“Something Borrowed” OR “Well… that’s comforting and scary at the same time.”

“The ethics of plagiarism have turned into the narcissism of small difference: because journalism cannot own up to its heavily derivative nature, it must enforce originality on the level of the sentence.”

While this isn’t an all encompassing view of the ethics of plagiarism, it does offer another view not usually taken. When I usually think of plagiarism I’m more worried about getting caught doing it. I’m not saying that I am a plagiarist; I’m saying that it’s so easy to take in something and forget that the idea isn’t yours. It is strange though, the idea of the ethical stances concerning plagiarism, to think about why we have these rules in the first place. It’s even more interesting to think about how they can be problematic. Right from the outset it’s problematic in that you can’t own an idea. Actually, I should retract that, you can own an idea, but you really shouldn’t be able to. Yet I can understand from a creative stand point why laws and rules against plagiarism should exist. Still, the fact remains that you can’t have it both ways. While the laws of plagiarism are important for those who have created valuable things, they also inhibit those who could build on those already valuable things and make them priceless. I’ve got a great example.

Let’s talk about the XBOX. Microsoft came out with this gaming system a couple years ago. It was revolutionary in its design. Basically if you opened one up you’d see that it looked identical to a computer. Hard Drive, VPU (video processing unit), DVD Drive, Ethernet port, Motherboard… It was revolutionary because it broke the boundaries of what console game system could be. Eventually people decided that the full potential of the XBOX wasn’t being used. People, voiding their warranties, decided to open up the XBOX and see what could be done. The result, here at the pinnacle of XBOX modding (it will get no better than this) the XBOX can do so much more. With a modchip and the proper software installed it can play any type of media from MP3 to AVI, it can utilize the DVD playback function without the use of the DVD dongle that is sold separately, and the hard drive can be upgraded to any size. This is a prime example of how a public effort can make a private product more… productive. But yes, there is a down side, and it’s quite a steep down side.

Since the XBOX can now copy just about anything put in the DVD drive, people aren’t just backing up games they already own to their XBOX. People are pirating games like mad. You can even download video games and transfer them via FTP straight from your home PC to your XBOX console. “Thou shalt not steal” right? Shit, think about all the bad karma we’re wracking up.

Back to the article for a moment. The story of how Lavery had taken bits and pieces from other peoples work and lives is very intriguing, but I can’t help but question why she did not ask for permission from Lewis to use parts of her life. Yes, she was using Lewis’ biography as research, but when you use that much of someone’s biography you have to think about the legal implications. I mean, come on. That’s just careless. Too careless. Being a writer myself I might be inclined to understand where Lavery is coming from. Maybe she felt that had she revealed that her creation “Frozen” was a mash of various sources she might be seen as less of a writer. And it’s sad that we think this. We tend to think that originality = talent. Yes, the fact that that’s true isn’t being debated, that fact of how talent can manifest itself is though. Talent is just marked by originality; it’s the ability to see what in life connects and how it can be transformed to become something more. There are many modes in which talent can manifest, originality though seems to be the main way, the only way we can see it.

I hate to say it: but the more you know, the less you enjoy.