You would think that our President would be the last person to steal ideas from another person. Being the President should mean that you live your life to a “higher” standard than everyone else, at least from a moral perspective.
The situation in question occurred on February 16th, 2008. Barack allegedly “quoted” words and phrases from well-known documents from U.S. history including ideas from Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, and even the Declaration of Independence. Of course, Barack Obama also made his speech look surprisingly similar to Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, by using similar words and phrases. If both Barack’s and Deval’s speeches are compared side-by-side, it is clearly seen that the two speeches are really close to each other. Barack continued, saying that he and Deval were really close and that basically he wouldn’t mind if he used a few ideas of his. Later, Obama said that he probably should have given Deval credit for his words, but he just didn’t get around to it this time, and that he was to do it next time for sure. I think that’s messed up.
Personally, I think this is wrong. A speech should be one’s own thoughts and ideas, not something that someone else has already said. Sure, a speech could be supported with outside information, but that information should be information that is obtained in a moral manner. It shouldn’t be taken and then willfully used as one’s own work, even when the person knows that the work is not theirs. If you write, and use others ideas, cite it correctly, or people will be coming for you.
Citation:
Bailey, Jonathan. “The Obama Plagiarism Scandal.” Plagarism Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Nov. 2013. <http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/02/20/the-obama-plagiarism-scandal/>.
Will blog for food 