Discuss this excerpt

[Steerpike]

It is easy to see how the European tradition of individual liberty
and freedom have been forgotten, and why the pendulum is swinging in
the wrong direction today. The reasons are two: first, the
consequences of the present economic movement toward collectivism, and
second, a heritage from the mechanistic outlook of the mid-Victorian
times. It seems that in the present age of rising collectivism of all
sorts--social, economic and political--mankind is naturally forgetting
and forfeiting its right to human recalcitrancy and losing sight of
the dignity of the individual. With the predominance of economic
problems and economic thinking, which is overshadowing all other forms
of human thinking, we remain completely ignorant of, and indifferent
to, a more humanized knowledge and a more humanized philosophy, a
philosophy that deals with the problems of individual life. This is
natural. As a man who has an ulcered stomach spends all his thought on
his stomach, so a society with a sick and aching economics is forever
occupied with thoughts of economics. Nevertheless, the result is that
we remain totally indifferent to the individual and have almost
forgotten that he exists. A man used to be a man for a' that. Today he
is generally conceived as an automaton blindly obeying material or
economic laws. We no longer think of a man as a man, but as a cog in a
wheel, a member of a union or class, an alien to be imported by
quotas, a petit bourgeois to be referred to with contempt, or a
capitalist to be denounced, or a worker to be regarded as a comrade
because he is a worker. It seems that to label a man as a petit
bourgeois a "capitalist" or a "worker" is already to understand him
completely, and he can be conveniently hated or hailed as a comrade
accordingly. We are no longer individuals, no longer men, but only
classes. May I suggest that this is an over-simplification of things?
The scamp has completely disappeared as an ideal, and so has the man
with his gloriously scamp-like qualities of reacting freely and
incalculably to his external surroundings. Instead of men, we have
members of a class; instead of ideas and personal prejudices and
idiosyncracies, we have ideologies, or class thoughts; instead of
personalities, we have blind forces; and instead of individuals we
have a Marxian dialectic controlling and foreshadowing all human
activities with unfailing precision. We are all progressing happily
and enthusiastically toward the model of the ants.

Some may recognize it. I'll post the source later if no one else does before then

 

[blastoff]

Billy Carter?

 

[Steerpike]

Yep.

 

[AvgGuyIA]

Dr. Lin Yutang

 

[Steerpike]

Nice work, AvgGuy.

Yes, it is from "The Importance of Living," by Lin Yutang. I read this a number of years back, and picked it up again this week. The passage I quoted struck me as something that could have been written this morning as easily as in 1937, when Lin Yutang wrote it.

 

[007]

Some may recognize it. I'll post the source later if no one else does before then

You do realize that posting something like that without linking to the source is a little thing called "plagiarism," and people can get in some pretty deep shit for that...

 

[xotoxi]

Some may recognize it. I'll post the source later if no one else does before then

You do realize that posting something like that without linking to the source is a little thing called "plagiarism," and people can get in some pretty deep shit for that...

Nice try, Rider.

I'm sure Gunny's got a new message by now.

 

[daveman]

Hammer + nailhead = this article.

 

[jillian]

Some may recognize it. I'll post the source later if no one else does before then

You do realize that posting something like that without linking to the source is a little thing called "plagiarism," and people can get in some pretty deep shit for that...

no.it's not. he didn't say it was his writing. he said it was someone else's and asked if anyone recognized it.

where die he pass it off as his own work?

you are not on your game today, pale.

 

[007]

Some may recognize it. I'll post the source later if no one else does before then

You do realize that posting something like that without linking to the source is a little thing called "plagiarism," and people can get in some pretty deep shit for that...

Nice try, Rider.

I'm sure Gunny's got a new message by now.

Oh... k... posting someone's else's writings without a link ISN'T plagiarism... you sure?

If Gunny did, it's not by me. You better do it, you thought of it.

 

[daveman]

You do realize that posting something like that without linking to the source is a little thing called "plagiarism," and people can get in some pretty deep shit for that...

Nice try, Rider.

I'm sure Gunny's got a new message by now.

Oh... k... posting someone's else's writings without a link ISN'T plagiarism... you sure?

If Gunny did, it's not by me. You better do it, you thought of it.

Plagiarists don't usually add "I'll post the source later if no one else does before then".

 

[007]

Some may recognize it. I'll post the source later if no one else does before then

You do realize that posting something like that without linking to the source is a little thing called "plagiarism," and people can get in some pretty deep shit for that...

no.it's not. he didn't say it was his writing. he said it was someone else's and asked if anyone recognized it.

where die he pass it off as his own work?

you are not on your game today, pale.

Oooohh... OK... so anybody can post anything they want, WITHOUT A LINK, just so long as they don't claim they wrote it.

Well if it's as simple as that, why has there ever been this big rule here about POSTING A LINK?

 

[jillian]

You do realize that posting something like that without linking to the source is a little thing called "plagiarism," and people can get in some pretty deep shit for that...

no.it's not. he didn't say it was his writing. he said it was someone else's and asked if anyone recognized it.

where die he pass it off as his own work?

you are not on your game today, pale.

Oooohh... OK... so anybody can post anything they want, WITHOUT A LINK, just so long as they don't claim they wrote it.

Well if it's as simple as that, why has there ever been this big rule here about POSTING A LINK?

i would think in the context of a thread like this, supplementing the post later would be okay.

do you think gunny's going to make you a mod if you post threads saying he's the only cool person and then pretending to enforce copyright rules?

just wondering.

though i do have to wonder why you'd derail what might actually have been an interesting thread. poor dear.

 

[Steerpike]

Yeah, plagiarism is passing off another's work as one's own. That wasn't done here. In fact, it is clear from the outset this is not my work. Thus, no plagiarism.

 

[007]

Nice try, Rider.

I'm sure Gunny's got a new message by now.

Oh... k... posting someone's else's writings without a link ISN'T plagiarism... you sure?

If Gunny did, it's not by me. You better do it, you thought of it.

Plagiarists don't usually add "I'll post the source later if no one else does before then".

That's like pulling into a gas station and filling your tank and saying, "I'll pay you later if no one else does," and that's expected to be good enough because gas thieves "don't usually do that?"

 

[007]

Yeah, plagiarism is passing off another's work as one's own. That wasn't done here. In fact, it is clear from the outset this is not my work. Thus, no plagiarism.

There's a rule on the board that say's you have to link to the source, period. You want to side step it, and that's OK with board admin, whatever.

 

[Steerpike]

Yeah, plagiarism is passing off another's work as one's own. That wasn't done here. In fact, it is clear from the outset this is not my work. Thus, no plagiarism.

There's a rule on the board that say's you have to link to the source, period. You want to side step it, and that's OK, whatever.

If that's a board policy, then that's one thing. But it definitely isn't plagiarism.

As far as I know, there is no link available for this. I have the book in hard copy, and portions of it in a text file. I could upload the text file to a web site somewhere and post a link if it would make you happier about the post, but I don't see how that accomplishes much.

 

[007]

Yeah, plagiarism is passing off another's work as one's own. That wasn't done here. In fact, it is clear from the outset this is not my work. Thus, no plagiarism.

There's a rule on the board that say's you have to link to the source, period. You want to side step it, and that's OK, whatever.

If that's a board policy, then that's one thing. But it definitely isn't plagiarism.

As far as I know, there is no link available for this. I have the book in hard copy, and portions of it in a text file. I could upload the text file to a web site somewhere and post a link if it would make you happier about the post, but I don't see how that accomplishes much.

I don't care man... carry on. Sorry I brought it up.

 

[Steerpike]

Ok.

If the board mods/owners have a problem in this case, where there is no link available, I'll remove it (or they can do so). It's their board, after all, and their rules.

 

[daveman]

Oh... k... posting someone's else's writings without a link ISN'T plagiarism... you sure?

If Gunny did, it's not by me. You better do it, you thought of it.

Plagiarists don't usually add "I'll post the source later if no one else does before then".

That's like pulling into a gas station and filling your tank and saying, "I'll pay you later if no one else does," and that's expected to be good enough because gas thieves "don't usually do that?"

Poor analogy. This really is much ado about nothing.