District Major of Amsterdam Zeeburg, Fatima Elatik, compared the right wing politician Geert Wilders to Hilter. Of course she meant it differently and she had a more nuanced thought in mind. When given the chance to explain her statement, she does.
I found nuanced statements after googling a "hand me down" soundbite. The soundbite I overheard, some people tell each other, was "she called all PVV supporters nazi's". Nowhere near the original tweet or the explanation given. Yet typing those words into Google let me a story about the incident, meaning other people interpreted the story the same way or were given a similair account.
What we mean or say, and what other people hear (and more importantly) retell, often will change as it passes from one group to another. Though we can't control how people interpret our statement and actions, we should be aware of the fact that meaning is assigned to us that we may or may not want to be associated with. Sometimes this leads to unexpected customers and fans, othertimes not so.
Either way, fact is that if we believe something to be true, sooner or later it will become part of our reality and govern our behaviour towards others.
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