Plagiarism and you, or, why is this such a big deal?

[same_sky]

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.

Comments

[paradisecowgirl.livejournal.com]

There is something about the internet that seems to bring out a certain rudeness or something -- perhaps it's the semi/mostly anonymous nature of the net. Frankly, I'll read a comment or two in these situations and if the thread of the conversation is deteriorating, I leave it. Life is too short to expose myself to that kind of negativity, though there was a time when I would engage and "fight the good fight" but no more. People aren't really open to changing their minds/attitudes (and that's assuming they're not just being provocative for the sake of it) so that was just more wasted energy.

So no, I don't get it either.

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

I guess I should do the same thing and just ignore it when the level of discourse becomes painfully bad. At least I never post in places like that.. :)

[sweet-pickles.livejournal.com]

I agree that people shouldn't be hateful about this, and some of those comments are quite frankly crazy. As for cheating, though, I think it is a big deal.

Cheating is a problem in the US on all levels of school -- from grade school to grad school. Case in point, B is currently attending one of the top 10 MBA programs in the US. At the beginning of each quarter his professors go over exactly what consistutes cheating (i.e., spelling out for them that contacting former students of the class as well as current students in other sections about the projects, homework, or exams is cheating). They also are required to sign an honor pledge and attach it to any homework, exam or project they turn in for credit.

The bigger problem though is that there aren't any consequences. Most teachers are either afraid of having to deal with irate parents or overwhelmed in general or just over it and tired of caring to take action. I attended a Catholic school in which the Principal (who was also a priest) taught the Honor's English class -- 98% of the students cheated in that class and not a one was ever confronted about it.

Cheating is a form of stealing. And like stealing, what may start off small (a candy from a drug store) can escalate (robbing the drug store) if left unchecked. The same is true of cheating. People wonder why things like Enron can happen -- I say it can go back to the small things.

As a nation I think the US is losing the values of honesty and accountability. Allowing the cheating to continue ensures that this will be the case.

I don't have a problem with Nate using Laura's name because he used his name. It only seems fair. If this is true, Laura should be embarrassed and ashamed of her actions. Perhaps it isn't fair that she be used as an example, and that it come back to bite her five years down the line. But let me ask you, if you knew about this and she came to your company looking for a job would you honestly hire her (assuming she could not prove that she had changed)? What if the job involved the finances of your company? Yes, we all make mistakes but there are so many errors in judgment here it isn't even funny.

The sad thing is though that if this is indeed true, I am doubtful that any serious consequences will come of it. I predict Laura's parents will hire lawyers and threaten to sue the University. They won't want the bad press and may even be forced to remove all traces of the incident from her permanent record. She will graduate with honors and will go on cheating.

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, he used his name.. but he had the choice and she did not. He didn't ask her if it was alright.. as a matter of fact, he went to some trouble to change her name to her real name instead of her screen name. He even admits that he's trying to get Google to pick the story up. And, having just read the follow-up, he has also removed her last name from the site--which rather shows that I'm not the only one who thought it was tacky.

I'm not arguing that plagiarism is wrong. I just happen to think that it is fashionable to be more anti-plagiarist than it deserves (relatively speaking--she was attacked more viciously and vehemently in that thread than, for random example, the public attacked those soldiers who were torturing prisoners and taking pictures of it (speaking of stupid) last year, which I thought was quite a bit worse than a simple case of cheating.) I think people carry things too far and place a little too much importance on things just so they can be morally superior to someone else. That's what I had a problem with.. the comments were so nasty, and I think those people just saw a chance to say hey, I'm better than her and I want the world to know it. And maybe they really never plagiarized anything in their life. Do they also have a collection of MP3s that they downloaded with Napster, or do they install programs that they didn't pay for, or have they cheated on their taxes (just a little bit!) or did they not say something when a cashier gave them change for a $50 when they paid with a $20? People do things that aren't entirely ethical all the time, but they don't always get written up about and tossed around the internet about it, and they probably don't think they're a horrible people just because they copy a CD now and then, but yet, the RIAA calls that stealing. I don't see what she did as more worthy of being publically humiliated over than a lot of other things that I can think of that most people just generally don't care about. She's only hurting herself in the long run, but all over the internet, people couldn't wait to jump on the bandwagon to also be part of hurting her. THAT is what bothers me. She's just a random kid that no one had ever heard of before. She did something stupid. She's not Hitler. That was my point.

[courtesy.livejournal.com]

Thank you for making me lose one whole hour of the remaining four hours I have to pack my place up :) It is a bit crazy and some of the commenters are way too harsh and frankly quite horrible, but I have to confess I did enjoy the read :)

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry! Here I caused you to waste time instead of pack! I'm sure that it was an extremely hard choice...

[carrieb.livejournal.com]

How bizarre. When I first saw the story I was trying to figure out who the Laura person was. I figured she must be someone famous in the world of Hindu studies for such a big deal to be made out of it. When I figured out the truth of the matter I had zero interest in reading about it. I do think plagerism is a big deal because it harms those who don't cheat. Someone who gets away with a really great plagerized essay may academically get ahead of someone who wrote their own good essay. It's almost impossible to stop because the burden of proof lies on the teacher and if you don't have the source material how can you prove the person cheated? The advent of the Internet and google has helped with that, but how many teachers have time to check every essay. I finally just had all my kids do in class writing projects and that nipped it in the bud. It is certainly not the big deal that these people are making it out to be. Eventually these behaviors catch up with people and bite them in the ass.

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

Exactly! They keep talking about her like she's somebody we should know, but then you find out that she's not. What's the point?! I agree that plagiarism is bad.. that's not what I was trying to say. I just think it's a bad of limited scope--ie, not worth starting a huge internet controversy over. ;)

[lizardek.livejournal.com]

Excellent rant, Kisha. I, too, wish people would just calm the hell down and leave each othe alone.

[same-sky.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I just really don't understand people sometimes. Especially people who make horrible puns. Sheesh. ;)

[lizardek.livejournal.com]

LOL! I can't quite figure out your point here. :P