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The internet really disturbs me sometimes. I read the whole plagiarism thing this morning, and read more comments on it tonight. Basically, a rather stupid college stupent randomly IMs a guy who listed "eating Hindu sculpture" in his profile and asks him to write a paper for her. He turns out a five-page paper on the Hindu caste system, full of misinformation and the occasional random WTF moment (he refers to dharma and greg...) and she supposedly was going to send him $75 for his trouble. He claims that he doesn't want the money, and if she sends him the check, he's framing it without cashing it--he just wants to see her get caught. So after he sends her the paper and gets her name, he posts it all on the internet and emails the president of her university. Then the link gets tossed around the internet a few times and now it's a little famous, much to the (alleged) surprise of the guy who wrote it, who expected it to be read by only a few friends.
When I read it at first, I chuckled a little, because, seriously, none too bright, this Laura girl. You can't just randomly ask total strangers to do your work for you.. if nothing else, there's just a quality issue there! I mean, you might end up with a paper with the line "I made a doody" in it, just like Laura did. And sure, when you work for a degree, it annoys you to see that other people are cheating their way through. So, not a fan of plagiarism or anything, but reading the comments on this entry has left me with a foul taste in my mouth, because I am not so sure that humanity is really a worthwhile usage of resources sometimes.
I wrote about it once before briefly and called it "vicious agreement". I just don't get it. Sure, she's vaguely dumb, but she isn't killing puppies or murdering her grandma or anything. Why is everyone so hateful about it? These are people comparing her to terrorists and child molestors. They're saying that she's so busy with drugs and sex that she can't get her work done. They're saying that she deserves to have her life ruined over a prank. Hello, world, are you still there? You don't even know her! Let's put this into perspective, alright? She stupidly hired someone without credentials to do a school assignment for her. She is probably a decent human being except for this--I say this with no more knowledge of her as a person than the other folks have, but I just happen to think that most people are not horrible people--I save that classification for someone who's done a little more wrong than this. She probably would not be sent to death row were this a legal offense--not even in Texas!
I don't have a problem with her getting caught, really. I don't really see what she did as screamingly horrible--sure, unethical, but not really worse than lots of other bits of academic dishonesty I've seen, from people I respect a good deal or are bright individuals, but those are consequences she was aware of, so it's her own fault. [Actually, as a sidenote, I would point out that I took programming classes in school, where I wrote things from scratch all the time. Now I have a real job. Guess what the first thing you're taught to do is? Yep--find something similar, copy the whole thing, add and delete as necessary. And also, I get paid for it. I doubt it means that I'm going to hell.] I do think it is totally distasteful to use her real name on a public website, though. It's one thing to get her in trouble at school.. it's another to create a permanent record of someone else's moment of stupidity for employers in five years to find when Googling her. This could truly affect her entire life, and I just don't think that future punishment fits the current crime--and more than that, that level of punishment is being meted out by a totally random stranger. Everyone is comparing it to sting operations where undercover cops bust drug dealers and pedophiles, and basically saying that it is totally the same thing. Well, folks, guess what? It's not the same thing. A police officer is trained for these things, works inside the law and a set of ethics, and is generally entrusted with public safety. Nate RandomGuy.. eh, not so much. I don't think he's a particularly bad person for doing what he did, except the whole using-her-real-name thing, which I really do think crossed the line, but seriously. What does this achieve?
And then, we get to the last part, which is what really disturbs me. The people saying that hey, this is not nice, not ethical, not funny..are being totally abused, and not in the "no, look, it's just a prank" or "she really deserved it, so this is alright" sort of way. That would be a normal level of civilized discourse, but yet, that is totally not what is happening. One commenter says, and I quote, "I would highly suggest that the detractors and naysayers commit suicide at their earliest convenience." Commit suicide? You think that Laura Plagiarist is worth someone killing themselves for? More, you think that someone thinking that leniency over a stupid academic assignment is worth offing themselves over? You think plagiarism is worse than death?! I just really don't see it. It's just honestly not that important to me--and yes, that is an extreme example from someone who probably fancies himself a funny guy.. but there were other, similar examples that I'm not going to read through the whole page again for.
But maybe that's all just the nasty liberal in me talking again. My wise husband pointed out that the current administration is in power because of the way they pulled people together in hatred, and it is therefore not surprising that it happens in everyday life. I just happen to LIKE the internet, and stuff like this reminds me that it is far from perfect, and not for the reasons people expect.
When I read it at first, I chuckled a little, because, seriously, none too bright, this Laura girl. You can't just randomly ask total strangers to do your work for you.. if nothing else, there's just a quality issue there! I mean, you might end up with a paper with the line "I made a doody" in it, just like Laura did. And sure, when you work for a degree, it annoys you to see that other people are cheating their way through. So, not a fan of plagiarism or anything, but reading the comments on this entry has left me with a foul taste in my mouth, because I am not so sure that humanity is really a worthwhile usage of resources sometimes.
I wrote about it once before briefly and called it "vicious agreement". I just don't get it. Sure, she's vaguely dumb, but she isn't killing puppies or murdering her grandma or anything. Why is everyone so hateful about it? These are people comparing her to terrorists and child molestors. They're saying that she's so busy with drugs and sex that she can't get her work done. They're saying that she deserves to have her life ruined over a prank. Hello, world, are you still there? You don't even know her! Let's put this into perspective, alright? She stupidly hired someone without credentials to do a school assignment for her. She is probably a decent human being except for this--I say this with no more knowledge of her as a person than the other folks have, but I just happen to think that most people are not horrible people--I save that classification for someone who's done a little more wrong than this. She probably would not be sent to death row were this a legal offense--not even in Texas!
I don't have a problem with her getting caught, really. I don't really see what she did as screamingly horrible--sure, unethical, but not really worse than lots of other bits of academic dishonesty I've seen, from people I respect a good deal or are bright individuals, but those are consequences she was aware of, so it's her own fault. [Actually, as a sidenote, I would point out that I took programming classes in school, where I wrote things from scratch all the time. Now I have a real job. Guess what the first thing you're taught to do is? Yep--find something similar, copy the whole thing, add and delete as necessary. And also, I get paid for it. I doubt it means that I'm going to hell.] I do think it is totally distasteful to use her real name on a public website, though. It's one thing to get her in trouble at school.. it's another to create a permanent record of someone else's moment of stupidity for employers in five years to find when Googling her. This could truly affect her entire life, and I just don't think that future punishment fits the current crime--and more than that, that level of punishment is being meted out by a totally random stranger. Everyone is comparing it to sting operations where undercover cops bust drug dealers and pedophiles, and basically saying that it is totally the same thing. Well, folks, guess what? It's not the same thing. A police officer is trained for these things, works inside the law and a set of ethics, and is generally entrusted with public safety. Nate RandomGuy.. eh, not so much. I don't think he's a particularly bad person for doing what he did, except the whole using-her-real-name thing, which I really do think crossed the line, but seriously. What does this achieve?
And then, we get to the last part, which is what really disturbs me. The people saying that hey, this is not nice, not ethical, not funny..are being totally abused, and not in the "no, look, it's just a prank" or "she really deserved it, so this is alright" sort of way. That would be a normal level of civilized discourse, but yet, that is totally not what is happening. One commenter says, and I quote, "I would highly suggest that the detractors and naysayers commit suicide at their earliest convenience." Commit suicide? You think that Laura Plagiarist is worth someone killing themselves for? More, you think that someone thinking that leniency over a stupid academic assignment is worth offing themselves over? You think plagiarism is worse than death?! I just really don't see it. It's just honestly not that important to me--and yes, that is an extreme example from someone who probably fancies himself a funny guy.. but there were other, similar examples that I'm not going to read through the whole page again for.
But maybe that's all just the nasty liberal in me talking again. My wise husband pointed out that the current administration is in power because of the way they pulled people together in hatred, and it is therefore not surprising that it happens in everyday life. I just happen to LIKE the internet, and stuff like this reminds me that it is far from perfect, and not for the reasons people expect.
