Unable to formulate thoughts of our own, we plagiarise other people's
Sharon Ellul Bonici, Robert Musumeci, Charlon Gouder's lawyer and Sharon's brother Andy Ellul and a masked lady at one of Magistrate Herrera's fundraising charity balls
Robert Musumeci has posted this observation on his Facebook wall, as a comment under his own name:
Utilitarians argue that answers to social, as to other, problems can be scientifically discovered once and for all. Such finality is impossible to achieve. All solutions are tentative and provisional, as man is not infallible in discovering the truth – hence, the need to respect diversity of opinions and that all must remain open to discussion and criticism.
Hmmmm. What are the odds that he ripped this off word for word from somebody else? I think they’re pretty good.
If people who speak and write English as he and Kurt Farrugia do are going to plagiarise other people’s views, then the big mystery is: why don’t they take the trouble first to rewrite them in their own unidiomatic English?
I guess the answer to that is obvious: thought is dependent on language and language dependent on thought.
Poverty of thought leads of poverty of language, and vice versa.
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http://www.liberal-international.org/editorial.asp?ia_id=685
Third paragraph:
“Utilitarians argued that answers to social, as to other, problems can be scientifically discovered once and for all. For Mill, such finality was impossible to achieve. All solutions were necessarily tentative and provisional, as he saw man as not infallible in discovering the truth. Consequentially, he argued for the need to respect diversity of opinions and that all must remain open to discussion and criticism.”
He deleted “For Mill” and changed the tense from past to present to make it appear as if this is his own work.
This sort of plagiarism is the kind resorted to by university students, for which they face harsh penalties.
Well spotted.
Musumeci has scraped the barrel of idiocy and is now just on iota away from the Maltastars stable of incompetents.
That’s the thinking of John Stuart Mill, a liberal thinker of the 1800s and author of ‘Utilitarianism’. The whole paragraph is ripped off with the exception of a word or two. I love Google!
Here is another from John Stuart Mill:
Originality is the one thing which unoriginal minds cannot feel the use of.
Latest update on Malta Week in Bruxelles: An abundance of food & drink courtesy of the Maltese taxpayer.
Great staff, to be sure. Maltese hospitality at its best. Gone is the interest in yesterday’s €6 platters. The free food is so abundant and yummy today they just couldn’t resist. Pity I did not try it out, though. The line was so long with hungry MEPs and staffers I opted for the canteen instead, leaving Dejv Jitkaza to relish his 15 minutes.
So how do I know the food is so good? Well, I spotted a Lega Nord staffer fungating (Byron; deriving from the Maltese verb ‘iffanga’) in a way he never did on African food – Rome being on the EU-African border, you see.
Next report deals with why Ira Losco, Chiara and Co. are rationing on their output. Work-to-rule directive in place, but Kaza’s not saying.
Nice pic, Daph… but that’s not Malta Week. I’ll send you one with Kaza instead. Nice guy. You’ll like him.
That sounds like a scoop for The Daily Bugle (Marvel Comics, Kev, *you* should know).
Is this a Damascene conversion? Only a few days ago you were saying you’re above pettiness and Lilliputian politics. Yet, for all your posturing, you don’t seem to have any qualms opining about tax-payer financed greed while scrounging free food financed by the, well, tax payer…
A matter of not a little interest, Kev, given your prolific preaching: who finances the income that allows you and your family to survive in Brussil? I’m assuming it’s not the taxpaer.
Now I see my error, La Redoute. The person I had mistaken you with is much sharper. Once a comic reader, always a comic.
Anzi, ara, ma qaltli xejn ghax flok ‘for’ ktibt ‘with’. Imma dik bhalissa regghet mohha fil-konsenjamenti.
Bore on, Mr Sharon Ellul Bonici.
A set of words frequently used by utilitarian philosophers, which begs the question:
Why is Musumeci reading utilitarian philosophers? Maybe because of assailing guilt feelings.
I don’t know what the purpose is of uploading such academic comments on a shallow chatting site like Facebook, which is more suited for a le-ta-trid-tamel-l-email-isem-umbad-qed-jghidli-website-haqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq-irrid-nghidila-xi-haga type of comment.
At any rate, had this passage been written by a student in an essay I’d have said he was definitely trying to plagiarise since he changed a couple of words to make it seem his own statement.
Beg to differ Antoine. There are some very good groups on Facebook and like any social environment it can help distinguish between the decent and the morons!
It’s the internet for Christ’s sake. Custom-built for morons. The decent live their lives in the real world.
That’s what comes of using Facebook to form online cliques instead of using it to keep in touch with real people you know: you end up thinking you’re in a private room and that nobody else can hear you.
Robert Musumeci assumed that his Facebook Wall interlocutors – amongst whom, Musik Man, Vince ic-Cicra, Ronnie Pellegrini and Norman Lowell’s girlfriend Letty Baldacchino – wouldn’t be able to tell a gross piece of plagiarism from a classic text if it hit them between the eyes.
He was right. They couldn’t. But his Facebook Wall is open to all, a necessity when you’re showing off, and this means that any one of Facebook’s 500 million users can see it, including people who, like Daphne, are able to spot the plagiarism immediately.
Perhaps Musumeci doesn’t really understand how these things work, and like his mistress, believes that Facebook is xi haga fil-computer.
The village mayor plagiarises Stuart Mill for Vince l-Cicra.
This man took the wife of another man, and allowed another woman to take him from his own wife and child.
Compared to that, taking other people’s intellectual property is a a doddle.
The Times: http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20101004/local/suspended-sentence-deepens-bereaved-family-s-wounds
People are criticizing Magistrate Edwina Grima. This is a serious magistrate – unlike someone we know – but possibly made a miscalculation of guilt. (Possibly.)
It might be that the age for appointments to the bench should be raised.
In the case of you-know-who, the age factors plays no role. She’s ripe to be kicked out.
[Daphne – I think Magistrate Grima did the right thing. The bereaved family are missing the point that he was convicted and has a criminal record. She just didn’t think it would serve any purpose to send an otherwise decent man in his 20s, who probably fell asleep at the wheel, to prison. I agree with her completely. It could have been any one of us back then and it could have been any of our children, most of whom drive back home at that time of night. Prison is for real criminals. The bereaved family, and those commenting online are also missing the crucial point that, if this young man and his parents had no conscience, he would have simply driven home and said nothing. There were no witnesses. Basically, he was prosecuted only because he did the right thing in going home, telling his father, and then filing a report at the police station. Hadn’t he done that, nobody would have been any the wiser.]
Basically, he was prosecuted only because he did the right thing in going home, telling his father, and then filing a report at the police station. Hadn’t he done that, nobody would have been any the wiser.
Oh so that’s alright then, I can just kill somebody, plead guilty and hop off scotch free (almost).
[Daphne – You deliberately misunderstand me. I’m pointing out that this man could have gone home, slept it off and forgotten about it. But he didn’t. The fact that he owned up should have been enough for the bereaved family to forgive him, always bearing in mind that this young man carries a life sentence too. I am astonished at the way some people look at punishment here: just like shariah law, retribution and a life for a life. Prison is there for a purpose, and in this case, imprisonment would serve no purpose at all except satisfying the retributory feelings of the victims. That’s why I made the comparison to shariah law. ]
Last week it was reported that former President Chirac of France had cut a deal that he would return, if I remember correctly, 2 million euros that he had got through kickbacks and bribes while Mayor of Paris. He would return this money and all charges would be dropped. These charges had been made while he was still President, but they had been filed because of his having immunity.
French MPs found this disgusting. So if a common thief pleads guilty to robbery, but promises to return the loot, all charges can be dropped as well.
[Daphne – You’re not comparing like with like. Magistrates have a certain amount of discretion and they use it. That’s justice. Those who don’t agree with a judgement can appeal. If this man had deliberately driven at the jogger and mowed him down with a view to killing or maiming him, then yes, he would have gone to jail. I know that empathy requires imagination, but at least try to understand that, just as you could have been the jogger, so you could have been the driver.]
“I know that empathy requires imagination”.
I don’t have to imagine, been there, done that.
[Daphne – Exactly. So enough.]
Look, our roads are just out of control. We have a whole mishmash of problems. Driver education, too many cars on so little space, badly designed roads, all contribute to the chaos.
It’s time to stop being lenient on this chaotic driving. Too many people have died, or been injured, to emphatise any more. Only drastically increased fines and sentences, and enforcement of the law can hopefully start to bring some some sense on to our roads.
I tend to agree with Daphne on the imprisonment issue, but having a driving licence suspended for just year ! Thats simply not on.
The guy will be allowed to drive, before his (supposed) prison term expires.
Insurance companies are guilty too. People like him should pay car insurance through their noses after such an incident, enough to put them off driving altogether. But they can’t do without that precious premium.