Drew Hansen, a friend and an early Obama supporter (from the very start) has a great op-ed in the Houston Chronicle debunking the silliness surrounding Hillary "I'll be fine" Clinton's charges of plagiarism:
Politicians are not professional academics, and the strict plagiarism rules that apply to professors do not make sense when they're applied to orators. By the standards employed by some campaigns and commentators, not only would Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton be guilty of plagiarism, but so would Martin Luther King, Jr.
Drew recognizes that public figures often borrower lines and ideas from others, but demonstrates the absurdity of calling that plagiarism. Indeed, plagiarism by public officials is not nearly as well defined as it is for academics, so Drew offers three simple rules to help test whether or not something is plagiarism:
- If it's transformative, it's not plagiarism.
- If it's from a speechwriter or adviser, it's not plagiarism.
- If it's from a widely known source, such as the Bible or the founding documents of America, it's not plagiarism.
Drew analyzes these rules through the prism of Martin Luther King, Jr. It's a good read -- check it out.
© Jed Lewison