Meditations on a Misquote Machine
by Stephen J. West  “I
mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice
in the death of one, not even an enemy.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
It’s the duty of comedians to work against the grain of our collective beliefs, so it’s not surprising that Penn would take this opportunity to soberly counter the reverie that swept the United States following the news of bin Laden’s death. Penn’s post apparently resonated with many Americans; in the hours that followed, it was (and continues to be) retweeted ad infinitum. But the joke was on Penn. By the late afternoon of May 2nd, Megan McArdle wrote on The Atlantic website that the quote was falsely attributed to King, stating, “someone made up a quote, attributed it to MLK, Jr., and disseminated it widely, all within 24 hours. Why? What do you get out of saying something pithy, and getting no credit for it?” "Stealin' words is just triflin'" - Martin Luther King, Jr.
McArdle poses a great question, with two possible explanations. First, it could have been a mistake. As he watched the news coverage, Penn might have felt that something was off with all the fireworks and crowd surfing, but he couldn’t find the words to describe it. For once, no jokes popped into his head. Then, as he scrolled through his friends’ Facebook updates, he saw this quote and it clicked. "What's up with Octomom? That lady is nuts ... LOL" - Martin Luther King, Jr.
Or, it could have been more calculated. Maybe Penn shamelessly saw a massive prank waiting to happen, and he couldn’t pass it up. He knew he could capitalize on the emotional volatility of this historic moment, knew that he could float this falsely attributed quotation out and people would believe it; he just knew it would blow up because it came from him. Maybe he had the words all along, knew who he would attribute them to, and he wanted to see how far it could go. "Remember the Alamo and don't break my bong. The new Panda Bear is just so so." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
But the questions were quickly answered and all conspiracy theories were dispelled before they could really get started. Penn admitted to Salon, "I made a mistake; I read the quote, thought it was too perfect, checked part of it from the MLK book and then cut and pasted it. The part I checked was not the part that was wrong, and I posted it. A stupid, but honest mistake.” "Twitter is not a reliable source for quotes" - Martin Luther King, Jr.
And speaking of honest mistakes: McArdle received backlash for what readers felt was too much snark toward those that retweeted the false quotation without fact checking it first. She responded, “We've all probably repeated more fake quotations than real ones. Fake quotations are pithier, more dramatic, more on point, than the things people usually say in real life.” "Military justice is to justice what military music is to music." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
McArdle continues: “We become invested in these quotes because they say something important about us—and they let us feel that those emotions were shared by great figures in history. We naturally search for reasons that they could have said it—that they could have felt like us—rather than looking for reasons to disbelieve.” "If anyone else misquotes me I'm gonna forget nonviolence." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
And I think she’s right. But I also think her reasoning is reductive. I don’t believe people will stop identifying with a quotation just because it isn’t connected to the source it was originally attributed to. Such thinking places more importance on where words come from than on the words themselves. As a writer whose name means very little at this point, I have to believe that isn’t true. When I first read the King misquotation, I connected with its sentiments immediately, probably much like Penn did. I wasn’t sure what my response to Osama bin Laden’s death should be—but I knew I wasn’t going to paint my face and take to the streets draped in an American flag or sing “God Bless America” while doing a keg stand at a USA-themed party. And I came to the King misquotation late via McArdle and The Atlantic; the first time I read it I knew it was false, yet it mattered anyway. “That quote from yesterday was pretty good advice, even if I didn’t say it.” -Martin Luther King, Jr.
I understand that the name attached to anything affects it—if Penn didn’t think it was King who said those words first, he might not have tweeted the quotation, and it might not have been retweeted at all—let alone thousands of times—if Penn wasn’t the one who posted it in the first place. And surely the flurry of retweets would have stopped once everyone realized it was false. But it hasn’t. "You dummies will retweet anything with my name." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
Is the quotation less relevant because it came from Jessica Dovey, a middle school English teacher, and not King.? And what do we make of it now? It’s obviously alive and well on the web. The quotes is currently being rephrased and rearticulated and recontextualized in tweets and Facebook updates. As you read this, the writers for Jay Leno and Conan and Jon Stewart and Colbert and Saturday Night Live are squeezing every last morsel of irony out of it like it was a Charlie Sheen reference. And don’t forget the legions of YouTubers who are fashioning the misquotation in their own image. It’s revving its engines and gaining momentum. Listen: you can almost hear it happening. "I anger more bitches than PMS and I drop terrorists like I'm breathing air!" - Martin Luther King, Jr.
And this is only the beginning. People will begin to use this and other misquotations in more and more creative ways; it’s the logical progression of mash up culture to take popular fragments and run with them, applying them to mundane topics - "Derrick Rose deserved to be this year's NBA MVP" - Martin Luther King Jr.
- shamelessly appropriating them for promotional purposes - "On
May 3rd, 2011, I plan to see what will be my favorite band, called
PooPaw, play The Fire in Philadelphia." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
- all before, inevitably, they reference themselves: "I can't wait for people to start attributing fake quotes to me." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
As it becomes more and more used and misused over time, "Sticking feathers up your butt doesn't make you a chicken" - Martin Luther King Jr.
the original context will, for the most part, be forgotten. The intended purpose of the misquotation will become unimportant. No one will worry if it came from King, Jillette Penn, Jessica Dovey, or even Osama bin Laden. "My mommy always said there were no monsters - no real ones - but there are." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
In a matter of minutes, the initial controversy surrounding the King misquotation had been resolved. No one has to worry anymore about where it came from, why it all started, and if it’s good or bad; the moralizing has stopped and the phenomenon has been turned loose in the playground of the Twittersphere. But what remains interesting is that the context it was first applied to never changed: Osama bin Laden was killed, and while some people celebrated heartily, others didn’t know how to respond. In the midst of all the noise, the misquotation continues to convey the same truth to thousands of people who are still left wondering what is the right way to feel. "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
image: Samuel Cummings
Stephen J. West lives and teaches in Morgantown, WV. He studied creative nonfiction at the University of Iowa, and he currently has essays published or forthcoming in Defunct, Prime Number, Zone 3, and PANK. You can follow him on twitter @LOAFbyLOAFWEST, and if you Google him, keep looking—he’s on page two. (Apparently Stephen J. West, Esquire from Ottawa demands the entire first page of results.) |
Meditations on a Misquote Machine |