Melaniagate: Gimme back my speech, biach!

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

I'm sure most of us have heard of this already:



Frankly, I'm loving some of the memes that came out of it:



Oh, and of course no one is going to be fired after this gaffe. Quelle surprise.

In other countries, heads of state have resigned over plagiarism revelations (for much higher-rank cases, granted). In the US, it's just another piece of pundit fodder.

From a slightly different POV though, all of this could've been yet another smartly executed media maneuvre. Trump does have a habit of making profit (!) out of seemingly scandalous gaffes. He's Teflon Donald, after all. Whatever doesn't kill him makes his campaign stronger. And everything makes his campaign stronger. Especially controversy. What might've seemed like an incompetent glitch may turn out to be a brilliant move.

It's just a bit too tempting to guess that a lazy writer lifted the best bits of someone else's speech and hoped no one would notice. But on the other hand, the very fact that the whole world is now talking of Melania's otherwise unimpressive and trite talk makes me thing that something else is going on here. Trump could've done this on purpose. Yeah, I know, tinfoil and all that. But his goal has been achieved after all: to supplant the GOP establishment and make this all about him. Mission accomplished!

I can't wait to see this one (NSFW) for First Lady. Ahem.

Comments

[oportet.livejournal.com]

In other countries, heads of state have resigned over plagiarism revelations (for much higher-rank cases, granted). In the US, it's just another piece of pundit fodder.

I think President Obama and VP Biden are probably thankful we don't take plagiarism too seriously here...

[johnny9fingers.livejournal.com]

Don't think Barry plagiarises as much as borrow the cadences and inflections of great speech-writers of yore. From Shakespeare and the KJ Bible through Disraeli, Churchill, and a few Roosevelts.
Churchill stole and quoted shamelessly. As do we all. It is language after all, and pretty much common property (excepting within strictly delimited areas) whether some folk like it or not.

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

Well, Mrs Trump-Trophy repeated entire paragraphs from Michelle Obama's speech - verbatim - and presented them as her own. She didn't say "as Michelle Obama once said..." She just spoke as if those were her own words - and they weren't.

[johnny9fingers.livejournal.com]

Well if you're going to use "found" words and sentences it's probably best not to use those that have been spoken by the most recent incumbent in the job you're applying for without crediting her. It merely shows unoriginality rather than research and scholarship.

But to be candid, plagiarism is the least of my worries when it comes to the Donald's bid for Prez.

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

It doesn't have to be the biggest of your worries in order to be a topic for discussion.

[oportet.livejournal.com]

That's fine - as long as the difference between plagiarizing and borrowing isn't decided by the political leanings of whoever is saying/writing the words.

Whether it's Melania with Michelles words, or Barack with Devals words - I'm for calling both plagiarism, but I'll settle for calling neither that.