Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Stealing is Wrong

Sometimes it's necessary. If you're starving and you steal bread to eat, for instance. It's still wrong. Understandable, forgiveable, excusable even, but wrong. Most times stealing is neither necessary nor justifiable.

Today I'm going to rant rather than amuse you with the catastrophe that is often so much a part of my everyday existence. My rant is about theft. Not the theft of money, food or tangible property. No - it's about the theft of words. Of somebody else's hard work and creativity. It's about plagiarism. I'm not talking about ideas. Nor am I talking about plots. There really are no original plots. Even Shakespeare used second-hand ideas. And who doesn't understand that West Side Story is just Romeo & Juliet with better tunes?? Nor am I referring to accidentally using a phrase or a couple of lines that you heard somewhere and you loved but can't remember where you heard it or don't remember that it isn't yours. Nor even when you adapt it for yourself and acknowledge your source (I've done that myself - and so has a very well-known writer of Lesbian romance, who wrote her own Jane Austen-style fanfic. *g*). I don't mean things like fanfiction where you borrow somebody else's characters and write your story round them either. Sure - that's copyright infringement but the plots are your own and the words are your own.

No, what I'm talking about is the wholesale word-for-word theft of another's work. Newsflash - copy-and-paste is not "research".

I've seen several incidences of it on the web. And there have even been some quite astonishing occurrences in printed books - sometimes a thief has been idiotic enough to rip off a really famous writer. Are they nuts?? Did they think they wouldn't get caught?? Or did they just not care?? The world is vast but the web brings us together. If you steal you will be caught. So why do it?? And when you are caught why on earth would you plead ignorance?? Say you didn't do it?? Or act as if it doesn't matter?? And more to the point why do other people act as if it doesn't matter?? As if the writer who has had their hard work stolen shouldn't be so hard on the thief??

It matters.

If someone takes your ipod and then justifies it by saying that they didn't realise it was your ipod and anyway that it's your fault for leaving your ipod where they could take it - would you say "oh well, never mind"?? Or would you tear them off a strip?? Well my thoughts, my words, my stories, my soul on view to you, would matter a hell of a lot more to me than my ipod and that is the same for every writer.

And, if you do this, if you steal another's work, how can you sit there and receive praise for your writing - praise that you know is not yours by right?? How can you feel good about yourself when you know what you've done?? I just don't get it. How can you derive any sense of achievement from having your name on work you know isn't yours?? What on earth is the point??

Plagiarism is theft. Theft is wrong. Thieves are worthless. It's that simple.

Ze

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