"Gun control works great for the people who are law-abiding citizens and it does nothing for the criminals, and all it does is put the people at risk."
When Dr. Ben Carson delivered this supposed Thomas Jefferson quote during a recent Fox News interview, two thoughts immediately came to mind for many befuddled Americans. First of all, that logic is ridiculous. What a stupid fucking quote. Secondly, Jefferson said that? Really?
Of course not! As John Oliver noted during another blistering installment of Last Week Tonight on Sunday, the increasingly divisive term "gun control" didn’t even enter the mainstream conversation until the 1960s, a period in which Thomas Jefferson was very much not alive. Of course, Carson isn’t the only offender. Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul, and countless others have blatantly misquoted legendary (and generally deceased) political figures as part of a tasteless attempt at adding (fictionalized!) weight behind their own rhetoric.
Enter DefinitelyRealQuotes.com, Oliver’s latest (and best?) contribution to American politics that aims to level the playing field in terms of recklessly spewing bullshit quotes. Sick of feeling left out when people like Carson brazenly misquote Jefferson regarding modern problems? Fear no more:
"Either we care about the accuracy of quotes and where they're sourced, or we don't care at all," Oliver said of his daring web presence, surely a quick favorite of Huckabee’s ahead of whatever ridiculousness he allows out of his mouth next. "If quotes no longer have to be real, they should at least be fun." The website generates wonderfully fake quotes alongside photos of various historical figures, providing all the ingredients for a viral Facebooking that none of your friends will even notice is complete bullshit:
Thanks for the wisdom, John.
