Writer Jonathan Lethem creates a different and interesting perspective on plagiarism in his article in\u00a0Harper’s\u00a0Magazine. Harper’s\u00a0magazine\u00a0is an publication which aims explores\u00a0interesting\u00a0issues in the current time. \u00a0It contains a mix of essays, fiction and reporting and has a left lean on politics. Plagiarism is an issue that is often brought up in the current times; authors, students, journalists often have trouble because accused of plagiarizing. Often in these cases, it unclear whether the individual was\u00a0activity\u00a0stealing another’s ideas, if it was a\u00a0subconscious\u00a0thing, or if they came up with the words by themselves and just happened to be very\u00a0similar\u00a0to\u00a0another\u00a0work. Lethem talks about many of the issues with plagiarism and some famous artists and shows which, strictly speaking, plagiarized. He points out how many of these plagiarized works are important parts of our culture – the\u00a0Simpsons\u00a0as perfect example. The concept that ideas are intellectual property can both help and harm society; help by protecting writers and artists but hinder by the death grip of companies upon their property. Lethem ends with this point, and asks readers to do a simple thing: respect his work, do not steal is editions, but feel free to use his ideas.<\/p>\n
For those who care, my comments on plagiarism are less well spoken as those of Mr. Lethem. He, as a writer, has much more invested interest in the issues of copyright law and theft. However, plagiarism is still of interest to myself – as a student I am told in every class I take how bad plagiarism is. I do agree that quoting\u00a0verbatim\u00a0without giving credit would be wrong; I expect myself and fellow students to do their own work. However, I do like Mr. Lethem’s statement that we are free to use his ideas, but not his words. \u00a0If creators are not allowed to build of each other’s ideas, then we place a huge restraint upon the materials that they can work with, stifling growth. Indeed, few works of today can actually be called original at first glace. If studied, we see the affects of other works and writers, of inventors and even tv shows. We should not curb this exchange of ideas. I do believe that authors’ works should be protected and they should\u00a0receive\u00a0something for those works, but I also believe that the ideas within those works should be less strictly regulated. As Lethem\u00a0believes, Thomas Jefferson’s views on copyrights: enough to give writers\u00a0motivation, and then allowing ideas to be freely used.<\/p>\n
Lethem’s article:http:\/\/www.harpers.org\/archive\/2007\/02\/0081387<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Writer Jonathan Lethem creates a different and interesting perspective on plagiarism in his article in\u00a0Harper’s\u00a0Magazine. Harper’s\u00a0magazine\u00a0is an publication which aims explores\u00a0interesting\u00a0issues in the current time. \u00a0It contains a mix of essays, fiction and reporting and has a left lean on … Continue reading