Plagiarism

Michelle Malkin relays a story of a poetry scholar who has been accused of plagarism. Obviously, plagarism is a problem that most people can agree on. It is not a protected form of speech, as it takes away from the work of the person who originally had the idea. Plagarism is dishonest and dishonorable, as forty-eight former University of Virginia students could discuss. These sort of things should not need to be pointed out.

Unfortunately, it extends further than many people know. Osama bin Laden is a known terrorist, so it comes as no surprise that he would consider plagiarism. But plenty of respected journalists and authors have been exposed as plagiarists as well. Nina Totenberg, Joe Biden Jr., and even Alex Haley of Roots fame are among those Miss Malkin points out. Sadly, it gets worse. Even Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was guilty of this, many times. While there is not a single person out there who can take away anything from what Dr. King acheived, this should be news that brings him back to seeming human; unfortunately, it was never made an issue and has been as quickly forgotten by many.

There is nothing wrong with expressing the opinion of someone else, so long as it is explicitly cited. Unfortunately, there may always be people protected from justice because double standards exist for those who seem to be "above" everyone else.

As a side note, know that I will always cite my resources in my posts. There may be some common knowledge which will go uncited for simplicity sake, but a link will always be posted to my sources (which will happen often as I usually get inspired by something I have read or heard recently). If I ever fail to do so, please comment and I will be more than happy to remedy the situation.