Quote mining occurs when a quotation is either taken out of context or abridged in such a way as to give an impression the 'miner' desires, but which is not that of the original person quoted. <ref>http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/quotes/mine/project.html</ref>

Quote mining is a rhetorical tactic that is widely considered to be intellectually dishonest. Quote mining occurs when a quotation is either taken out of context or abridged in such a way as to give an impression the 'miner' desires, but which is not that of the original person quoted. <ref>http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/quotes/mine/project.html</ref>

==Examples==

==Examples==

An example of a commonly mined quotation (bold), from the full quote (in italics) which shows the author's intended impression:

An out of context mined quotation <ref>http://www.saintsalive.com/general/wonderfully.htm</ref> (bold), from the full quote <ref>http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1228</ref> (in italics):

<blockquote>"'''''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.''' <ref>http://www.saintsalive.com/general/wonderfully.htm</ref> 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.''"<ref>http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1228</ref> -- [[Charles Darwin]], from ''[[The Origin of Species]]'', 1859.</blockquote>

<blockquote>"'''''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.''" -- [[Charles Darwin]], from ''[[The Origin of Species]]'', 1859.</blockquote>

Maureen Dowd wrote in the New York Times:<ref>http://volokh.com/2003_05_11_volokh_archive.html#200292779</ref>

An abridged mined quotation <ref>http://www.spinsanity.org/columns/20030522.html</ref> (bold), from the full quote <ref>http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/05/20030505-4.html</ref> (in italics):

<blockquote> Busy chasing off Saddam, the president and vice president had told us that Al Qaeda was spent. "Al Qaeda is on the run," President Bush said last week. "That group of terrorists who attacked our country is slowly but surely being decimated. ... They're not a problem anymore." </blockquote>

Pres. Bush actually said:

<blockquote> Al Qaeda is on the run. That group of terrorists who attacked our country is slowly, but surely being decimated. Right now, about half of all the top al Qaeda operatives are either jailed or dead. In either case, they're not a problem anymore. And we'll stay on the hunt. To make sure America is a secure country, the al Qaeda terrorists have got to understand it doesn't matter how long it's going to take, they will be brought to justice. </blockquote>

After pressure from bloggers, Dowd did put the full quote in a later column, but the New York Times never ran a correction.<ref>http://www.spinsanity.org/columns/20030522.html</ref>

<blockquote>"'''''Al Qaeda is on the run. That group of terrorists who attacked our country is slowly, but surely being decimated.''' Right now, about half of all the top al Qaeda operatives are either jailed or dead. In either case, '''they're not a problem anymore.''' And we'll stay on the hunt. To make sure America is a secure country, the al Qaeda terrorists have got to understand it doesn't matter how long it's going to take, they will be brought to justice.''" -- [[George W. Bush]], May 5, 2003. </blockquote>

==References==

==References==