Plagiarism in the Digital World

In my previous post on Clergygate, I remarked that ideas should not be held responsible for their supporters. It wasn't an original idea. In fact, it may have been almost the same wording that someone else used earlier, although that person in turn may have borrowed the phrase. I could try to track it down, since search engines make the job so much easier now, but it's not worth the effort.

I will simply admit that I don't invent every phrase I use. It would be almost impossible to track down everything we know we're borrowing, let alone the many phrases that our subconscious minds allow us to think are original but which came largely intact from some previous source.

Surely, it shouldn't matter when political candidates borrow freely. In February, Obama was accused by the Clinton campaign of plagiarism in a speech. Who cares? We don't elect people to office with the idea that their platforms are original. Why should it matter if they language in support that closely mimics some prior speech by someone else?

Especially since almost no words that come out of a candidates mouth are his own anyway. They are produced by speechwriters. Does anyone think that George W. Bush actually composes his thoughts in the language you hear from him in formal situations? Not likely. But no one accuses him of plagiarizing his own speechwriter. If we're going to demand originality, let's be consistent.