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Today’s first vocabulary word is Plagiarism. What is plagiarism?
For an answer to this question we turn to the esteemed Merriam-Webster
dictionary.
Plagiarism - the act of using another person's words or ideas
without giving credit to that person: the act of plagiarizing something.[i]
To aid teachers in helping their students understand what
plagiarism is and its roots, the Merriam-Webster.com/dictionary web page on
plagiarism goes on to offer a short article on, “The Kidnapping Roots of
Plagiarize,” in which it states that “Plagiarize (and plagiarism) come from the
Latin plagiarius ‘kidnapper.”[ii]
It’s meaning was extended to mean one “who stole the words, rather than the
children, of another.”[iii]
Politicians are notoriously famous for plagiarism. Our current
Vice President was, at one time, forced to drop out of the Presidential Race
because he had plagiarized. Sometimes, though, it is hard to tell if a politician
is actually plagiarizing or just using the same tired old clichés and
platitudes some previous politician may have used. So much of what goes into
political speeches seems recycled, at least to those of us who have been
listening to them for as long as I have.
Plagiarism is back in the news after the Republican Presidential
Nominee’s wife’s keynote speech on the first night of the Republican National
Convention. Approximately 60 words[iv]
in aspiring First Lady Melania Trump’s speech appeared to have been “borrowed”
from current First Lady Michelle Obama’s 2008 speech.
As a middle school teacher, if a student had written a paper and
turned it in with that much copied but uncited material, I would have, in the
first instance, counseled that student carefully about what plagiarism is, why
it is not acceptable, and how to go about citing sources. A second incident
with the same student would result in disciplinary action and a call home.
Whoever wrote Mrs Trump’s speech should probably be subject to some type of
disciplinary action by the Trump campaign. While the speech writer should have
been cognizant of the content of Mrs Obama’s speech it is doubtful Mrs Trump
was.
Today’s second vocabulary word is Hypocrisy. For a definition we
will again turn to Merriam-Webster.
Hypocrisy - the behavior of people who do things that they tell
other people not to do: behavior that does not agree with what someone claims
to believe or feel.[v]
Many politicians and pundits on Mr Trump’s bandwagon are
decrying the accusations of plagiarism by Mrs Trump as pure hypocrisy by the
left and the media. Perennial right wing talk show host Sean Hannity took up
Melania Trump’s cause right away. Instead of denying her speech was
plagiarized, Mr Hannity instead pointed out incidents of similar plagiarism by
left wing politicians including: President Obama’s alleged plagiarism of then
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, Michelle Obama’s use of Saul Alinsky’s, “Rule
for Radicals” without citation, Hillary Clinton’s repeated plagiarizing of then
Senator John Edwards during the 2008 Presidential Campaign, and of course he
mentioned Vice President Joe Biden’s plagiarism of both American and British
politicians back in the 1980s.[vi]
Chris Christie, the former Governor of New Jersey, pointed out on
the Today Show Tuesday morning that only 7% of the speech was plagiarized and
93% was original.[vii]
Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s campaign manager, blamed Hillary
Clinton for creating the controversy about the speech.[viii]
Other members of the Trump campaign offered various other excuses and denials, even as some who are not firmly in the Trump camp within the Republican Party voiced concerns
The charge of hypocrisy against the left, and indeed the main
stream media, seems to be the most relevant. The left is excoriating Melania
Trump for doing something its own politicians get a pass for doing on a consistent basis.
It is taken for granted by most Americans, I dare add most people
around the world, that politicians will exaggerate, obfuscate, use hyperbole,
misdirect, and outright lie in order to get into and stay in office. The same is
also said of their surrogates. Why should anyone be surprised these same people
would occasionally “borrow” each other’s words for a speech? I would never let
my students get away with it, but, then again, students are held to a much
higher standard of honesty and integrity than are today’s politicians.
As always, I remain,
The Exhausted Educator
[i] "Plagiarism."
Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 20 July 2016.
<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarism>.
"The
Kidnapping Roots of Plagiarize." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster,
n.d. Web. 20 July 2016. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarism>.
[ii] "The Kidnapping Roots of
Plagiarize." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 20 July
2016. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarism>.
[iii]
ibid
[iv] Jordan, Elise.
"How Melania Trump's Plagiarism Happened." Time. Time, 16 July
2016. Web. 20 July 2016. <http://time.com/4413098/melania-trump-speech/>.
[v] "Hypocrisy."
Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 20 July 2016.
<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hypocrisy>.
[vi] Miller, Andrew
Mark. "Sean Hannity STUNS Liberals by Posting This Picture About Melania
Trump Speech..." Young Conservatives Sean Hannity Posts Image Exposing
The Hypocrisy Of The Left Regarding Melania Trumps Speech Comments. Young
Conservatives, 19 July 2016. Web. 20 July 2016. <http://www.youngcons.com/sean-hannity-posts-image-exposing-the-hypocrisy-of-the-left-regarding-melania-trumps-speech/>.
[vii] Tashman, Brian.
"The Five Most Absurd Defenses Of Melania Trump's Plagiarism Of Michelle
Obama." Right Wing Watch. People For The American Way, 19 July
2016. Web. 20 July 2016.
<http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/five-most-absurd-defenses-melania-trumps-plagiarism-michelle-obama>.
[viii]
ibid
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