To a Degree

            Plagiarism – what a concept! Plato never gave it even one moment’s thought (and he copied his mentor Socrates’ words and beliefs a lot! ). Josephus carefully explained to his readers all of his people’s religious stories, never giving “credit where credit’s due.” But – and we are amazingly precise about this – modern-day academics insist on footnoting every jot and tittle of any group of words they “borrow” from another’s works. Well...until they get caught not doing this!             The quest for precise, back-scratching, virtue-signaling “clarification” has risen to new heights over the last decade. I remember having a heated exchange with some of my former students when Melania Trump used a catchy political phrase in defense of “children’s welfare”—a phrase that seemed to copy a central idea from a political speech made a decade ago by Michelle Obama. The media, followed by many “academics,” scolded the then-First Lady for her “plagiarism” in the speech – as if cop