Isn’t it enough that you people set out to destroy her career and almost caused her death?
In case you don’t know, which I know for a fact you have been told, Cassie Edwards suffered a massive stroke due to the stress you idiots put on her.
I hope you can live with yourselves knowing what you did almost cost this woman her life. You have deprived her grandchildren of their grandmother. You have caused a lot of innocent people much heartache by your actions.
Everyone is blaming you and your cronies for what happened. Not just her fans, fan club members, etc. I’m talking publishers, authors, editors, and more. I hope almost killing someone was worth the 15 minutes of fame.
If you have any reason to think this is a lie, contact Carol Stacy at Romantic Times and I’m sure she’ll verify the information for you.
A lot of Cassie’s fans plan on being at the RT convention in Orlando just so they can attend your blogging seminar. Instead of it being about the art of blogging maybe it should be about the art of how to destroy a person’s life.
A few weeks ago, when Sarah realized that January 2009 would mark a year since the plagiarism scandal that rocked the ferret world, as well as the romance world, she asked Jane to examine the issue and do a “State of Plagiarism” analysis, so to speak. After much back and forth dialogue, we’ve come to the following conclusions about the way the issue of plagiarism is treated by our community. This entry is posted on both Dear Author and on Smart Bitches as a summary of our conversation.
On the positive side: the issue is being discussed, in the romance community, and in the larger publishing world as well. Fans, authors, and even publishers are being educated as to what plagiarism is, what enforcement mechanisms there are, and why it’s important for the entirety of the literary community to not be complacent or unsupportive. Even if some, or even much, of the discussion is about how horribly mean we were to speak up and speak in the manner that we did, it was dialogue about an important topic that we hadn’t had before.
The Edwards scandal was important not because of who was involved, but because it led to the further education. There was a session at RWA and one at RT. There were mentions in the newspapers and on blogs. There was support for the victim of plagiarism in a way that there wasn’t ten years prior, making it easier for one who is plagiarised to come forward. Plagiarism became newsworthy, and the increased attention meant that victims of prior incidents had room to speak up and share their stories, the costs both financial and emotional they endured to protect their copyright.
Even the absence of discussion was noticeable.
But the negatives are related to the positives: the session at RWA was poorly attended, and there was a backlash to those who spoke out, not so much here at Smart Bitches or Dear Author, but against others who took a stand. With the revelation of plagiarism at the hand of Neale Donald Walsch, the same old themes are played out with a full orchestra.
Those who raise the issue and cry foul, whether it’s a blogger or the writer herself, take the blame. We’re told to hush up, keep quiet, and stop being mean.
It was one year ago this week that we broke the Cassie Edwards story. This entry isn’t in the least about her. Instead, it’s about where the writing community stands in regard to plagiarism within the genre. Based on our analysis, we haven’t made much progress. Lip service is paid to the idea that its bad, but when the excrement hits the air circulating device, there’s navel gazing and thumb twiddling and fretting and calls for forgiveness, bygones, and stop being mean already.
Little has changed in attitude and practice. Plagiarism remains an issue tried in the court of public opinion, and the more famous or published the thief is, the more likely they are to be reassured and forgiven by their eager fanbase. Plagiarism is not an issue that can always be validated in a court case; it’s a community issue. Do we, as a community, believe in the need for intellectual honesty and creativity?
Why is there not more of a reaction to sympathize with the person whose work, inspiration, and words were stolen from them? Why is there instead pressure for the victim to shut up about it and a general attitude that the whole mess should just disappear so people can get back to reading?
In our opinion, plagiarism isn’t taken seriously enough by some readers or by some writers. The defense of the plagiarist and the ease with which forgiveness is offered by readers is so stupid as to be mindboggling. What, because they cried and said they were sorry it should be over? Remorse is enough? To quote the wizened literary scholar Rhianna: “You’re only sorry you got caught.”
Until every reader and every writer refuses to tolerate plagiarism and the thieves that commit it, it will be a problem that continues to grow. But that intolerance needs to extend to every genre. When plagiarism hit romance, the response was, “Oh, but it’s only romance novels, and they’re all the same anyway.” With the spiritual writing community, the response is, “Oh, it’s just crazy religious people who think they talk to God, so whatever.” With fanfic, it’s “Oh, it’s just fanfic.”
Plagiarism should not be tolerated anywhere by anyone, and that includes romance, spiritual writing, literary fiction, academic publication, and fanfic. It shouldn’t be tolerated, it shouldn’t be excused, and it shouldn’t be something that is kept quiet. The lack of support for those who suffer from it is appalling: from insane court costs to accusations of being a whiner, the person who has been robbed is singled out as a troublemaker who ought to pipe down. From warnings of bad publicity to being called an outright liar, the victim is again a victim.
Yet again plagiarism shows up in the news this week, and yet again the same song is played. Everyone should be vocal in making a stand and making plagiarism unacceptable within our community. The song needs to change.
I’m a current uni student who went through a fiasco last year where I was wrongfully accused of plagiarism on a lab report. The consequences of being found guilty would have ranged from expulsion from course to expulsion from university (and the policy of my province is that if you’ve been expelled from a uni, you cannot apply to any other uni in the province). Although I was acquitted (there was a scary hearing), my lab partner was found guilty and expelled from the school.
The “plagiarism is evil and you are despicable for doing it” mantra has been drilled into me throughout my school career (I remember teachers handing out F’s on assignments in grade 7 because they were plagiarized). I don’t know how anyone can disregard something that they’ve been taught for so long and then go on to plagiarize in the professional community.
So if my three year old child hits the cat, and I punish her for hitting the cat, then the cat-hitting incident is MY FAULT. That’s esseintially what the nitwit at the start of your article is implying. Yeah. Okay. That makes sense.
As a writer, I take a pretty hard-line stance on plagiarism. Which is to say, kick their ass out. Out of school, out of the publishing industry, out of wherever. They’re liars and thieves. Give ‘em the boot.
That said, in many types of writing, there are very informal ways to give credit where it is due. Many people, from articles to novels, will put a “books I used to write this” or “sources I found helpful” section in somewhere, usually at the end, and for the vast majority of publications I think that is entirely acceptable. But if you’re using a direct quote, you better be putting quotes around it and a footnote at the end.
As usual, the response from the publishing industry is disgusting yet predictable. They don’t give a hoot about ethics, they care about money. They will continue to publish Cassie Edwards novels (even though any of them with proven plagiarism should be pulled), and make the right noises, all the while secretely delighted by the scandal because it will sell more books.
Sympathies to you guys for bearing the brunt of the negative crap; dealing with three-year-olds is a rough gig.
Just an observation, as I’ve been an interested lurker, but having no emotional investment: I was Googling Cassie Edwards and clicked on a site confirming the above mentioned publication of two of her books this year: “Savage Sun” and “Her Forbidden Pirate”. I don’t know when she WROTE these (Pre-Stroke or Post-Stroke) but it seems she had little difficulty signing on with Leisure Books, aka Dorchester Publishing (which Wikipedia claims has the Top Spot in publishing the Horror Genre…). So the Poor Old Lady shall be continuing her income from her Faithful Fanbase, with little break in her stride. I assume that Dorchester is aware of the scandal of a year ago. I’m wondering if they will edit her work with that in mind, wanting to avoid further allegations of plagiarism, or if it’ll just be Business as Usual. I also wonder, did they agree to buy up and re-print all the Works In Question, or just the two or three latest Savages…
One of the reason why I read SB (besides the fact that y’all are hella hilarious) is because of your roles and attitudes towards plagiarism. As a former academic, a current lawyer, and a future published writer (hopefully), I get incredibly angry when I see a plagiarist get public sympathy while the person who actually did the work gets nothing and the people who bring it to our attention get accused of meaness or causing harm to the plagiarist.
I was plagiarized once, a long time ago, and let me tell you, if I could have held a cage match and beat that girl down, I would have. Steal my ideas if you want to—if you think you can write a better book than me with those ideas, you’re welcome to try. But steal my words at your peril.
HA! My verification word—period54. Are you asking me if I’m PMSing, verification word? 🙂
To the left of the topic…all those people who were complaining about Barb Sheridan’s Beautiful C*cksucker…where’s the outrage over calling Indians “Savages”? It’s stereotypical and perpetuates a negative image of a people who are most decidedly NOT acting savagely. I grew up near a reservation and have yet to see any of the natives prancing about in a loincloth..much to my dismay.
You know, I’m almost ashamed to share the planet with the person who wrote that letter.
Supporting plagiarists is the moral equivalent of supporting car thieves.
Barb, there’s possibly another twist in the Viswanathan affair – I suspect she had very little to do with writing the book in question. As I recall, the person who got her in contact with the publisher said that the book Viswanathan showed her initially was a dark, “serious” story and the idea for Opal Metha came from trading emails with Viswanathan and deciding that her somewhat bubbly tone was better suited for a novel.
And then it turned out that they basically based Opal on the author herself – Indian-American whose parents hire an admissions coach to get her into an Ivy League school. The person who started the ball rolling on the book was, in fact, Viswanathan’s admissions coach.
I’ve suspected since shortly after the story broke that Viswanathan probably didn’t have much to do with the writing of the book that was published. I imagine it was probably written by a committee, as the co-holder of the copyright for Opal Metha was held by a book-packaging company. Viswanathan probably found herself in a sticky situation – admit, as a Harvard student, that she plagiarized, or admit that she had little to do with writing a book for which she was paid several hundred thousand dollars.
The difference between the reaction to Viswanathan and other outed plagiarists is two-fold, I think. The initial and most thorough reporting done on the issue was done by a Harvard school paper. They were publishing new reports of plagiarized passages often. The other thing that played against Viswanathan is that they seemed to be marketing Viswanathan herself as much as her book. There’s not much in the YA category written about, for, or by Indian-American readers, and that’s got to be a market with huge potential. Cassie Edwards, for all her readers, was not getting a book-signing tour or a movie deal like Viswanathan was.
Well said.
I sympathize Ms. Edwards’ health, and regardless of the plagiarism, I wouldn’t wish any ill on her-there’s no need. Doing wrong will always catch up with a person.
However, regardless of whether or not stress from work induced the stroke (and sorry, that can’t be proven-too many things play into a stroke, and stress is only part of it), nobody made her plagiarize.
She made the choice and if she suffered consequences after, then she has to deal with them.
And it just now occurs to me, I didn’t address the main issue…yes, publishers/editors/writers/readers all of us need to step up and say plagiarism is wrong, make it clear it isn’t acceptable.
We all work hard. It doesn’t matter if we’re writing recipe books, material for greeting cards, blogs about whether or not the state of the world will ever improve, fiction, nonfiction, published, unpublished, nobody has the right to take somebody else’s hard work and pass it off as their own. Nobody.
As a reader I definitely care about plagarism. I first heard of Janet Dailey’s plagarism here and as a result I won’t be buying any of her books. Same goes for Cassie Edwards. Thanks for spreading the word. It’s never okay to plagarize and I for one don’t want you to shut up about it.
It is not an unknown thing for a woman in her 70s to have a stroke.
I’m sure Ms. Edwards was under a great deal of stress, and she and her family have my sympathy.
But she repeatedly made one foolish choice after another over the years by plagiarizing countless times and was finally caught.
Some people can say “It’s a fair cop,” admit they blew it, and move on.
Others continue to live with wet feet while looking at pyramids.
Plagiarism is theft; no one likes a thief. Even her publisher figured that out.
She helped changed the industry though:
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/
showthread.php?p=2600411#post2600411
I had that rider on MY last book contract. My agent tells me it is becoming standard practice. Publishers are covering their a$$es in regard to careless or terminally stupid word thieves and liars.
So in a very twisted way we can thank CE for making some progress in protecting the property of others. Steal from another writer, pay a whacking huge fine in addition to public humiliation and a flushed career.
Her publisher only canceled her contracts; she got off lightly. She is still getting royalties from books still in print.
I’m sorry she’s sick, but don’t blame the SBs. If not them, then someone else would have played Woodward and Bernstein to the scandal.
Cheap shot time. Sorry, I can’t resist:
So, has Kaavya Viswanathen had HER stroke yet?
I think the difference between Viswanathan and the Edwards case is that Edwards has a long time fan base and consequently those people defend her actions no matter what the facts are.
She’s a nice old woman so leave her alone.
I’m a nice old woman but if I rob someone’s house the police are not going to leave me alone.
Edwards never admitted her guilt and that’s a big a problem. Talk about denial. All the legal advice in the world couldn’t stop a moral person from stepping up to the plate and admitting they had stolen and were sorry. Leaving the victim and the whistleblowers out to dry and to take the heat is just as wrong.
AND STILL people are asking others to stop talking about it. Act as though it was an unfortunate non-event and just let it go. Be nice, take the higher road, blah, blah, blah.
People want to be ‘nice’ until it’s their work that is stolen.
Thank you, Emmy. As a Chickasaw/Cherokee married to a Muskogee Creek (three of the five CIVILIZED tribes – but don’t get me started on that either, because I don’t consider any of the other tribes to be UNcivilized), I find Edward’s work offensive. What surprises me, though, is the fact that no tribal activists have called her or her publishers to task. With all the chest-thumping about sports mascots, you’d think this would be a hot button for them.
Sorry. Off topic. But my stand on plagiarism has been stated before and often. No! Just HELL no!
I have never been a Cassie Edwards fan. Not since a leading lady in one of her historicals said that her dad “would have a cow” if he found out that she was carrying on with an Indian. That said, I feel so sorry for her. She made a mistake but being named and shamed to this extent is a disgrace. I don’t enjoy bullying (even cyber bullying) and that is what this has turned into.
I respect that she is a published author, something most people can only aspire to. So I say lets give the old girl a break.
I usually lurk and laugh…as Jay Montville above said, you guys are hilarious. But I have learned something today….
Smart Bitches cause strokes.
Stealing is good.
And most people are stupid.
Wow! Quite a lot for one day, don’t you think?
My daughter is a grad assistant at Kansas State Univ. She teaches Beginning Public Speaking while she is getting her masters degree. One day during her first month of teaching she was sitting in her office reading the written copy of her students’ speeches after listening to the tapes. Her office mate was listening to her class’ tapes at the same time. As my daughter is reading her hard copy, it is almost as if she were following along with her office mates tape. It was almost word for word the same speech from two different students. Coincidence? The girls took it to their course director. At this point it was out of their hands but their course director kept them informed as to what happened. It seems these two students were roommates and decided to write a speech about an event they attended together. The decided to write one speech…because who would know? After the investigation & conferences ended, it was decided that because both kids were freshmen they would not be expelled. They received a zero for that assignment (which was a big hit on their grade for the entire course, they practically had to get A’s the rest of the semester), sit through an ethics seminar on plagerism & stealing (specifically designed for this sort of thing because as we know freshmen and athletes are stupid; my daughter said they had 50 people in each of 4 seminars-90% freshmen & athletes), and the incident was put in their files in case of a repeat occurance. I think the decision was fair. Everyone deserves a second chance. One of the students was very upset & realized that it was wrong, yadayadayada. The other threatened to hire a lawyer & sue because he did nothing wrong. Which student actually wrote the speech? The one who realized it was wrong.
Raj, of course you’re right in pointing out the differences here. Alloy (same company behind Gossip Girl and its ilk as well as Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) has a history, as a book packager of having in house writers or writers for hire; they buy a story concept and farm it out. So from that standpoint, I think this is one of those cases where we’ll never know for sure, exactly what happened or who exactly was responsible, however, you have to admit, Kaavya was not given any leeway (and rightly so). Whether it was her or some behind-the scenes ghostwriter, it was her name on the book and she was made to step up and admit responsibility.
Yet the Harvard Crimson gets kudos for breaking the story and the Smart Bitches get condemnation for doing the same. Y’all should become affiliated with an Ivy League University, yo.
I’m not in publishing. I don’t get to see the new riders and what authors and publishers are doing behind the scenes to stop this from happening again. All the general public sees is that Edwards’ books are still available at the grocery store, on Amazon, and at bookstores like Borders. Any other defective product gets pulled off store shelves. So there must not be anything too terribly wrong with plagiarism, right?
Whether or not they knew about the plagiarism before the story broke, the publishers had a responsibility to pull these books once the situation became clear. It makes me sick that a year later the books are still for sale, and the “author” and publisher are still profiting from the theft. No wonder so many people think it’s no big deal.
I think the subject should not be left alone. Each of these Authors who have plagerized , Daily, Edwards, Viswanathan, Walsh need to held up as an example of what NOT to do. Everytime plagerisim is tolerated or swept under the carpet or shouted down with screeches of “you’re just being mean!” I belittles us as readers. It makes us look stupid. So no, I don’t think Cassie Edwards should be left in peace. Nor Janet Daily, nor any one else who is outed as a thief. The story of what they did should be told again and again. And maybe plagerisim will happen less and less.
People who do wrong will always find an excuse for why they’re not responsible and why someone else made them do it, and the people who like that person will always find a reason to back them up. That whole gang mentality of of pummeling someone trying to stand up and be the voice of “right” into silence has always been a stumper for me, but its a trend in just about anything. If someone is rich enough, popular enough, “celebrity” enough, they’re allowed to get away with just about anything and anyone who dares to challenge that gets shamed and torn apart. Romance, literary, fanfic or whatnot, if you take something that doesn’t belong to you… it’s stealing. You know it. I know it. And our mother’s all taught us that when we were 3 and took our first pack of gum from the grocery store. The rules don’t change just because it’s words and text vs. HubbaBubba.
This is not “bullying” at all. Bullying would be attacking her for personal or other unrelated reasons. Bullying would be continuing to hound her when she had admitted to her breach in ethics and made restitution. Cassie Edwards has never recognized her wrongdoing and continues to profit from it, while the authors from whom she stole are getting nothing for her use of their work. For her books to stay in print, and for her to have more books upcoming, is a constant reminder that she has continued to profit from unethical behavior.
I’m not a big fan of cries of “mean girls,” anyway. It’s a way to stereotype women as being juvenile and petty, and it belittles the seriousness of a situation like this one.
Morgana – I don’t understand how this is a mean girls thing. Plagiarism is very different from a simple mistake. It’s a knowing act. The person who does it takes information they know is not their own and then pass it off as if it is. I can’t think of a worse thing for an author to do than to steal someone else’s words verbatim, which is what Edwards did. Yes, it’s terrible that she had a stroke. No one wants her to be ill. But it’s also terrible that she stole someone else’s work. That is something for which she should be ashamed and for which she should be held to account. It’s an issue about which the writing community should be shocked and disturbed, and we should be able to say is not okay without being named as the bad guys (girls). Expressing anger at plagiarism is all that people are doing here. No one is getting personal or nasty. There certainly isn’t any cyber bullying going on in this discussion. Throwing that out there when it doesn’t exist only lessens the impact of real cases of cyber bullying.
In general terms, I think plagiarism fails to generate ongoing outrage because it only affects a few people directly. Yes, it’s bad for us all and bad for the writing community – I know that – but human nature seems to work in such a way that we handle what’s directly in front of us. If you’re not the victim in the sense that it was your work stolen, you comment and move on. That doesn’t mean you think plagiarism is good. It just means it’s not directly on your radar screen. I’m not saying this is a right or wrong reaction. I just think it’s how we work with regard to many issues. An issue like this comes up and we express our outrage and then, since we aren’t the ones dealing with lawyers and stolen material, we go on about our business.
Right on. But people defend people who do immoral/unethical acts every day. Look at how the Senate’s admitting Roland Burris, who is an amoral slimeball, unworthy of being admitted to the office of dogcatcher much less the Senate. Look at how my evil governor Rod, who appointed him, isn’t getting removed from office yet and wasn’t stopped from appointing him.
I think it’s a society-wide problem, not just a romance community problem.
All I keep thinking of, as I hear these “don’t blame the plagiarizer; it’s the fault of everyone else” arguments from the accused’s side is that we’re really discussing the literary equivalent of rape. Women don’t ask to be raped. No one asks to have their words plagiarized.
Let’s stop looking at who’s fault it is and work on changing the attitudes surrounding the problem. Only then will things change.
The person who wrote the SB that crud, was obviously overwhelmed with anger and had no intent but to do harm. They succeeded. I am certain you are very hurt indeed.
For that wound, I offer this balm:
“Doing the right thing; no matter how difficult; no matter what the consequences- is meaningful.” Fr Michael Dodd
You did the right thing.
And I’m going to say this again from the last long discussion about the CE issue.
She was not a sweet gray-haired grandma when she first began taking other’s words…continuously. Sweet, I’m sure, but not of ill or failing health.
At the time of the Nora R, JD scandal over just this issue, she could not have been blind to it. By that time she was a well established author with an agent, lawyers, and publishing house lawyers, editors, and the like. While the general masses might have missed the whole thing at the time, those deep within the industry would have known. Internet or not, glad-hand meetings and publishing mags existed then and still exist to this day.
For CE’s fanbase to accept that she was unaware of any unethical behaviour on her part is a slam against her. To suppose that she hasn’t the brains of even a high school student (and some will argue younger ages than that), is a disservice to her and her intellect. This was ongoing, not just a mere slip once or twice. Do you really feel she was that dodgy all those years?
Sigh.
What surprises me, though, is the fact that no tribal activists have called her or her publishers to task.
Actually, I saw a fair amount of commentary about the racism in her books on some livejournal communities like Deadbrowalking and DebunkingWhite. Just because no organized protest was made doesn’t mean nobody noticed.
I also think the tribal community is so very used to this kind of representation that people decide it’s not worth making a fuss about, or they’d never get anything productive done. Pick your battles, and all that.
I’m on a board which deals with plagiarism. The bottom line is – it’s wrong. You shouldn’t steal from others. And when you’re caught? You should be ashamed. I see no shame no remorse – and I find that the most disturbing thing of all.
If you haven’t already, please advise RT Orlando conference staff about the not-so-veiled threat made at the end of the post and ask for appropriate security.
Stay safe, Bitches.
Agreeing with the “be careful” advice, wholeheartedly.
On the tribal activism—or lack thereof—over CE’s continued abuse and stereotyping of Native Americans, I wonder if part of the indifference comes from the whole, “well, it’s just trashy romances, not meaningful stuff” Like, say, sports mascots.
To Morgana: but of course, this is bullying! The entire Bitchery has shown up to CE’s home, chanting for a lynching mob to come and get her.
*sigh*
It’s so disheartening to see that there are people within the academic and writing community who don’t seem to get what plagiarism is.
During the height of last year’s discussions, I had a self-professed middle-school teacher (self-professed ‘cause I don’t know this woman from the man in the moon; for all I know, it’s a three legged alien from Jupiter) tell me that if one comma was added to a sentence then it wasn’t plagiarism.
And this person is teaching youngsters about the moral and ethical evils of plagiarism? No wonder these kids get to college and pull the stunts they do.
(Don’t even get me started on the “poorly integrated research” crack by a published writer)
I also think the tribal community is so very used to this kind of representation that people decide it’s not worth making a fuss about, or they’d never get anything productive done. Pick your battles, and all that.
Probably the same reason that the Scots clans don’t sue the authors of “highland” novels, or the descendants of some of the nobility don’t take the authors of some Regencies to court.
Mind you, I remember the family of First Officer Murdoch taking the makers of “Titanic” to court and winning.
If the Edwards fanbabes attend Sarah’s workshop at RT and a thief steals their wallets and their ID’s, is it Sarah’s fault?
Theft of intellectual property, ie: one of the most dearl of a person’s being, their words, should NEVER be condoned.
I want to write something pithy and insightful, but I’m too angry at the idea that someone is trying to blame the SBs for Edwards’ stroke. Yes, it is sad that she has suffered a stroke, but it is NOT the fault of the SBs. The SBs did not make Edwards take other people’s words and claim them as her own, nor are they the originators of the idea that to do so is immoral and wrong.
I’m also infuriated by possibility that any action that the correspondent and their cronies take at the seminar could make others who may have thought about speaking up about plagiarism think twice.
Plagiarism is wrong. Profiting from it (in money, popularity, cookies, whatever) is wrong. Aiding and abetting it is wrong. Supporting it is wrong. Trying to hush it up / sweep it under the carpet / confuse the issue by calling the victim/reporter of plagiarism mean (girls) is wrong.
Grrrr.
You know, when I was in high school, teachers warned me against plagiarism in exams or else I would fail my grades and my future to get in any college or work (GCSEs awarded from high school work go under scrutiny of almost every employer in the country).
Now in college, if I plagiarised I not only lose marks, but also completely squandered my chances in getting to work in a museum, my time working for it, and would be awarded with nothing but a debt of £7,000 from the government (WHILE my family is paid in dollars) JUST for paying my tuition.
As far as I recall, Cassie’s work is STILL on the rack, she got money out of it, and she still has a cult following. HOW could she suffer a stroke?
I second that about having extra security at the Orlando event.
You are there to give your panel, not be harassed by troublemakers with an agenda.
The audience is there to learn and be entertained by you, not be used as a tool by troublemakers.
You two did the right thing. It could not have been easy.
If some morally selective twits have a problem with that, then they should ask the convention for their own panel slot so they can try to convince writers and potential writers why plagiarism is such an advantage to one’s reputation, not to mention a great career-building move.
Sazzat
You can be a self actualized, mature, feminist and still be kind and compassinate. The argument that you have to hostile and abrasive only serves to negate the work of strong women.
As for the seriousness of this situation, perhaps a bit of perspective is in order.
Don’t take other people’s stuff. It seems so obvious.
Do you suppose maybe plagarism has become ever more acceptable because most people take other people’s stuff all the time—downloading music, sharing datafiles, reposting videos, etc.? Maybe that helps foster a false sense of ‘what’s the harm?’
Sadly, some people will never get the concept of how something like this is wrong.
If they stand in WalMart and watch someone stuffing books from the shelves under their coats, eek, STEALING.
But the words within those books, FAIR GAME.
Sigh
I just wanted to mention for those who were talking about how editors can’t be expected to read every book and catch every instance of plagiarism: there are computer programs for this. You type in any suspect text and get hits if it matches published or online material. I used one such program when I teaching college, and if my department could afford it I’m sure all the larger publishing houses can, too.
Morgana,
I have seen plenty of compassion towards Ms. Edwards in this discussion. Many have expressed concern over her stroke and subsequent ill health.
However, it does not take away the fact that she REPEATEDLY plagarized other authors, has refused to acknowledge said plagarism and never had the decency to show a single shred of remorse for her actions. That is very serious and worthy of discussion, and IMHO, scorn from folks who understand the depth of her actions.
She stole. She lied by omission. And yet, she still profits from her actions. Yes, that is worth a little scorn and derision as far as I’m concerned.
I won’t even go into what I think of the fucktards who have the balls to blame the victims and whistleblowers.
At least, that’s the perspective of this self actualized, mature, feminist.
Jessa, you said
“Do you suppose maybe plagarism has become ever more acceptable because most people take other people’s stuff all the time—downloading music, sharing datafiles, reposting videos, etc.? Maybe that helps foster a false sense of ‘what’s the harm?’”
What you are talking about is a bit different. But still relevant.
In the instances you are talking about, a person is sharing the artist’s work, not messing with it a bit and claiming it as his/her own.
When you download a new song, remix it a “hair”, give no acknowledgement to the original creators, sell it for profit without seeking approval of the original group, then yeah, you step over the line.
The sharing of files and what not is a bit different than remixing an artist’s work for profit and claiming it as your own. A different animal.
Hmm, hope I expressed that right. LOL