Opus 2026-364: Cut and Paste

One indication of the facade of modern academia is plagiarism.  We have frequent revelations of the educational elites who do little but copy the work of others.  I experienced it teaching middle school.  It was easy to discover at that level because illiterate eighth graders have a very limited vocabulary and copy and paste the silliest things, including the references at the bottom of the page and hyperlinks.  With modern technology it is childishly simple to find out if something is copied.

A famous line of Margaret Thatcher was “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”  I thought of that in regard to the plagiarism that goes on in the academic world.  You see where I am going with this, don’t you?  “Eventually your run out of other people’s ideas.”  

I find that many of the books I try to read may be honest in giving their sources but the end product is often just a chain of quotes with little original thinking.  I have heard it called “term paper style”.  You remember what those were like.  

Another face of the problem is a reliance on tradition.  I am examining that in my own life with the focus on theology.  It amazes me how people don’t listen to my ideas.  I accept they may be lacking in great wisdom but that is not why people don’t listen.  They just don’t want to hear and have a hard time grasping something outside their comfort zone.

One of the ideas that I am exploring is the proposition that the Jews of Jesus day did not teach the Torah.  They taught what would become the Talmud.  At that point it was the oral law which is a scholarly way of renaming the game of Telephone.  If you want an example of how the oral law is a joke read about the reforms of Josiah.  At that point the religious leaders had even forgot to celebrate the Passover.  How can you claim to have an unbroken oral law when you can’t remember one of the key points of Jewish history.

Keep thinking.  One way to know if you are being successful is that people won’t listen.  Of course that could also mean you are spouting nonsense.

homo unius libri