Right Wing Professor
Since Nov 30, 2000

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The Right Wing Professor's so-kewl blog.

Today's thoughts:The left rediscovers plagiarism


Leftist bloggers, bless their tiny hearts, have finally gotten a juicy scoop to sink their fangs into. Ben Domenech, a conservative blogger who seems to have been elevated far beyond his abilities by the Washington Post, has been exposed as a plagiarist. Atrios and Daily Kos have compiled lots of nuggets of stolen material.

RWP hadn't knowingly read anything Domenech had written until this brouhaha; and having now read some, he is shocked not so much by the plagiarism, but by the fact the WaPo employed such an untalented, uninspired writer as house right-wing blogger. Domenech's stuff (or the parts of it that are original) seem to be uninsightful and uninformed rants in the same genre as literally thousands of internet bloggers. He is, as Phayngula notes, a creationist; and his ignorance of biology is matched by ignorance of pretty much everything else.

Domenech's whiny apologia, in which he blames others, makes excuses, and generally plays the self-pitying drama queen, is just plain embarrassing to read. Obviously preaching to others about personal responsibility is a whole 'nother thing from taking some yourself. His demise is a small loss to us all. In fact, maybe the WaPo can replace him with a conservative who actually has something original or interesting to say.

RWP is amused, however, by the left's rediscovery of the noxiousness of plagiarism, a mere two months after our annual, leftist-invented celebration of the life of a man whose plagiarism was far more egregious than Domenech's. Martin Luther King plagiarized, not a few blogs, but an entire doctoral thesis, and on ethics, fewgawdsake! Yet, in all of the annual sanctimonious maunderings about King, how often is his plagiarism even acknowledged?

RWP has a dream that one day, Domenech, and King, and Joe Biden, and Doris Stearns Goodwin, and Stephen Ambrose will all be consigned to some common circle of hell, where they will be unable to speak except in the words of others. And lest he be accused of plagiarism, the 'I have a dream' speech. or at least the tail end of it, was given by the Reverend Archibald Carey at the 1952 Republican National Convention. Credit where credit is due.


Domenech has now apologized for his apology. This is getting Pythonesque!

Non, je ne regrette rien...