Copying is Lie

I read somewhere, “Copying is Lie” (The context was plagiarism). I didn’t totally understand the statement then. But now it makes a lot of sense to me. So this post is going to be my interpretation and comments on this one thought.

Let me start by giving out an example. Just consider a regional film we find very interesting. We are so captivated by the story and we attribute all credits to its writer. The media praises him and fans go gaga over him. All this because we believe that the work is an original product of the writer because it was mentioned so in the credits. If it is found that it was a blatant rip of an unknown (to people here) Korean, German or an Iranian flick what would be our reaction. Now it is not just a copying or plagiarism on the part of the writer. We all were conned by him into believing that he had created something awesome while the truth was he has just made an attempt to recreate something that was already existing. Refabricating is not a sin but stating it as original is! The writer cheated us. The writer lied to the whole audience.

The next major issue is copying in exams. Cheating in exams has almost become a way of ‘student’ life. It is another big lie. Let me tell you how. Marks are considered as benchmarks for many competitive exams, jobs and admissions. Say, I got one extra mark by cheating. This one extra mark will naturally land me ahead of a thousand other aspiring candidates. So when I state that I am better than those candidates, I am clearly dishonest. And this is no simple lie. It affects a thousand others. There are many who defend this lie by paraphrasing Thiruvalluvar, “If a lie does good, then it’s not a lie at all!”. I just wish they come out of the narrow belief that they have been benefited by the lie. The wider picture is this – They have affected the opportunity of thousand others. So this lie is surely not the one Thiruvalluvar mentioned.

I still remember some questions from my school day examinations. It would go something like this, “Why do you think the protagonist Sindbad do such a thing…?”etc.. but the whole class or may be whole student group in schools following a particular board of education will write an exact copy of the answer provided in the text book or worst in guides. This is not just to blame the education system which relies on memorising answers to predefined questions. We have failed to instil in ourselves the ownership feeling towards our thoughts and words. We are comfortable claiming others thoughts as our own. Rather we should be ashamed of it. Every time we answer these kind of questions with an answer we read somewhere, we are lying because it’s not what we thought on the protagonist unless of course we felt the same way as the author.

From simple answers to question in daily examinations to full time academic projects for the award of degree, copying has become a key ingredient. Similarly when we come to what we call creativity, from music to movies, many lack the vigour of originality. (Inspiration is quite a different thing which I profoundly appreciate).

The only solution to this problem is instilling a very strong sense of originality and creativity in school kids at a very young age. The only solution to this problem is instilling a very strong sense of originality and creativity in school kids at a very young age. This can only be possible when the teachers are creative and original enough! And that is possible only when the authorities who appoint them are! Of course the list goes on. If you figure out yourself somewhere in the chain, Just start doing what it requires to break out of this flock which strengthens as each one of us lose our individuality.