Robert Simpson: Borrowing words

Politics is an interesting, sometimes confusing, often maddening field of human activity. It also has a way of turning discussions into arguments, objectivity into partisanship, and friends into enemies. So I try as much as possible to avoid writing on the subject. Sometimes it isn’t possible.

Having long had an interest in words and their employment, I was immediately drawn to discussions of Melania Trump’s speech at the Republican Convention, a speech which had portions eerily close to a speech made at the Democratic Convention eight years ago by Michelle Obama. Democrats could not help but go into spasms of giggles about this, the idea of a prominent figure “borrowing” recognizable words and phrases from someone else’s speech without acknowledgment. Especially when that someone else is a woman held up to ridicule by many in the borrower’s party as homely, lacking gracefulness, undeserving of respect, and certainly undeserving of living in the White House. And surely not capable of giving a speech worth copying.

It seemed possible that one or more speechwriters were either incompetent or secretly vindictive. But Mrs. Trump insisted she wrote the speech herself. Then, after the flames were blazing furiously, someone else came forward to take the blame, right or wrong. I leave it to others to decide whether they think the speech-giver sinned or was sinned against. What really interests me, though, are some of the responses and justifications by others. First, there’s the “it wasn’t plagiarism” response. Actually, it seems pretty clear that it was, if you look up the definition of plagiarism. Plagiarism can be accidental and innocent, but it’s still plagiarism.

Then there’s the “it’s no big deal” defense. Maybe so, if you believe that taking someone else’s work and pretending it is your own is no big deal. When you put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, and record your own words, that combination of words and flow of sentences falls automatically under your copyright and is your property. Doesn’t have to be registered with the government. It’s automatically copyrighted. By law.

If you really believe plagiarism is no big deal, you might want to review a few cases of respected writers and politicians who have had reputations severely stained by what may, in some instances, have been innocent, inadvertent taking. Doris Kearns Goodwin and Stephen Ambrose come to mind. As do then-Senator Joe Biden and Dr. Ben Carson. The first two had their reputations as historians and capable writers badly mangled, although not fatally so. Vice President Biden had his presidential campaign derailed by his borrowing of phrases from British politician Neil Kinnock’s speech. It’s worth noting that both Biden and Carson admitted being at fault, having committed plagiarism by simply failing to give attribution for the source of their words, which is all it would have taken to prevent the offense. And they both apologized for their failure, without pretending it didn’t happen.

Whatever the truth underlying this latest flap, an immediate acknowledgment and brief apology would have drained it of most of the poison. But instead, a conflicting and confusing clattering of explanations and excuses has guaranteed that it will continue to garner attention. We are told that there was no plagiarism involved in the speech Mrs. Trump wrote herself. Oh, and that a member of the Trump organization, who is apparently not legally allowed to assist the campaign, actually wrote the purloined phrases in the speech that Mrs. Trump wrote herself. And the woman who was responsible tendered her resignation, but it was not accepted because she is a long-time and valued employee who is therefore forgiven for the plagiarism that was not plagiarism anyway. To which dedicated partisans chimed in with, “Yeah, and just look at your politicians who have plagiarized.”

So this uproar, which could have been defused with an admission and an apology, now seems destined to be with us for a while. I’ll try not to write about it again. But the way new angles keep unfolding, I make no promises.

This story was originally published July 23, 2016 at 4:44 PM with the headline "Robert Simpson: Borrowing words."