Here's what I worked out in my head. Plagiarism is stealing, just like someone helping themselves to something in your house. It's walking right in, grabbing a television, or grabbing your favorite console gaming device, and walking out the door with it. It makes sense to feel victimized (if you are the victim of plagiarism). It makes sense that other people would support you feeling victimized, because they don't want it to happen to them.
But why do we feel this way? Do they feel the same way in communist China? I would think that in a communist country like China that there'd be no sense of ownership when it comes to words (or any other kind of intellectual property). If you go far enough to the left in American politics, you eventually arrive at socialism which then turns to communism in the extreme (if you go far enough to the right you also arrive at fascism). So I started to think...who would be more upset over plagiarism? Those on the left or those on the right? From what I've observed, it seems to be those on the political Left. Those on the political Right seem to be (for the most part) completely okay with plagiarism.
I find this fascinating because the whole journey from the exact middle (between both Republican and Democrat) is a sliding scale to both sides. Technically, as you journey left you should encounter "in degrees" attitudes and biases that signal that a person is "less and less" attached to personal property as it all becomes a kind of shared commune where everyone helps everyone equally and no one person is any more important than another. As you slide to the right, you would encounter people who "more and more" believe that personal property is as important as identity, and this would lead to fear and paranoia that everyone was out there eyeing what was yours (and plotting to rip it from your hands). All of this is just theory by the way.
But this isn't what happened. I suppose all humans are illogical, and it makes no sense to try and put them into boxes (even though that's what my mind sometimes tries to do).
And the fact is that we live in a society that hates thieves. I know I'm no exception. As someone who does place themselves on the political left, I'm just wondering why I have an emotional reaction to plagiarism, and whether or not I feel that way because I was born and raised in America.
I doubt people on the right are okay with it, (and it was a stupid thing to do) but they're not going to want to draw attention to it. It would be the same way if it was the other way around. For example, the Hillary email problem is worse and yet that doesn't stop people from voting for her.
ReplyDeleteNobody likes someone else taking credit for their work. Of course it's ironic she plagiarized part of the speech talking about values.
ReplyDeleteI don't buy the Trump campaign's assertion that a part time Trump employee wrote this speech. Really? We're supposed to believe a person not even associated with the Trump campaign, was responsible for this? Nope? She was selected to take the fall. Also, if a person NOT from the Trump campaign but from his private corporation wrote this speech, it would be in violation of campaign laws and a crime, although it only seems to be Democrats held accountable for such things. And you don't even mention the fact that Republicans habitually steal music without permission.
ReplyDeleteAt least Spicer threw in My Little Pony in the mix to stir things up. I tweeted that he was possibly the uncle of cartoon character Jack Spicer. Hey, no one assaults MLP and gets away with it. It was the mini twitter war MLP fandom rose the wave on. MLP for life! Anyway plagiarism is just not okay and this Jamaican stand by that...and My Little Pony Friendship is Magic.
ReplyDeleteI think intellectual property is more important to those on the left because those on the left tend to be smarter and more educated. That's a strong "tend," by the way. So words are much more important to people who value intellect over emotion.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny that people are complaining about an instance where the Trumps obviously liked something the Obamas did. This is Rephrasing 101. There were clearly parts of Melania's speech reworded from a speech the Trumps previously admitted to admiring. Anyone who isn't very good at writing essays, or speeches, will use a template, and the best way to continue from that point is to rework the parts that you really like. That's all that happened here. It became something bigger because of partisan politics, and nothing else. This wasn't plagiarism, it was just timid speech-writing. I think we can all admit that we've seen our share of similar writing.
ReplyDeleteCool, in my next book I'm just going to take huge sections from yours.
DeleteI think you totally misread me. And also, you don't write anything like me, and you know it.
DeletePlagiarism is kind of like stealing creativity. Someone took the time to come up with a speech or whatever. Then, instead of taking their own time, someone else comes along and appropriates it. I think the left is more arty, so they're more about creative work. This is why it hits harder. (That, or in this case it's the right appropriating the left's work. If it were the other way around...)
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