Every so often I find myself in a predicament, and more often than not it is the fault of others. I was editing a grad school friends' paper the other night only to find while checking their sources that they're blatant plagiarists. Inevitably, this resulted in my taking them down several pegs in regards to respectability.
Let me be more specific with what I take issue with. When you copy and paste a whole block of sentences from a source, and make no effort to revise those sentences at the very least to say it differently, you are a tool.
I become conflicted in such situations and soon find myself asking existentialist questions. Plagiarizing is unethical to me as it's stealing someone else's work/words, but these are my close friends and they can't write a paper for shit anyway, so do I let this go and never bring it up?
Do I refuse to edit a plagiarized paper and risk feeling bad if those friends never ask for help again down the line? Maybe we weren't meant to be friends to begin with? If they are ambitious and are putting themselves through grad school to garner the respect of others, but make no effort to write their own papers and still get far in life, is that proof that there is no God?
Do I refuse to edit a plagiarized paper and risk feeling bad if those friends never ask for help again down the line? Maybe we weren't meant to be friends to begin with? If they are ambitious and are putting themselves through grad school to garner the respect of others, but make no effort to write their own papers and still get far in life, is that proof that there is no God?
I don't mean to be so severe, but that is who I am.
I am also optimistic. I am optimistic despite life being long and cold and arduous and the journey really just a solitary walk.
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