I'm not going to get on a high horse about plagiarism because I'm pretty sure that if I was currently going to college most of my papers would be cut and paste jobs from Wikipedia but the constant stream of plagiarism stories coming out of UMKC are a little embarrassing for two reasons:
1. Coming up with your own ideas isn't that hard, especially if you're like me and most of them are bad, reactionary, misogynist and unworkable.
b. The really great plagiarists never get caught and openly admit they're stealing. Most of this blog is taken from a soliloquy in one of the grossly underrated Caddy Shack Sequels.
Anyway, here is some background on previous, infamous UMKC plagiarism cases that not only involve the student paper and their poorly written movie reviews (Why, why do people constantly think that anyone else would care about what they think regarding a flick? From Roger Ebert on down . . .) and even the professors and their mostly lifted speeches are in on the act:
The Samir Patel Plagiarism Incident
UMKC Plagiarism Case Takes A Turn For The Worse . . . Read: Why would anybody quote Cornell West if it wasn't from his role in The Matrix?
Anyway, here is the latest indictment from an annony tipster and a poor soul who actually reads the U-News. Incidentally, they never let me write for this paper and I went straight to the KC Hispanic News in college . . . I'd like to say it was because I was a Chicano and most of the minorities writing for that paper were/are more interested in their resume than the direction the school takes . . . However, I think the the truth was that I didn't fit in with their nerdy, "Gee, I'm an overachiever" 10+ pages of opinion rag.
Ooops, I digress but now (Finally) here's the scoop on the latest allegations on what could be the 2nd plagiarism issue in 2 years at the UMKC University News:
Today they ran an editorial that plagiarized an unattributed quote from Howard Zinn as the headline for a staff editorial. The piece is entitled, "Patriotism is the highest form of dissent". That line was uttered by Zinn in 2004 to tompaine.com. It is frequently mis-attributed to Thomas Jefferson. The U-News just decided that it was best that we thought it was their original thought.So there it is . . . Again, I can't cast many stones on this one because I'm not sure I've ever had an original thought (especially in college) but the U-News might want to devote less resources to movie reviews and instead focus on their 39 pages of opinion journalism where I haven't seen many new ideas in the past 40 years.
You shouldn't get on a high horse because you plagiarize on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteLinks bitch they're called links.
ReplyDeleteFucking pussies.
ReplyDeleteI could comment: What do you expect from some two-bit Missouri state run college -errrr- UNIVERSITY. But I won't.
ReplyDeleteThis is just a symptom of journalism (and I use that term loosely) as it exists today. You could take almost any journalistic content today and drop it into a Mongolian cluster-fuck, no wait, I meant grill. Chop and slop, sizzle and drizzle, then redistribute it at random and it would all turn out the same. That goes for print as well as electronic media.
Its more than just links, motherfucker.
ReplyDeleteOTOH, not all plagiarism is illegal or even unethical. Simply unoriginal.
ReplyDeleteHere's yet another example of what looks like the UNews plagairism/journalistic sins from one of their "reporters" named Danny Mathis.
ReplyDeleteFrom the UNews dated 1/9/06:
"I have some concerns about how this amendment came about back in February," Wasinger said in regard to a Feb 2 contract amendment.
KC Star dated 12/20/05
Wasinger said he had never seen anything in the curators' meeting minutes or resolutions showing they approved the Feb. 2 amendemtn leading him to question its validity. He said his votes Friday against Floyd's extension and pay raise were "not so much a reflection of President Floyd's performance. I have some concerns about how this amendment came about back in February."
UNews article dated 1/9/06
Among the three who voted against this raise and two-year contract extension were David Wasinger, a new curator and former attorney in St. Louis and John Carnahan III, a Springfield attorney.
"My concern is that the university needs to follow the procedures that are outline in our rules and regulations, our bylaws and our statutes," said Carnahan regarding the voting process.
AP article from the Jeff City Tribune posted 12/20/05
"I personally like Dr. Floyd, and I think he's done a lot of good things," Carnahan said Monday. "My concern is that the university needs to follow the procdedures that are outlined in our rules and regulations, our bylaws and our statutes."
KC Star Code of ethics:
Do not borrow the work of others. Plagiarism includes the wholesale lifting of someone else's writing, research or original concepts without attribution.
Of course you can't expect the paper's editor-in-chief to know the Star's standard. It's not like she worked there or had an internship there or anything....oops, I'm sorry. She did.
www.unews.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticle&ustory_id=79e93b37-b726-49b3-b416-94cb49f9c488
I'm not surprised that anonymous misspelled plagiarize.
ReplyDelete*snort giggle*
Criticizing minor typos is clever?
ReplyDelete*snort giggle*
What a maroon.
Wasn't Zinn's quote "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." and not "Patriotism is the highest form of dissent."?
ReplyDelete^^^^^^^^^^yes it is^^^^^^^^^^
ReplyDeleteYou don't properly credit the photos used on your blog. Aren't you being a hypocrite, stupid douche.
ReplyDeleteHoward Zinn is a TRUE American.
ReplyDeleteHe is a millionaire several times over, and lives in the same exclusive area as Noam Chomsky (another millionaire who has been paid millions by the pentagon)
PROTEST is PROFITABLE.
"Patriotism is the highest form of dissent" is from Mark Steyn, a writer for the New York Sun.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, he was writing about how quotes are often misattributed, including "dissent is the highest form of patriotism".