Does A Plagiarist Have a Prick of Conscience?
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
31 July
2023
"Adabi Sarqa Koi Nai Baat Nahin Hai. Duniya
Mein Jo Bhi Likha Gaya, Kaha Gaya Aur Gadha Gaya, Woh Kahin Na Kahin Pahle Hi
Kaha Ya Likha Jaa Chuka Hai. Farq Bas Itna Hai Ke Kisi Ne Kisi Ka Khyaal
Churane Ke Baad Use Qubool Kiya, Kisi Ne Uski Parvaah Nahin Ki Aur Kisi Ne
Bebaak Hokar Churaya Aur Khaamosh Raha. Hum Kuchh Naya Nahin Kar Rahe Hain. Kaainaat
Ki Pahali Sahar Ke Baad Jo Kuchh Hota Aa Raha Hai Woh Faqat Uss Subha Ka
Mukhtalif Sooraton Mein Inkishaaf Hai."
Ali Sardar Jafri
(Plagiarism is not something new. Whatever has
been spoken, written or created is a mere repetition of things already said and
accomplished. The difference lies in someone's honest acceptance of plagiarism,
his/her total disregard for creative pilferage and someone's audacious act of
plagiarism and his silence. We're creating nothing new. After the very first
dawn of the universe, whatever is being created is just an old but different
manifestation of that earliest dawn)
I've always
thought when writers and poets plagiarize, don't they feel the prick of
conscience? Are they really bereft of even an iota of compunction? Creativity
is a process and writing is an art. Only those, who write, know how a piece or
a poem takes the writer's time and when it comes to completion, it gives an indescribable
feeling to the creator. Can that blissful feeling be felt by a plagiarist?
I still
remember, years ago, when my first piece appeared in a newspaper, I was so
happy that I told all my friends that my piece, a mere letter to the editor in
Persian, appeared. It was all mine and I didn't plagiarize anyone's thoughts. I
still feel the same manner, despite my pieces getting published in world's
leading journals and periodicals in several languages. That unalloyed joy still
gives me goosebumps because I've the satisfaction of not stealing anyone's
thoughts and ideas. When we rack our brains and create something new, we've an
experience that can be compared to that of a mother who gives birth to a child
after carrying it for 9 months in her womb. And when someone plagiarizes, s/he
has the feeling that's comparable to a foster mother. You don't completely own
the child.
Likewise, a
plagiarist doesn't completely own his/her creation. After all, it's borrowed.
Someone called plagiarism, ' a surrogacy of creativity.' It sure is surrogacy
of creativity. 'Idhar Ki Eent, Udhar Ka Roda, Bhanumati Ka Kunba Joda' (Copy-paste
everywhere / The final outcome stands nowhere). A plagiarized work cannot and
doesn't survive the test of time. Because eventually the truth is bound to
transpire.
Plagiarism
may often be 'undetected originality', but sooner or later the truth comes out.
No plagiarized work has ever gone undetected.
Unscrupulous writers and columnists visit obscure portals and sites and
get 'inspiration' to 'create' something out of the box. But their thefts are
eventually detected because they're not the only plagiarists looking for
unknown and obscure sites!
Readers
perhaps know that when Gopal Krishna Gokhale was a student in a primary school,
his teacher gave 5 difficult problems in Mathematics to crack at home. The next
day, Gokhale was the only student in the whole class to solve all five
problems. His teacher was very happy and praised him in front of the entire
class. The young Gokhale began to cry. Surprised, his teacher asked him why he
was crying. Gokhale told him that he didn't solve all the problems on his own.
He took his father's help to solve the fifth problem.
The teacher
was all the happier and more predicted that the boy was destined to become very
great in future. And true to his prophecy, Gokhale indeed became a very great
man and a stalwart in India's freedom struggle.
I'm unable
to remember the name of a very famous English columnist. He apologized to the
editor when his plagiarized piece was immensely liked by his readers and went
undetected. He wrote to the editor and said that the credit should go to the
original Italian writer, whose quite old column, he translated from Italian
into English. The English columnist further wrote to the editor that he was
just a translator, not a creator.
Gokhale and
that English columnist had the acute pangs of conscience. Does any plagiarist
have the same smarting pangs of conscience and uneasy feeling of sleeplessness
after stealing someone's ideas?
----
A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul
is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He
has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several
languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/plagiarist-prick-conscience/d/130334
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