The people who write Wikipedia articles may be largely anonymous, but they are actually engaged in “work.” They write things down and then publish them. This requires energy. So, when you take their work and use it without attribution, you are cheating them. You are not giving them credit for the work they have done and you are claiming their effort as your own. Admittedly, this kind of sin isn’t as egregious as when you take money out of someone’s pocket but it is still a dishonest and dishonorable thing to do. So, Rand Paul should stop lifting Wikipedia articles and reciting them without attribution in his speeches. He should admit that he made a mistake, more than once, and he should commit to writing his own plot summaries of movies from now on. His defense of himself is pathetic.
“This is really about information and attacks coming from haters,” Paul said in an interview with Fusion on Wednesday. “The person who is leading this attack has been spreading hate on me for about three years now, and I don’t intend for it to go away…
…“It is a disagreement on how you footnote things … but if we were to present any of these speeches for publication we would have footnotes in them. But a lot of times [in] a speech people don’t take the time to footnote things,” he said.
Paul said the plot line from the movie belongs to the screenwriter and he gave him credit in his speech.
“I didn’t claim that I created the movie ‘Gattaca.’ That is what is so absurd about this. The plotline to ‘Gattaca’ belongs to one person, the guy, the screenwriter, and I gave him credit for that.”
I don’t know about you, but if I like a movie enough to cite it in a speech, then I am fully capable of describing the plot line in my own words. Rand Paul isn’t a 9th-Grader who has to write a report about a book he hasn’t read. He’s a sitting United States senator. He should learn to act like one.
