The ideas we talk about here at Knowable Word—interpretation, context, the author’s main point—underlie all forms of communication. They don’t often bubble to the surface in our culture’s mass media, however.

This morning, they did. On NPR’s Morning Edition program, a story by Ari Shapiro called Does Truth Matter? began with the common observation that politicians tend to quote their opponents out of context. More interestingly, Shapiro went on to explore whether there’s any use in talking about what the misquoted politician actually meant.

The story provides a secular perspective on some of the key ideas we talk about here, so you might want to check it out.