Lathem...........

Lathem's view of plagiarism is that, it is a disadvantage for the artist. His claim is very true, in one sense. In another sense you can claim that by plagiarizing an artist's ideas, one can create something of worth. Let me back up for a second. In Lathem's essay he mentions Thomas Jefferson's views of plagiarism saying that, "he favored providing just enough incentive to create, nothing more, and thereafter allowing ideas to flow freely, as nature intended." By plagiarizing an artist one is attempting to gain inspiration and insight into their topic. And then afterwards, they are freely writing their own thoughts and ideas. Just because an artist, or author, doesn't pay credit to the author of their borrowed material shouldn't mean that it is wrong or illegal to do so. In a sense all ideas and thoughts are borrowed(plagiarized) ideas, whether it be from a text book, TV, a teacher, or anywhere where an artist might have been provided with inspiration. All these 'authors' are doing is re-wording whatever ideas they might have borrowed from society and claiming it as their own. The only people who seem to have truly original ideas are theorists, or mathematicians, and even so, they are building their theories off the basis of another persons ideas. So, is that too plagiarism. It just seems that plagiarism is such a loosely defined term and that almost anything, from they tune of a song to the shape of a cartoon, can be considered plagiarism. And furthermore, it seems apparent that the only way for an artist to help protect against having their work plagiarized is to place a copy write on their material. But even so, there are many ways around that. Go into NYC, to canal street, and check out all of the Gucci wallets, and Prada handbags selling for under $50. They look the same, so why aren't these people getting in trouble (legally) for producing such a product? It is because when they make the imitation hand bags, the producer changes one little thing about the logo, or design, and calls it their own. So if making handbags that look almost exactly like their much more expensive counterparts is legal then; if I were to take a piece from Hemingway and change one word in it would, or better yet, should that be considered plagiarism? I don't think so! These rules are STUPID and I hate taking about it...lol