Circa 1960, my sister and I buried a time capsule in our
backyard. I can’t remember what we put
in it, or exactly where we buried it.
But it doesn’t matter since we dug it up again a couple of months
later—I can’t remember whether it was on purpose or whether it was accidentally
unearthed when we buried Lizzy the Lizard.
I do recall that we enjoyed picking out things to go into the shoebox
and felt a little bit like NASA sending a capsule out to communicate to
possible life forms across the galaxy.
A little bit like writing a blog.
Descartes said “Cogito ergo sum"-- in English “I think therefore I am.”
Well, Scripsi ergo erat
(I wrote therefore I was.) I made
this up, I think. At least I never heard
of anyone else who said this. One could
posit that this is a variant of “Kilgore was here.” In any case, I cannot be accused of plagiarism
since it is only three Latin words.
Which brings me, circuitously, to the topic of this post:
Plagiarism, a cardinal literary sin. When
you write, you can fantasize, lie, blaspheme, opine, insult, etc., as long as
you don’t copy someone.
Melania Trump’s speech at the RNC contained passages that
qualify as plagiarism. Not that many
identical words, but enough to fulfill the quota, and when you put the video of
her speech next to one of Michelle Obama, the resemblance is unmistakable.
Whether Mrs. Trump knew the source or not, whether she was
cognizant of plagiarism rules or not, she recognized the truth and beauty of
the words. And when she spoke them, it
resonated with the crowd. Ironically, it
would not have been plagiarism if she had just added a few more words, citing
the source. But imagine how different
the audience reaction would have been if she had attributed anything positive
to the wife of President Obama.
I find this to be very sad.
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. (I’m not plagiarizing, William. Only 10 words.)
