# 15. Linguistic manipulation ## 15.5. Methodology/Refinements/Sub-species ### 15.5.8. Context-dropping This is the distortion of something a person says, writes or does by extricating it from its context so as to render a completely different meaning. One easy way is to use a sound bite or line from a satirical piece without mentioning that it is satire and to represent it as being said in all seriousness. This could involve the use of edited audio and video media to showcase just one particular statement. Another context altering technique is to refer to the target person in conjunction with a now maligned institution, even though the person has long ago broken all contacts with that institution. For instance, a respectable, democratic politician who was once a member of the communist party as a student in the 1940s, long ago repudiated the Stalinist views of that party, but it's easy to link him again with that old, unfortunate association. All it needs is for a few contextual details to be left out by the reporter and we suddenly have the statement, "Mr Brown, whose formative years were spent as an active supporter of Stalin ……" etc.