This week, MSNBC’s Joy Reid ripped into conservative columnist David French, taking him to task for some ugly comments he had made in a recent article. The only problem is that he never made the comments. Not even close. Instead, Reid was misled by another article which falsely accused French, misrepresenting his actual position. Reid didn’t bother to check the original source, because of which she had to take back her earlier posts. She wanted to shame French but ended up shaming herself.

Reid is certainly not the first to make such a mistake. These days, it’s all too easy to make serious internet blunders, some of which can be very costly. Better to be safe (which means taking the extra time to check) than sorry. As sloppy as the internet can be, it has a terrific memory, and your errors don’t quickly disappear. (Just think of those who will be remembered for believing that President Trump watched “the Gorilla Channel” up to 17 hours per day!)

When I Was Misquoted

Ironically, I was misquoted this week as well, but not in the typical way where one of my critics misinterprets something I said or repeats a falsehood about me. No, this time, it was the reverse.

One of my closest ministry colleagues, a personal friend whose office is next to mine in our building, posted a wonderful gospel quote attributed to me, and it got lots of positive responses: “A day is coming when four songs, a sermon, and an offering simply will not work anymore. Perhaps this model has been functional for a season, but in an hour of deep darkness, we need to be a people who carry the light of the Kingdom. This will only happen as Christians live revival lifestyles.” 

Because I was tagged in the quote, which was posted on Facebook, and because lots of friends were giving it their “Amen,” I visited my friend’s page to read the quote for myself.

Yet something didn’t ring true. I absolutely loved the quote and affirmed it wholeheartedly. In that sense it sounded like me.

But I didn’t remember ever saying it, not in writing and not in a sermon or a radio broadcast. Somehow, it didn’t sound like something I would say in quite those words.

To be sure, I’ve written a lot (probably more than 10,000 articles and many books). I’ve talked even more (too much, for sure!). But again, this just didn’t sound like me to me.

I emailed my friend, asking where he got the quote from, and he sent me the link, from Goodreads. The quote was exact, and there was an attribution as well: Michael Brown, The Fire that Never Sleeps: Keys to Sustaining Personal Revival.

Case settled, right?

A Goodreads Error

Quite the opposite. The moment I saw the attribution, I realized the error. This book was a joint project, containing material from Pastor John Kilpatrick and from me, along with material contributed by the editor and co-author, Larry Sparks.

When you click on the link to the book on Goodreads, it lists the three of us. But the link to quotes from the book lists only me, wrongly attributing every quote from the book to me rather than to the actual author of the quote.

Who would have a thought that a link on Goodreads, containing quotes from a book just read, would misattribute the quotes? Most of us would have thought that this was a reliable source for book quotes, and it probably is, most of the time.

This time it wasn’t. So I was credited for a really good quote which came from someone else who deserved the credit. (We straightened things out online, of course.)

Overall, this was quite minor, and it was a positive error, not a negative one. The case of Joy Reid and David French was much more serious. It was also totally negative, since she defamed and falsely accused him, having been misled by another website. Careful!

Careful Before You Quote

A few months ago, in one of my articles, I linked to an article on a website I had never seen before. (To be candid, I didn’t even notice the website; it was some stats in the article that caught my eye.) After my article was posted, I learned that it was a neo-Nazi website after some critics began attacking me online. I had no idea what they were upset about until I clicked on the link again. But already, I had been branded a White Supremacist and a neo-Nazi supporter. “He must go to this website all the time!” they claimed.

Despite the ridiculous hysteria and overreaction from those attacking me, it was a good reminder to me: Take the extra minute and check your sources.

In all my academic writings, I footnote obsessively, wanting to be sure that every citation is carefully backed up. (One of my books has 80,000 words of text and 85,000 words of endnotes.) And even some of my popular, non-academic books contain hundreds of endnotes. Let every quote be properly attributed; let very fact be verified.

Unfortunately, as much as the internet now provides a massive, constantly updated library, it is also filled with all kinds of danger and deception, along with lots of false attributions and literary errors. It’s all too easy to be misled.

So, here’s a rule of thumb for everyone citing from online sources: Be careful before you quote.