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Source: Atlantic
Roundup: Talking About History
5-3-11

Megan McArdle: Anatomy of a Fake MLK Quotation

Megan McArdle is the business and economics editor for The Atlantic.

Yesterday, I saw a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. fly across my Twitter feed:  "I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy." - Martin Luther King, Jr".  I was about to retweet it, but I hesitated.  It didn't sound right.  After some Googling, I determined that it was probably fake, which I blogged about last night.

 
Here's the story of how that quote was created.
 
It turns out I was far too uncharitable in my search for a motive behind the fake quote.  I assumed that someone had made it up on purpose.  I was wrong.
 
Had I seen the quote on Facebook, rather than Twitter, I might have guessed at the truth.  On the other hand, had I seen it on Facebook, I might not have realized it was fake, because it was appended to a long string of genuine speech from MLK Jr.  Here's the quote as most people on Facebook saw it:

I will mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can
do
that.
Everything except the first sentence is found in King's book, Strength to Love, and seems to have been said originally in a 1957 sermon he gave on loving your enemies.  Unlike the first quotation, it does sound like King, and it was easy to assume that the whole thing came from him.
 
So how did they get mixed together?
 
Thanks to Jessica Dovey, a Facebook user, that's how.  And contrary to my initial assumption, it wasn't malicious.  Ms. Dovey, a 24-year old Penn State graduate who now teaches English to middle schoolers in Kobe, Japan, posted a very timely and moving thought on her Facebook status, and then followed it up with the Martin Luther King Jr. quote.  
 
I will mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. "Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." MLK Jr.
Read entire article at Atlantic