On occasion, I’ve used the words or ideas of other people in one of my blogs here at TechRepublic, and as such I’ve dutifully cited the appropriate names and sources.
Hillary Clinton recently charged Barack Obama with plagiarism because he borrowed an idea from another person in one of his speeches, only slightly altering the exact words themselves.
Perhaps Mrs. Clinton thinks Mr. Obama should have either paused or added footnotes to his speech, giving credit to Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick for the use of those particular thoughts. (And perhaps both men should have properly cited the source of the inspirational phrases they both used, although the sources are generally well known?)
I’m certainly no fan of Barack Obama, but I believe Mrs. Clinton’s charge of plagiarism is a bit of a stretch. I’m not a fan of Mrs. Clinton either, and I’d also suggest that the counter-charge of plagiarism against her because she used John Edwards’ Blockbuster Video analogy is also a stretch. (It might mean she’s something else, but not a plagiarizer.)
I might also suggest that it’s much easier to incorporate proper citation in the written form that it would be in an impassioned speech (regardless of the true substance of said speech). I certainly acknowledge the reality here, which is not much more than politics as usual, but I believe that particular charge not only made Mrs. Clinton look rather silly, but it doesn’t even fit the true definition of plagiarism.
Since there’s a lot of writing, citing, and borrowing going on around here, I thought it would be interesting to see the TechRepublic community’s take on what must be every writer’s fear, being charged with that dreaded P-Word – Plagiarism.
