Poaching as Knowledge?

I think I just read an article in the "Opinion" section of the Trib that was written by a PhD. and professor of Social Work at the University of Utah that suggests that because the "New Millennials" (folks born after 1982) don't see anything wrong with using content straight off of the Internet in their papers and research without any crediting or citations, there probably should be a lessening of the bias against plagiarism and cheating!  I know I read the article (Gross, 2012) but I ain't sure that Emma wasn't being tongue in cheek.  I guess I really don't wanna believe that this was what she was suggesting (this is a woman that gave me a B and suggested that I prolly should take a writing class on the first paper I submitted to her) but that's what reading it suggested to me so I'm gonna respond "as if!"

I also feel that I oughta bend a bit here and give the yokels that are submitting material pirated from the Internet the benefit of the doubt and suppose that they are at least wrapping their own words around the notions they're stealing.  But, ya know, since when is rephrasing qualified to be considered original thought?  Isn't that what we're doing when we write stuff, putting our perspective out there?  Isn't it the job of the critics to take issue with the content, context, and workability of what's written in terms of agreeing, disagreeing, or just burning the author down?  If doing up someones material in your own words is okay then why can't some crotch-at-the-knee pants-wearin', baseball-hat-backwards, Free Tibet bumper-sticker ownin', lump of modern Americana just re-write Ulysses with a bunch of sentences beginning with "Like..." and thoroughly salt it with "ya knows" then call it Ulysses, Dude?  At least when that miscreant wrote Lady Chatterley and the Pimps  (wasn't that the title?) at least he added the new characters...

Since I'm already goin' down this tube let's continue...  Another thought having to do with something I understood an instructor at the University of Utah, College of Social Work, to be proposing is that the pursuit of excellence is still a common American value.  Forget the stuff I already wrote, let's talk about how in the "olden days" (circa 1967) young men used to send off to "schools" advertised in Rolling Stone, City Weekly, or one of Robert Crumb's comic books, to become a pastor of some denomination (Church of the Chickenshit) so that they could claim "conscientious objector" status and skate the draft.  I do believe, although twas the era that gave us the ULTIMATE IN MUSIC, the sixties' signaled the decline in the American as "personal best."  It might have been the dawn of marijuana as the looking glass that a huge slice of American youth saw life through that began the slide toward a erosion of the values that had America and Americans perceived as the best and most generous country and people in the world (at least in our own minds.)  It did seem that the only entities that had issues with America(ns) were the tyrants, despots, and France.  Conforming with non-conformity became "cool" as did being out-of-control (unless you were a marine or soldier in Vietnam on the 6 o'clock news), and money, violence, and influence became the American Dream.

This instructor asked for the class members to call out their "favorite" leaders and there was a long pause before MLK, JFK, Churchill, Lincoln, and Hitler (really!) was hesitatingly put out there.   Stalin, Amin, Saddam, Jagger, Bruce Springsteen, and Michael Jackson never made the list... of course, neither did Jimmy Carter, or Gandhi...  Who was listed was from a bygone era, when things were different...   There were very clear good guys and bad guys, bullies were shunned, and men opened the doors for women.  Kids played Hide 'n Seek and Kick-the-Can outside after dark, wandered miles with pillowcases full of candy on Halloween, and the air was clean and sex was dirty.  Three strikes meant you were "out" in baseball and if you couldn't catch and you wouldn't do the work to learn, or dad wouldn't help you, sat on the bench.  Girls played hopscotch and jumped double-ropes at blinding speed, and we all sent notes asking someone to mark the box if they liked you.

Now... just got word that my mother died in her sleep last night, I'll finish this later.

Gross, E. (2012, January 28). What is cheating coming to?  The Salt Lake Tribune, "Opinion"