Freedomain Posted January 20, 2014 Posted January 20, 2014 Martin Luther King, Jr. was a pastor, activist and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. What is the truth about Martin Luther King, Jr? Sour...
David Ottinger Posted January 21, 2014 Posted January 21, 2014 I think Stefan could've composed that a lot better. The better stuff was near the end where Stefan is discussing the use of government to achieve a particular social order and how that simply defers the problem to future generations.But, as far as the rest of the stuff goes, I can't exactly agree with Stefan's points. Even if MLK went the socialist route, that doesn't make his grievances any less grounded. And, more importantly, he was representing many people's grievances. And, I think that's why many people protect his image because it wasn't about him. He was just a voice. He was a messenger. So, all the plagiarism and infidelity is really a moot point in my opinion because what was important were the grievances of an entire community of people not experiencing equality of law.So, what I really disagree with at this time is how Stefan argues that MLK went too far with the desire for reparations for an injustice. I agree with Stefan that the vehicle for carrying out those reparations (i.e. government) is inherently corrupt. But, I believe that Stefan has stated in the past -- which I paraphrase -- that we are currently living in an involuntary society, and under such governance we at times are forced to use the courts or police or other socialized services because there are no alternatives. So, given what blacks were going through during that time period, how is their case any different in that regard?
Carl Green Posted January 21, 2014 Posted January 21, 2014 I heard somewhere that you typically only remember the beginning and end so maybe it's best to put the better stuff at the end. As for reparations, wouldn't everyone who's been stolen from by the involuntary society be due something?
kalmia Posted February 5, 2014 Posted February 5, 2014 What is the line between plagarism and speaking an idea as one's own even though it was copied from someone else. Is there any? Stefan sometimes repeats things others have said without giving attribution. Would he consider this plagiarism? Is it different because it is spoken? I don't know of all the times he has done this, but what comes to mind now is he quoted verbatim some of Tom Woods's work in Meltdown without citing Woods. He also copied much of Dave Champion's work on Treyvon Martin. He did add a citation in his YouTube description after Champion complained.
dsayers Posted February 5, 2014 Posted February 5, 2014 King's plagiarism is only important in regards to his use of it as proof of understanding something in order to get certain classifications that others hold up to idolize him by. The point is to undermine the idolization. In the free market of ideas, who first coined the idea isn't as important as to its truth value. I myself have taken less to quoting dead guys or sharing ideas with others based on WHO said simply because the idea is what is important. Plus in a discussion, I don't want to put forth that I accept something because somebody in particular said it but because I've scrutinized it and found it to accurately describe the real world. For example, in my mind, Stef gets credit not for saying cool sound bites from time to time, but in the effort he puts into facilitating all of these ideas with anybody that's open to them. As far as I know, he provides sources all the time. I'm not familiar with the Dave Champion incident you mentioned. Maybe it was an oversight; do you know? When I listened to Stef talk about George Zimmerman, I was interested in the facts, not who first compiled them. Did Stef gain anything from making use of the work of others? As I understand it, all that accrued to him was accusations of racism and the like. I'd also be interested in hearing what Champion's motivation was in claiming the work behind what Stef was saying if he wasn't deriving resources from passing it along. I'm not even sure that deriving resources is any measure by which to determine immorality. Sounds like a good idea for its own topic.
kalmia Posted February 6, 2014 Posted February 6, 2014 I don't think copying another's work is immoral, but it can be an asthetic issue. And I'm not sure where the asthetic line is. The more I learn, the more I realize people are copying others. Those who are being copied have copied others. If we didn't copy, knowledge would not advance.
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