(source)
"Kids these days, this Cassandra-ish line of reasoning goes, have unfathomably different values, and their elders had better come to terms with this because children are, after all, the future. You can't tell them anything!"
The above line, unapologetically lifted from Laura Miller’s article “Plagiarism: The next generation,” found on Salon.com (16 Feb 2010), says everything that is wrong with teaching young writers about the pitfalls of plagiarism. Miller opines on 17 year old German author Helene Hegemann’s plagiarism accusations and the young author’s reaction to the once damnable offense. Miller does not necessarily defend Hegemann’s actions, but neither does she crucify the young writer. It seems that many young writers see the theft of another’s work as something to be celebrated (or, at the very least, excusable) instead of avoided.
Hegemann's defense is that she might borrow ideas from other authors but she blends them into uniquely new pieces. Ok, I'm calling bullshit on this excuse. While there is no denying the creative affect another’s writing has on me (I emulated Bukowski's apathetic writing style for years with my own poetry) I can not understand the lack of shame other plagiarists experience. PUBLISHED plagiarists, no less!
Perhaps the German culture is so different from our own in that this can be deemed acceptable, but such is not the case in America. Or is it? The problem is that plagiarism is such a gray area, if not in scholarly articles certainly in creative writing. Or is it? Regardless, plagiarism is stealing - not mixing, as Hegemann suggested, and should never be tolerated (source).
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