Copy Cats: An Ode to Opal Mehta

Plagiarism is in the headlines once again today. This time it was White House official Timothy Goeglein who was caught stealing other people's words and passing them off as his own, and he was forced to resign. Last week it was Hillary Clinton's "change you can Xerox" line alluding to Barack Obama's recycling of one of Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick's speeches as his own; but she got booed and heavily criticized for that line, and Obama came out of it totally unscathed.



These two episodes reminded me of that Indian American teen writer, Kaavya Viswanathan, who was viciously eviscerated by the media for plagiarizing another writer in her debut novel, "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life". Of course plagiarism should be denounced. It's an absolutely deplorable act that should be condemned! But whereas this young lady -- a typical Asian overachiever who obviously cracked under pressure -- was publicly lynched, Goeglein was publicly praised by Bush today as "a good man who is committed to his country" even as he was submitting his resignation. And Obama's blunder barely registered a bleep and everyone has long since moved on.



I can't help but wonder why such a stark contrast in consequences? Particularly when Kaavya's situation was wholly commercial involving works of fiction, whereas the other two episodes occurred in the world of public policymaking, real life politicking? Shouldn't the punishment fit the crime?