Meta: Plagiarism and Generation Me!Me!Me!

[joyful_molly]

Houston, we have a plagiarism-scandal. This time in Germany, and the culprit is a 17-year old called Helene Hegemann. Critics whipped out the thesaurus and showered her book "Axolotl Roadkill" with praise, rolling in superlatives like pigs in mud.  That's not unusual; critics love wunderkinder. I have no doubts that there are 17 year olds who write

Comments

[anteros_lmc]

I have heard similarly wrong-headed arguments being made against the use of creative commons because y'know it'll impeded our right to use all that free stuff that's out there on the web and actually it's it's really an attempt to enforce cultural colonisation through copyright.

Sorry, better go before I start ranting.

[joyful_molly]

Artists of any kind are in a fix; the law can't keep up with technology, and the result is either too much policing or not enough. It's very difficult, and I'm the first to admit that I wouldn't want to be the one who has to make new laws. I don't agree with the current copyright excess (Disney, I'm looking at you), but there are some basics which one doesn't need a lawyer for to understand - plagiarism is one of those things. The girl admits in her statement that she copied a complete page word by word - and she doesn't see anything wrong with it! It's there, it's mine. This absence of any feeling of wrong-doing scares me more than the actual act of plagiarism, to be honest.

Re: Fauxapology is an apt word

[joyful_molly]

WTF?! That's outrageous. And I've heard similar stories so often; sometimes the plagiarism is encouraged by the parents! Poor little Nuttley can't be asked to work so hard, here, copy/paste and all is fine. This entitlement culture is grating on my nerves like woah. >:(

Re: Fauxapology is an apt word

[joyful_molly]

Meines Wissens hat Brecht nicht ganze Seiten von einem anderen Autoren verbatim und ohne Quellenangabe übernommen. Und jetzt hat Marcel Reich sogar dieses verzogene Brat in Schutz genommen und dazu Brecht herbeigezogen. Was ist mit den Leuten bloss los? Kollektive Verblödung? *aufreg* Und dann gross herumjammern wegen Internetpiraterie und Untergang der Verlagswelt. Wenn *das* der Standard ist, dann dürfen die meinetwegen ruhig alle verschwinden. Bin gespannt, wann dieses Machwerk online gratis erhältlich sein wird; und DANN sehen wir mal, wie schnell die ganzen Anwälte angerannt kommen.

*solidaritätsgrantelt*

[chris_smith_atr]

I think that broke my mind.

[joyful_molly]

I had to fix mine with superglue. Reading an interview of that girl is lethal to brain cells.

[lembas_muncher]

First: *holds hands over mouth* hehehehehe. Google. Hehehehehe!!!

;) :) :D

Of course, plagiarism is a "not-so-serious" issue in today's society (except to those...ah, what do you call them...authors?!)

I remember when I was in school we had a ton of essays and reports to write. My teachers were absolutely NOT interested in MY views on the subject. Just the known facts. We first copied chunks of text from an Encyclopedia, but! with the invention of Wikipedia.... O_o

Today, I'm the bad guy because I absolutely do not allow any kind of home-made-essay in my class (for which I would be obligated to give HUGE FALSE grades) - No! Why? I simply cannot waste time revising a text from which some kid could not even remove hyperlinks ("What are those?!").

And, no - they do NOT unerstand what's wrong with that. Did I mention that I'm the *itch here? *grin*

So this book-copying brat just makes me go: Grrr!

[joyful_molly]

I absolutely do not allow any kind of home-made-essay

Good on you! I'm very glad that our school system still requires students write most of their essays in class.

I simply cannot waste time revising a text from which some kid could not even remove hyperlinks

... QUOI?! 0___o

[joyful_molly]

My thoughts as well. If you want to really boggle your mind, read Bimo's reply below, where she quotes the "statement" of Spiegel Online. It beggars belief! "So she copied - so what? Other's done it before!"

Oh boy. I'd pay good money to hear Marcel Reich's comment...

[joyful_molly]

Oh dear. Not the FAZ as well - I think I'll just avoid German press for the next couple of months. Let's make a bet how long it will take for the case to turn up on Stern TV...! (Jauch would have a field day with this!)