hilzoy at Obsidian Wings has an interesting, and damning piece on Ben Domenech and some serious charges of plagiarism.
I have paid marginal attention to the WaPo/Domenech flap, except to have noted that he was hired to blog from the Right for WaPo and that this caused an uproar in some quarters for reasons I was too disinterested to delve into.
I am not a big consumer of MSM blogs unless a good reason presents itself (i.e., good writing/reporting/commentary–the same reason I read reg’lar blogs), so I didn’t rush out to read this one–and I only rarely venture over to Redstate, where Domenech apparently blogged until the moniker “Augustine.”
I cannot comment on Domenech’s commentary or writing ability, but as is well known to regular readers and students, I can’t abide by plagiarism. If the charges of plagiarism are true (and who plagiarizes movie reivews?), then WaPo has no choice but to fire him and, also, Domenech’s writing career is in serious jeopardy.
I must confess, I find Erick’s defense of Domenech on RedState to be less than satisfying.
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March 24th, 2006 at 1:00 pm
I’m always dumbfounded by any defense of plagiarism. I heard more than my fair share in the university, lame excuses from students, but (more astoundingly) defenses of students caught red-handed. In one case, the student in question was a doctoral candidate. How less defensible can you get?
I guess plagiarism in the less regulated and reviewed world of blogs is inevitable. (No doubt your words have been lifted by someone, somewhere.) However, when you can use Google to find any snippet of text, anywhere on the Internet, how exactly do you expect to never get caught?