The Evils of Plagiarism

Damn, I kind of liked the idea of having Ben to kick around.  Oh well.  But what’s with this crap from WaPo’s Jim Brady:
Plagiarism is perhaps the most serious offense that a writer can commit or be accused of.

Really?  I definitely don’t support plagiarism, but “the most serious offense”?  Really?  How is it really so wrong to just repeat what somebody else wrote?  What about complete fictions?  When journalists just completely invent stuff?  That surely must be worse than copying the truth from someone else, right?  Like when a journalist strongly suggests that a corrupt lobbyist has equal ties to both political parties?  Or what about when journalists toss objectivism out the window and get into the dictation business; repeating whatever fictions their sources want to convey, without giving it a fact-checking?  Where they’ve essentially destroyed the entire concept of journalist objectivism?  Isn’t that worse than repeating somebody else’s statements?

But I don’t think that Brady sees things that way.  WMD lies aren’t important.  Torture isn’t important.  The constitution isn’t important.  Truth isn’t important.  But what is important?  Plagiarism.  That’s what these elitist dopes care about. That’s what their priorities are.  Coincidentally, it also happens to be the most provable of offenses.  Fact-checking is hard, but plagiarism is easy to spot.  And if there’s anything that these guys like, it’s easiness.