AztecLady speaks about plagiarism, yet again (and the peanut gallery groans)
Friday, January 9, 2009Posted in: Azteclady Speaks, Plagiarism
For those who just got here (hello, new peeps!) I have blathered on about plagiarism before, here and here (and those two links are chock-full of links, it’s a treasure trove of links, I tell you)
Being late on my blog hopping this week (sue me) I just saw this post over at Dear Author, linking to the latest plagiarism scandal: a Christian author copied an essay by another Christian author. (And hey, it seems our most beloved SmartBitches found about it too.)
The funniest bit? The plagiarist added a bit about how vividly he remembered the incident that happened to the actual author of the essay. Incredible memory, indeed.
Or perhaps the most bitter of ironies is that the rabid fangrrrrllls and fanbweeees are not only defending the plagiarist, but claim that the actual author should feel flattered that such a celebrity had deigned stealing her work. (I can almost hear the steam coming out of Shiloh Walker‘s ears over such nerve.)
I’m having a cynic moment here–it’s Christians like this one and his fans who give such a bad name to other Christians.
As Ms Chand said over this bit of thievery and the subsequent lack of honest repentance:
“Has the man who writes best-selling books about his ‘Conversations With God’ also heard God’s commandments? ‘Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not lie, and thou shalt not covet another author’s property’?”
(Attentive readers may have noticed that I didn’t name the plagiarist–I don’t care to give him more exposure; follow the links if you are curious)
Marianne McA
January 9
9:56 am
I remember reading an article about the Christian piece ‘Footprints in the sand’. Several different people claim to have written it, but the thing I was fascinated by was that they all could remember how they came to write it.
I suppose I could just about imagine someone hearing it in church as a child, subconsciously remembering it, and being revisited by the image later in life, and thinking it an original idea – but odd that so many people would be convinced they had written it.
Gina Ardito
January 9
11:56 am
I actually blogged about this (among other bizarro news) yesterday. What struck me was that the event took place at a child’s school play. According to the pretzel logic used, since the true author’s child’s name was Nicholas (same as the plagiarist), he somehow morphed the incident into his memory as occurring during his own Nicholas’s school play. I have a son named Nicholas. Maybe I saw this occur too. Where do I collect my piece of this pie?
theo
January 9
3:09 pm
From what I understand, there have been a few who have commented that he-who-shall-not-be-named is not a Christian author, but a spiritual or New Age author. I’m not sure what all that entails but perhaps, he’s decided to follow his own ‘Conversation With God‘, wherein he states if one doesn’t agree with Christian beliefs, make up a new religion. Plagerizianity…
West
January 9
4:07 pm
I think it’s absolute crap. He stole it, thinking the original article was long enough ago in a small enough publication that no one would notice.
And as for fans of his saying the real author should be flattered? Absolute crap. Should she be “flattered” if someone were to break into her house and steal her computer, television, stereo? No! This is as much her property as those things, and it’s not flattering for someone to steal it.
Lolita Lopez
January 9
9:26 pm
Ooh, that flattery bit really pissed me off when I read this on DA. It seems to be a common reply among non-writer or author friendly types though.
A few weeks back, one of my mom’s friends gave her a few boxes of old romance novels. When Mom sorted the contents, she instantly tossed all the Janet Daily and Cassie Edwards books into the recycling bin. Mom’s friend was appalled that she was tossing out books so Mom explained that she won’t read or buy anything by plagiarists. Her friend totally didn’t get that it wasn’t cool to “borrow” from another author. She defended the authors as great storytellers–because that matters.
There’s just no convincing some people. Sad, really.