This episode reminds me of the Jerry Seinfeld riff–I’ve mentioned it before—on how hairpieces inherently insult the intelligence of the people the bald imposter is trying to fool, and thus the toup’-wearer should just leave the price tag on, danging in front of his face.
A student apparently submitted an essay regarding her experiences as a black woman, not bothering about the fact that she is white.
Here is the incriminating passage, unblurred:
I’m fascinated by the implications of this. Could the white student plausibly claim she was writing the essay in the voice of a black woman? Could she take the Jumbo route, and express shock that she is white, and argue that nobody ever told her that before? (Fans of “The Jerk,” raise your hands!) That might be a terrific Jumbo: “I’m white??? Oh, my God!!!” If it was plagiarism, does she deserve Seinfeld ethics points for not trying to hide it? Or perhaps she was attempting to prove that her teacher didn’t read essays, and setting a trap, risking her own academic reputation to expose a fraudulent teacher!
Then again, she might just be an idiot.
I’d bet on the latter.
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What if her great-grandmother….
never mind.
That’s the Elizabeth Warren (also a plagiarist) defense, Tex.
(raising my hand – a fan of “The Jerk”)
I was born a poor child (skin color forever debatable, due to jaundice)…
In terms of genetics, everyone is a plagiarist.
Obviously, from previous discussions, I have the “leash gene.”
“How dare you deny my blackness! It’s just another attempt by the default white culture to erase black people!”
would also be an option.
True – she may personally identify herself as black woman deliberately to separate herself from her white privilege in order to fully sympathize with the oppressed, repressed, depressed, and teapressed.
What if she is white, but was adopted by a black family, and grew up around mostly black people?
What if she was adopted by a black family and grew up mostly around black people? Isn’t reasonable that she would think of herself as black?
If she never spoke to anybody about it and didn’t own a mirror, I suppose maybe…
Of course I don’t mean physically, I mean culturally. If she was raised by black people, assimulated in black culture, wouldn’t she think of herself as Black?
One would hope, island4diver, that she would think of herself as a human being. Presuming, of course, your hypothetical adoptive black family taught her beyond racial politics.
Didn’t usedta be this way, but at least nowadays in the good ol’ USA, if you think of yourself as a person – and treat other people like they think of themselves that way – people generally get along just fine. Hint: a strong sensitivity for bullshit and an even stronger sense of humor are useful tools in such a situation.
Most people commenting here don’t bother looking for highly-strained hypotheticals to make a point. Hyperbole is fair game, and it’s been a long day. May I presume that your tongue was similarly in cheek?
Yes and no. I can picture a student feeding the prof that BS to try to beat the rap, and I actually knew someone like that.
Henceforth, ALL of my comments on Ethics Alarms will be made as a black woman.
–Dwayne
Well. I’ve been waiting for some candor from you, Dwayne. It’s about time.
Henceforth, ALL of my comments on Ethics Alarms will be made as a black woman.
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When you least expect it, someone on the board says something really funny.
After 35 years of teaching, I’ve come to the conclusion that there are two kinds of plagiarists: dishonest and really lazy, and lazy and really dishonest. This is the former.
Maybe she was under cover dressed as a black woman to “see what it’s really like”.
Didn’t you guys read “Black Like Me” in high school?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Like_Me
Why can’t she self identify as black? If she’s black on the inside who are we to judge?
I am disgusted by the chromanormative viewpoint of this blog. How dare anyone tell her what color she is…
Very chromophobic around here.
Not very tolerant of transchromic individuals.
My tolerance quotient was eroded away to nothing years ago. There comes a time when you have to eschew being a prize sucker.