Context?!? or Bad Interpretation?

Interpretations, deductions, connotations.
All independent to each individual.
All independent of actuality, but each own.
Previous experience of each individual will guide how any person is received or interpreted.

This can slowly be changed, but only over time.
Also, with implied effort to really understand...Ruth E.


I found this article is from the Internet weekly news. I clicked on it because it headlined that "Prince takes a stand against gay marriage."
"Posted Thu Nov 20, 2008 6:39pm PST by Lyndsey Parker in That's Really Week"

Really upset, I followed the link to see what Prince had to say... What I found was a poor excuse for a properly contextualized and interpreted quote.

"And on the controversial subject of same-sex marriage, two prominent music celebrities spoke out, albeit with very different points of view. On the con side, an article in The New Yorker reported that Prince does not believe that gay marriage is "right." Prince allegedly told the magazine: "[In the USA] you've got the Republicans, basically they want to live according to [the Bible]. But there's the problem of interpretation, and you've got some churches, some people, basically doing things and saying it comes from here, but it doesn't. And then on the opposite end of the spectrum you've got blue, you've got the Democrats, and they're, like, 'You can do whatever you want.' Gay marriage, whatever. But neither of them is right."

Very poorly does this quote imply that Prince is against gay marriage. Plus, if the whole sentence is as poorly slashed as this poorly interpreted quote, communication between people really must need some clarification...

Still scratching my head from the way the conversation was going, it seemed that Prince did not really have a stand, except the two bickering extremes are not necessarily "right". No?

And then I see an article that was derived from this wrongly interpreted context. After reading the article for myself, it was clear that the journalist was digging, and not really listening or hearing the whole conversation. The premise of this quote used for the topic is unfounded, and branches of interpretation break off and grow like weeds.

"Prince slams gay marriage?"11/20/2008 3:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
courtesy of NME.com

"Prince has said that he does not believe that gay marriage is "right."

"The singer told The New Yorker that he disagreed with a liberal "Democrat" view of life, pointing to gay marriage as something condoned by the party that he disagreed with because it clashed with the teachings of the Bible.

"God came to Earth and saw people sticking it wherever and doing it with whatever, and he just cleared it all out," he said. "He was, like, 'Enough.'"
http://music.yahoo.com/read/news/61897387"
http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/thatsreallyweek/30734/nov-17-24-jackoparisaxlmadge/

All this is written based upon assumption that the previous, supposed quote by Prince was not seriously misguided and grossly taken out of context.

So after some digging, I found that the quote originated from an interview Prince did with the New Yorker. The article was written by Claire Hoffman November 24, 2008. Here is the whole quote in its full origination, which begins with a story he is telling,

"Recently, Prince hosted an executive who works for Philip Anschutz, the Christian businessman whose company owns the Staples Center. “We started talking red and blue,” Prince said. “People with money—money like that—are not affected by the stock market, and they’re not freaking out over anything. They’re just watching. So here’s how it is: you’ve got the Republicans, and basically they want to live according to this.” He pointed to a Bible. “But there’s the problem of interpretation, and you’ve got some churches, some people, basically doing things and saying it comes from here, but it doesn’t. And then on the opposite end of the spectrum you’ve got blue, you’ve got the Democrats, and they’re, like, ‘You can do whatever you want.’ Gay marriage, whatever. But neither of them is right.”

When asked about his perspective on social issues—gay marriage, abortion—Prince tapped his Bible and said, “God came to earth and saw people sticking it wherever and doing it with whatever, and he just cleared it all out. He was, like, ‘Enough.’ ” http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2008/11/24/081124ta_talk_hoffman

Alright, this is a serious infraction to reading, and the importance of context. I don't know if people are trying to misconstrue stories by mis-quoting, or are people just being misunderstood. As a writer, I find it extremely important for proper context and fair representation to be focus points in our craft of writing. If writers want to misrepresent, or make up stories, they should scrap journalism and focus on fiction. Prince is right, interpretation is the problem. Prince of all people should know; not only about being misunderstood, but also, the struggle to be one's own individual.