Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Pick Your Plagiarists

Turns out that Zu Guttenberg is not the only prominent politician who plagiarized their dissertation: Seif-al-Islam Qaddafi ripped his off from wikipedia, apparently.  Of course, this son of Qaddafi has done far more damage with his speech the other night that just antagonized the crowds further, making Mubarak look articulate and reasonable in comparison

What does this say about ambitious politicians and their pursuit of dissertations?  Well, I am not sure what the value added of a PhD to someone who is aspiring for political office.  If they do not plagiarize, they may still have written something that might antagonize people--you know, by expressing an original idea.  And if they plagiarize, well, that is a ticking time bomb.  Why should folks care?  Because they want their politicians to be at least appear to have integrity.  If they lie and cheat as students, that does not portend for a politician that is transparent or corruption free.

At least these guys provide some amusement value to divert us from the man-made tragedies in Libya and natural one in New Zealand. 

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