The ideology of plagiarism

I hadn't got involved in the Dr.* Kevin W Kruse, Ph.D.* Princeton plagiary scandal. Until now, when we are looking at plagiarism.

Some time ago this Kruse character lifted a lot of content from Rick Perlstein's Nixonland but In His Own Words. Last spring Philip W Magness caught Kruse in the act. As noted up until now I didn't care, because I'd figured some dumb jerk got caught and Justice would rule lest the Heavens fall etc etc, let's leave this for others. Except that nobody in Princeton is touching this as we type in October.

Disclosure: your humble blogger applied for Princeton with - I swear - 800/800 in the US mathematical exam back in the early 1990s which application was rejected (Math SAT went 730/800). I admit: I got the exact answers as the other guys who scored 800/800. I think, though, social-science essays don't quite roll like multiple-choice scantrons.

Lately Magness presented Ronald Bayor with evidence that "someone" had been stealing from Bayor which Bayor agreed was bad. When Bayor found out it was Kruse again - in his dissertation no less! - Bayor... attacked Magness, and not Kruse. So Magness has to clear his own name now.

I'll engage mine own blog in a little unauthorised content-mirroring as I quote Bob Jeffers: Brad the jock doesn't pass his AP History class because I told the teacher it was OK that he copied my essay on Gettysburg. Hey: at least I credited the guy and used the Q tag . . .

I try not to use Isms here. I figure Ism belongs in ideologies, if not in physical ailments ("rheumatism"). But here I believe we've upgraded to ideology - of ripping off work as long as the ripper scrambles words around, is a good little wokie, and his victims don't (dare) complain. They'll be defended as ekshuelly it wasn't an exact copy and "now do [some leftover academic Republican, and if we can't find one then TRUMP]".

As for this blog's header, I suppose I'm playing off Veronica Beechey 1978, but you can see similar titles everywhere. It's a frequently and tiresomely lifted trope such that it might not even be plagiary anymore.