By Remember in high school when we got the whole spiel about how plagiarism is bad and absolutely unacceptable? Then we went to college and whole software thing was created to scan your paper for plagiarism because God forbid your paper on ‘Why Pokémon is better than Digimon’ be plagiarized.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, it’s all a lie.
Yes, you read right! A big, fat, crazy lie – because apparently you can be the wife of the Republican Nominee for PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, and steal Michelle Obama’s speech from the Democratic National Convention eight years ago to use as your own at the Republican National Convention! No biggie. (Who does that?)
According to an interview with Matt Lauer, prior to “her” speech Melania Trump commented, “I wrote it with as little help as possible.”
According to an interview with Matt Lauer, prior to “her” speech Melania Trump commented, “I wrote it with as little help as possible.”
So maybe giving speeches isn’t her thing, but come on, don’t lie about it.
Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort stated, “What she did was use words that are common.”
Imagine using that line with one of your professors in college. It wouldn’t fly with them, so why should it with us?
Just to be clear, it is never okay to steal someone’s speech, ideologies, inventions, culture, traditions — I see familiar theme here — and not honor it as theirs. We don’t even quote movies without citing where it’s from.
We could spend days debating what a potential First Lady of the United States should and shouldn’t have known regarding speeches and content. We could also discuss how if the tables were turned there would be angry mobs with torches and pitchforks all over the country. But we won’t. For now, let’s just leave it at “Plagiarism is bad, kids; Don’t do it.”
For now, English 101 professors all over the United States are probably excited about having a modern day example (and video) to use as a teaching tool for their students. If young minds didn’t understand the complexities of plagiarism before, they sure do now. Their syllabus will now have an added line, “For an example of plagiarism and how to fail this class, please watch the following video.”
So, I suppose we can thank Mrs. Trump for her contribution to our learning curriculum during the Republican National Convention. I mean, nothing gets our attention more than pop culture, right? (Insert rolling eyes here.)
Contributed by staff writer, Maryam Abdul-Kareem