14 Be Mindful of What you Do (innocent thievery)

Blessings …

Be mindful of what you do (thinking out loud on plagiarism). Do you realize that one can innocently steal? It sounds like an oxymoron doesn’t it? But it is the truth, bare with me a minute.

Example:

You come across a fantastic passage in a book, a poem, a quote and you are really inspired, so much so that you want to share it, pass it on multiplying all that feel good energy. So you type it up and pass it out, blog it etc., however, in your zest to share this stimulating new find, you've neglected to cite the book and the author. It was not done maliciously, you were simply sharing the inspiration and hoping to inspire someone the way you were inspired.

That my friend is stealing without knowing. I mean that act can be called absentmindedness, or designated an oversight or an unintentional fluke, even so it still won’t make it any less stealing. While ignorance can be deemed a good defense, it is a poor defense. The truth is ignorance does not make one innocent of the act, it simply makes one ignorant to the facts. Let's face it ignorance is only bliss when the penalty is not stiff, and the consequences does not involve incarceration, or some other traumatically life altering thing hence allowing one the opportunity to correct the error in judgment ultimately changing the way one do things from that day forth.

 

“We”, yes I say we as I including myself, have to be mindful about how we do things and consider the implications and impact to ourselves and others (if we can) and from time to time (if we are wise) ask ourselves some tough questions (in this case as it pertains to plagiarism).

QUESTIONS LIKE:

Have I innocently used others written work without their permission?

‘Literary thievery’

Did I fail to quote?

‘Unauthorized use’

Have I blogged and failed to cite and refer to?

‘Content scraping’

Have I used excerpts from books and fail to mention the book?

‘Taking credit’

WHAT AM I SAYING....?

If you write cite.

If you copy cite

If you blog cite, refer to and...

Acknowledge

To plagiarize is to steal, to thieve, to take that which is not yours and use it and present it as your own without the explicit consent or permission from the creator.