another Lincoln misquote for ulterior motive

[David Lockmiller]

David Brooks wrote in the first paragraph of his New York Times column titled “The Uses of Patriotism” (today - Friday, Sept. 16):

“This column is directed at all the high school football players around the country who are pulling a Kaepernick — kneeling during their pregame national anthems to protest systemic racism. I’m going to try to persuade you that what you’re doing is extremely counterproductive.”

In the fifth paragraph, he attempted to bolster his supporting argument by quoting Lincoln in the following manner:

Abraham Lincoln wrote, “If ever I feel the soul within me elevate and expand to those dimensions not entirely unworthy of its almighty Architect, it is when I contemplate the cause of my country.”

I was not familiar with the quote and David Brooks did not provide a source. I used Google books to locate the actual complete quote. I discovered that Brooks had shortened the original quote without properly acknowledging that he was doing so in the standard manner (with the three dots) indicating missing words.

I posted my own comment as follows in the NYTimes comment section to this op-ed. My comment was selected as a NYTimes Pick. And, I also received three replies from other NYTimes readers. I posted my comment less than six hours before the comments section for this particular op-ed was closed.

David Lockmiller
San Francisco 6 hours ago

David Brooks really should provide the complete quote when he is quoting Abraham Lincoln. To do less, is a disservice to the memory of Abraham Lincoln. In this particular case, the "complete" Lincoln quote appears to serve the position taken and demonstration by Colin Kaepernick.

“If ever I feel the soul within me elevate and expand to those dimensions not wholly unworthy of its Divine Architect, it is when I contemplate the cause of my country, deserted by all the world beside, and I standing up boldly and alone, hurling defiance at her victorious oppressors."

January, 1840 debate in Springfield, Illinois (at the Presbyterian Church)

Source: “Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln and Notes of a Visit to California: Two Lectures” by Joshua F. Speed (1884)
63 Recommended

T.L.Moran
Idaho 4 hours ago
Wow! This is brilliant. Thank you SO much for correcting Brooks, who seems to have pulled a move right out of the right-wing playbook, distorting and misusing this great quote by failing to use it completely. Or maybe he failed to read it completely; his blind narcissistic jingoism at work so deeply, he no longer even sees words that don't align with his fantasies.
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Jerry Blanton
Miami Florida 3 hours ago
Thanks for that enlightenment.

DCampbell
San Francisco 3 hours ago
Hear, hear. Thank you.