Plagiarism, Copyright, and Parody

Kel, let me preface this by saying I’m on your side here. That asshat’s “story” was crappy, lazy, and dickish. He took your words and changed them into a (dull, ineffectual) weapon, trying to silence your ideas through a (poorly expressed) false equivalency. And he doesn’t get the concept and reality of microagressions (or that “his” story is just another not-so-micro-aggression). Along with many others here, I am pissed, as well.

Your warning against the ease of plagiarism should be considered by everyone. With the vastness of the internet and so many jurisdictions, it is very hard to enforce copyrights.

However, I don’t know if this is a clear-cut case of plagiarism. He clearly did not cite well enough his appropriation of your words, or explain how and why he changed what he did change. In addition, copyright law (in the US) does protect against “copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not” (plagiarism.org). However, there is an exception to copyright called “fair use” and one type of “fair use” is parody:

“In a parody, for example, the parodist transforms the original by holding it up to ridicule.
 . . . .
 A parodist is permitted to borrow quite a bit, even the heart of the original work, in order to conjure up the original work.”

http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/four-factors/

By the way, this site (fairuse.stanford.edu) seems to be a great, concise resource for understanding copyright. They also have a good summary of cases discussing different aspects of copyright law, including the fair use parody exception.

All that said, this asshat’s “story” is not necessarily legitimate parody. Even if it were, it was lazy and poorly done, and certainly in a way similar to many people who try to silence women’s (and your) ideas. But I wanted to contribute this to the discussion.

I am hesitating in publishing this. My writing is not meant to minimize the legitimacy of your indignation and outrage, and I hope it doesn’t do that. Take my thoughts and research for what they’re worth. Your writing on Medium is very valuable to me and the community, so I hope you continue to write here as forcefully and honestly as you have in the past. It will be our great loss if you leave.