The cherry tree story

political narrative using cherry-picked information that supports its overall narrative.”

***
Cherry-picking refers to selecting the best or most desirable items or people from a group. It implies careful selection and sometimes an unfair advantage.


***
The cherry tree story is a legend about George Washington’s honesty as a child. According to the story, Washington received a hatchet as a gift and cut down his father’s cherry tree with it. When his father asked him who did it, Washington confessed and was praised for his truthfulness. The story was probably invented by Mason Locke Weems, a bookseller who wrote a biography of Washington.


***
“I cannot tell a lie; it was I who chopped down the cherry tree” – George Washington
©Photo Credit: Tony Baggett/Shutterstock.
George Washington never said this quote and instead, it was made up by the biographer Parson Weems. It was supposed to improve George Washington’s reputation and make him seem more honest. There’s no evidence to show that Washington ever said this quote and instead, it’s seen as being a quote on morality.