Perhaps for the first time since I began wearing long pants, I'm actually shocked:
Time editor-at-large and CNN host Fareed Zakaria has been suspended by both the magazine and the network for lifting several paragraphs by another writer for his use in a recent Time column.
In his apology, at least he had the decency to abstain from pleading sloppy note-taking ("I meant to include quotation marks--really!") or a sudden forgetfulness of the word "paraphrase." But his honest apology clarifies nothing about his extraordinary dishonesty.
I'm simply at a loss--not because his plagiarism was about as bright as Woody Allen's bank robbery in "Take the Money and Run," but that he was ever even tempted to plagiarize, let alone commit this most wretchedly mortal of authorial sins.
I just don't get it. I'm generally quite lenient and forgiving to a fault when it comes to human debauchery; I figure I've violated pretty much every entry in the Judeo-Christian code of morality, so who am I to start casting rocks and that sort of thing. But plagiarism? I'd sooner covet or even grope my neighbor's ugly wife before I'd plagiarize. There are at least some degrees of human abomination to which I just won't go, but "nice boys" will, I guess.
Peter G is sad. Zakaria's overly obsequious interview style notwithstanding, he is a lot more watchable and intellectually engaging than the vast majority of the talking head circuit. The thing about plagiarism is that anything worth plagiarizing is bound to have been creative and have drawn notice in consequence. Who imagines that they can get away with it?
Posted by: Peter G | August 12, 2012 at 01:00 PM
Very odd indeed. I have no idea why, but when I heard I had the sudden thought that he actually has interns write his stuff and it was better to admit to plagiarism than to having someone write for you.
There's a handful of people I'd never suspect of plagiarism and Zakaria used to be one of them.
Posted by: You Don't Say | August 12, 2012 at 01:17 PM
Peter G: Especially from a very recent, nearly current, New Yorker. Truly strange.
Posted by: You Don't Say | August 12, 2012 at 01:22 PM
I think, You Don't Say, that you have hit the nail on the head. I never thought of that but now that you mention it, the scenario seems as likely an explanation as exists.
Posted by: Peter G | August 13, 2012 at 07:06 AM