Thought provoking and intriguing, The Ecstasy of Influence nevertheless contained too many complicated words that, at times, interrupted its message (“Amour fou,” “cryptomnesia,” “auteurist,” “panoply”). Looking up the first few words was interesting, even fun, but after the 15th or 20th, my patience wore thin, and the task felt much like fingernails on a chalkboard. True, I enjoy enriching my vocabulary, but too much of a good thing is never good.
From the beginning, the essay seemed disjointed and labored with one intense concept after another. Of course, what I did not know in the beginning was that the unsuspecting twist at the end supported the paper's incoherent structure. And what an ending it was!
The essay explored plagiarism from angles I have never considered and, many times, glamorized it. The author (or whichever source he pilfered from) believed that stealing intellectual property, such as another’s idea or words, was justifiable over taking material objects. After all, he reasoned, when we use another’s quote or paragraph, the originals remain untouched and available for others to use. He rationalized that stealing cars or handbags on the other hand affects the original items because they are no longer available to their owners. To persuade us further, he dropped in a quote from Thomas Jefferson, making cheating seem, well, almost noble!
The truth is, when we copy original work without permission, in most cases, the author never knows. Yet, in spite of the argument, plagiarism does affect the original—perhaps not tangibly where it is gone from the public domain, but certainly intangibly because the initial idea is no longer exclusive to the author.
Naturally, we have little control over what influences us subconsciously. However, we can control consciously taking another’s words or ideas. So, regardless of the clever angles or entertaining examples one uses to convince us otherwise, to me, it is always black and white: stealing is still stealing.
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2 comments:
Well first of all great job.....the style of your response and your background set up was great. However you began talking about the vocabulary and i dont think we are suppose to....i did the same thing for my first reponse and the professor told me to stay away from that!! Also u only gave little opinion to what you thought about the article...next try to give a little more....otherwise great job!!!
You did a really good job getting your thoughts, and ideas out about the article. I found myself confused at time, just what was writer's true message. One thought, your focus seems to get lost at times in your response.
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