Vice-Chair Greg Matson has ‘written’ another blog post. Well, he typed one. Maybe. The fact is that Greg Matson’s blog plagiarized the words of someone else.
The words Greg Matson posted (or whomever posts for Greg) have been attributed to several sources, including George Carlin and the Dalai Lama, but according to this post on Snopes.com:
The true author of the piece isn’t George Carlin, Jeff Dickson, or the Dalai Lama, nor is he anonymous. Credit belongs to Dr. Bob Moorehead, former pastor of Seattle’s Overlake Christian Church (who retired in 1998 after 29 years in that post). This essay appeared under the title “The Paradox of Our Age” in Words Aptly Spoken, Dr. Moorehead’s 1995 collection of prayers, homilies, and monologues used in his sermons and radio broadcasts[.]
Here’s what comedian George Carlin had to say about wrongly being called the author of the words Greg Matson plagiarized:
One of the more embarrassing items making the internet/e-mail rounds is a sappy load of sh¡t called “The Paradox of Our Time.” The main problem I have with it is that as true as some of the expressed sentiments may be, who really gives a sh¡t? Certainly not me.
I figured out years ago that the human species is totally fu¢ked and has been for a long time. I also know that the sick, media-consumer culture in America continues to make this so-called problem worse. But the trick, folks, is not to give a fu¢k. Like me. I really don’t care. I stopped worrying about all this temporal bullsh¡t a long time ago. It’s meaningless. (See the preface of “Braindroppings.”)
Another problem I have with “Paradox” is that the ideas are all expressed in a sort of pseudo-spiritual, New-Age-y, “Gee-whiz-can’t-we-do-better-than-this” tone of voice. It’s not only bad prose and poetry, it’s weak philosophy. I hope I never sound like that.
Maybe Greg Matson was simply too stupid and lazy to look up who actually authored the stolen words posted on Greg’s blog.
In any case, it sets a bad example for Oneida students who attend school at Norbert Hill Center where Greg Matson ‘works’ because, as Oneida comedian Charlie Hill could have explained to Greg, one of the worst things you can do when it comes to writing is to steal someone else’s material.
Especially when it sucks.
