Dante’s Inferno, Eighth Circle: Plagiarizers
The fact that it’s taken this long for you to see the first of this series is testimony to great restraint on my part. I cannot tell you my grave disappointment when Cy told me that wrath is considered one of the seven deadly sins.
We enjoy an “Ode to…” series, but you know very well that there are two sides to a coin, the universe has a ying AND a yang, etc, etc. So, Urban Odyssey bloggers, if there is a heaven that we many occasionally enjoy here, then let this entry welcome you to hell.
The first to be thrown into a circle of my Dante’s Inferno are the (perhaps) not yet manifest, the faceless shadows that crawl throughout the web, lurk in between html code and steal the crumbs of artists’ work. Yes, I’m talking about you, plagiarizers, should this entry echo into your odious caves. How you can live your life on other’s people’s light and not polish your own is a burden I never wish to know. Be inspired by others, admire what’s good, source your inspiration (there aint nothing new under the sun, as the saying goes). Do not steal.
Thanks JPLogan for sending the Mauren Dowd story to remind me of this unfortunate reality relevant to blogging. It’s understandable to sometimes confuse an original thought with something you heard (which might have been the case for her-I’m not exploring that story), and attribute its origins as a creative echo from your cerebral well. Just be humble and transparent about origins when it’s appropriate, remembered and humanly possible. Do you really want to be continuously bitten by snakes and lizards-what Dante reports about this particular area of hell?
