Over at the "Democratic Underground" message board there seems to be a little brouhaha brewing, because one of its members (alias "Jem Note") quoted me in a post condemning suicide bombings (He posted a few paragraphs from this essay of mine). Some other members discovered that Jem Note borrowed my words and attacked him for plagiarism, or something. Jem Note wrote to me to apologize for failing to cite me and here is my reply to him
I do ask to be cited when my words are used. But the main reason I wrote that piece was to express my thoughts in an attempt to persuade others. You quoted me in the proper context and are using my words for the purpose which they were intended. I'm glad you did. That's more important to me than the oversight of not mentioning my name. I guess ISo get your priorities straight, all you passionate "democrats" -- murdering innocent civilians really is a more serious crime than forgetting to cite somebody who forgives the oversight. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at December 20, 2002 06:39 PM
should be flattered that you found my words worth repeating. thank you. So tell the weenies to focus on the real issue here -- that killing innocent civilians is unacceptable, and to stop inventing bogus non-issues to distract attention from what's really important.(My response would be different if someone used my unattributed work for commercial gain or outside the context in which it was intended, but that's not an issue here).
But,but...if you take away the defletion device,what are they to do?Facing the truth and dealing with it is too much pressure and forcing YOUR ideals on others.Shame,shame
Posted by: mbruce on December 20, 2002 08:30 PMCareful, there! Remember this incident?
There was a young woman named Plunnery
Who rejoiced in the practice of gunnery,
Till one day unobservant
She blew up a servant,
And was forced to retire to a nunnery.
That message thread is rather pathetic, regardless of whether Jem plagiarized your words or not. (He did. The law is perfectly clear on that. The instant you finish your essay and post it, it is copyrighted, even if you don't claim it as such. The only way it isn't is if you put up a statement saying that your words are freely available to all.)
You'll never get someone who thinks that the murder of innocent civilians isn't really murder to respond in any intelligent manner to argument. The deflection onto the plagiarism theme proves that.
I stopped joining message threads like that years ago. My blood pressure can't take it. Generally, people already have their minds made up. In rare instances, you can effect a change. But that's exceedingly rare.
Posted by: Meryl Yourish on December 21, 2002 11:07 AM