To consider an
observation without the surroundings that clarify its meaning. For example, if I were to say
Nate says "no!"you would have little idea what to do with that. What is he saying "no" to? You can't tell, because the statement is out of
context. More
insidiously, someone might make
you feel threatened by telling you that
enkidu said
I will crush you.This could be seriously
misleading if the full sentence were
I will crush you with hugs and smother you with kisses!A popular example of a
quote being taken out of context is the idea, widespread during the 2000 American presidential election, that
Al Gore claimed to have
invented the internet. Even though it became clear that in the context of the
overall interview he had not made that claim, a single phrase extracted from it was used to publically
mock him for months.
An image might also be taken out of context (e.g., showing one person beating another, without indicating that moments earlier the first person had been pointing a knife at her), as may any other
signifier. When an idea is taken out of context, it may be said to be
decontextualized.