Plagiarism and Going too Far
Posted March 30th, 2005 @ 11:44pm by Erik J. Barzeski
I had no problem with the intent of the original plan: to out a plagiarist, to scare her a little, to get her in trouble. She did a bad thing. I do have a problem with the outcome. By publicly posting a gal's name and university, "A Week of Kindness" member Nate Kushner took on the role of complete friggin' asshole.
There was a way to give the girl what was coming to her - a failing class, suspension, or expulsion - without giving her more than that: harassing calls and emails to her college and to her parents.
The URL still contains her real name! "Krishna" may have been find/replaced, but the URL still contains the name. I've not bothered to check to see whether the gal is real. I'm hoping it's a hoax, because it's tough for me to believe that someone could be such an asshole. Whether it's a hoax or not, "A Week of Kindness" will never get my business.
P.S. April Fool's is in two days. If it is a hoax, Nate must suffer from premature contrivation.
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Posted 31 Mar 2005 at 4:02am #
Gotta say I hadn't heard of the story 'til I read you post here. Having read the whole saga now I have to add one thought that hasn't been echoed many places. Not only is the girl dumb, brazen, dishonest, lazy, unethical - okay, that all reads very harshly, but it essentially is true - but she is also a thief. She found a total stranger on the internet, convinced them to write a college paper for her by offering money for it, and then refused to pay by playing dumb. She probably was thinking to herself "What a rube."
I do agree that Nate's major mistake was trusting the internet at large with this girl's identity. A pseudonym could have been used from the beginning and all the excesses could have been avoided.
Anyway, just my $.02, I could be wrong,
Posted 31 Mar 2005 at 9:26am #
That's what I'm saying, Bill.