Mary Newman's Blog - Posts Tagged "responsibility"

Have you ever had that dream where you can see the freight train speeding down the track towards the bridge over the gorge? You know, the one where the bridge is washed out or blown up and no matter how much you scream and wave your arms the train just keeps barreling forward? You can see the tragedy waiting to happen and nothing you can do can stop it.

That’s what I see every time I get on Facebook. I see the train of outrage headed for disaster and feel like there’s nothing I can do to stop it.

Writers have a lot of power. We write and the world reads it. We influence moods, lives, news – just about anything – by simply writing about it. How we react with our writing is how the public is going to perceive what happened. We see it every day in the news. Reporters scream disaster and mayhem and we react with outrage and sorrow, or they stay silent and we know nothing about it. That’s a huge responsibility we carry, and we should be aware of it each and every day. It’s actually a part of our trade, writing in such a way that our readers can feel our story.

So, back to the train wreck.

Plagiarism is as old as writing. Someone is always going to claim someone else’s work for their own. How we react to accusations, especially now that we have the internet, is incredibly influential on those around us. We live in the information age. News travels fast and furious. I am witnessing those who have set themselves up as judge, jury and executioner and spreading hate, vitriol and anger with such a broad brush stroke it is encompassing everyone – even those who have no reasonable connection. And it makes me sick to my stomach – I mean physically ill – to open my computer and be bombarded with such negativity.

Plagiarism has happened to me. As a student I would write stories for extra credit in my English class. This was before computers and the internet, so my stories were hand written or typed and I’d turned in the only copies I had. When I requested the stories be returned to me, my teacher informed me they’d been thrown them away. Imagine my shock and hurt when a few years later I saw them published under someone else's name. Of course it was painful. The betrayal sucked. But, I lived through it. I’m still here. The sky did not fall and the world did not come to an end. Had there been an internet at the time, I doubt I would have blasted it for all to see. I’m just not that kind of person. I’m still not going to give you a name or tell you what the stories were about. It’s honestly none of your business.

I’m not going to point fingers, name names, or in any way contribute to this train wreck, either. I am, however, going to beg for it to stop. I’m pleading with those who just have to put in their two cents worth to look at yourselves first. Is this how you want the community to see you? Is this the face we want to present to our readers? Is it really necessary that you jump on the bandwagon and scream from the rooftops how evil and horrid and deserving of punishment someone is? Have you never made a bad decision in your life? Have you never fucked up to the point you practically ruined your own life?

I have. I’ve lived for more than half a century, and I’ve made mistakes I really hope no one remembers. My own glass house is not begging for stones to be thrown at it nor do I want to get caught in the ricochet as I toss them at someone else. Let the authors involved and their lawyers sort this out and live your own life.