The debate last night was anticlimatic, but interesting.
One part stood out to me--and if you've been reading up on the race in the last week you knew it was coming--Clinton's campaign has accused Obama of plagiarism. He downplayed the alleged speech by saying that Deval Patrick, the person he lifted a line from, is one of the "head guys" in his campaign and that Patrick is the one who suggested that Obama use the phrase from his prior speech.
Do you consider this plagiarism?
Honestly, how many of our ideas are really our own ideas? I'm a preacher. Every Sunday I share ideas, principles, and theories. How many of these have been born from within myself? Umm...probably not many. Most ideas stem from somewhere--a book, a conversation, a commercial, an ad, an article in a magazine, a television show, etc.
6 comments:
I'm with ya on the shared ideas aspect. So much of what is inside me is a compilation of information and transformation that has taken place throughout my life. It seems God pulls from that pool of history to lead me to connect a moment in everyday life to His story in hope that others might benefit. I don't feel very original most of the time but the good news is we have a message that continually draws people into the story whether we are creative and original or not.
It's funny you posted this though because just this week I was thinking about your "Imagine a World without Branches" sermon. For some reason it stuck with me over the last few years and it stirred some thoughts about "imagining a world without light." I guess I should find a way to cite you if something comes of it.
May God continue to work through you for His glory my friend! Miss you brother.
To compound the problem, when you get to my my age, you FORGET where you heard/read something, and then unconsciously conclude, "what a great idea I had!"
I just try to give credit when I can.
Enjoyed reading the thoughts ya have! I love seeing the pics on your wifes blog of the whole family!!! Your son is so cute! Yall have a great week!
It is important to credit the person who orginated the phrase, etc. to honor and acknowledge them. However, few things we say are 100% ours. I do not think either campaign can make the claim that certain phrases are "theirs alone".
I think you're right. Plagiarism, to me at least, is more to do with assignments (term papers, writing books, etc...), not making a speech. Is it plagiarism every time someone says, "I have a dream"?
I say that to say this ... it could have been avoided. The speech writer should have been more careful because when comparing the speeches there is no doubt that it was "borrowed material".
Interesting thought, but to take it further how much of the ideas that were compiled in your brain from someone else's thoughts came from beyond that person.. and so on. I wonder if you did enough digging how many ppl in 1 line of thought could be accused of plagiarism of that thought threw the ages. I also wonder how many people thought this same thing throughout the many years.. oops.
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