copying is the highest form of flattery

Philippines
November 13, 2012 10:47am CST
good day my lotters, i was just watching a news just a minute ago , one of the politician here is being accused of plagiarism. he defended himself by saying that copying is the highest form of flattery and i was like "seriously?he's sure about that" let's just apply that in a classroom exam setting so if the teacher notices some student copying from one student the student can defend himself by saying "maam it's the highest form of flattery...just a thought
8 responses
• United States
17 Nov 12
This man is such a big d**mer. What a shame to most Filipino's who work hard overseas and making a name. Its just so sad and pissing me off the same time.
• Philippines
17 Nov 12
Talking about Senator Sotto here? The guy has been making consecutive mistakes and he's a laughing stock in the senate and in the world! His excuse is just too lame, cant he just not admit that he and his staff is just too dumb and lazy to think and come up with a speech of their own? I just hope that the Filipinos would not elect him again in the senate.
@mzz663 (2772)
• United States
13 Nov 12
It would never work in school and it doesn't work. For some reason, politicians seem to think that they are special and can get away with all kinds of thing and I think it only makes them look like they know nothing. I tell children that when someone copies, they are cheating and that is as bad as, and the same thing as lying. When someone copies the way we act and the things we do, that is the kind of copying that is supposed to be the same as flattery, not copy and paste!
@stanley777 (9402)
• Philippines
14 Nov 12
Being a politician and a lawmaker himself, he should have known what is ethical and non-ethical with regards to his action. As in your given example, this action can not be applied in classroom but he can as a politician. A co-member had also said that, they have immunity from persecution as stated in the law. I guess it's now time to review the law because most of them are using this as an excuse to do things their way.
• China
14 Nov 12
This is not a phenomenon. The politician just try to defend himself but forget that the younger generation is watching at him. He has not only done the wong thing but also set a bad example. Copying is one of the serious problem, and some kind of copying can lead to illegal issues, some may causeing sentence also. Now due to his famous saying, it just give the students a reason or an excuse when he is caught cheating. It is also hard for the teacher to give punishment. The words or sentences from the politician usually has big influence. The ignorant students have not distinguish from right to wrong under the impact. Copying is absolutely wrong, and preventing from the students giving such an excuse really matters. Can the politician stand out in front of the television to say that he did wrong with even worse sentence? I think it hard for him, but how can we save the young generation? At the moment the politician needs to differ the importance between his pofile and the future generation. The issue also warned other influential guys just to notice every word he spoke out.
@Mavic123456 (21898)
• Thailand
14 Nov 12
whaaaaaaaaaat.. I will fail you right now! I am your teacher, and you copied your answer from your classmate. and you say the original person should be flattered because his works are copied? Is this the senator from the Phils. If so, he is really giving us shame to other nations. How could he say that? He is just putting himself more in embarrasment. Why not apologize and admit that he doesn't know what his doing and now he knows. No I will fail you boy, if you are my student. I taught, cyber ethics to my students. that when they took something from someone if they can not tell the person or ask the person's permission at least they should acknowledge the person properly (APA format lol)
@stary1 (6612)
• United States
13 Nov 12
rashme317 I have always heard this saying as "Imitation is the highest form of flattery" While it pretty much means the same, I think there are slight differences since no one thinks of cheating as a form of imitation... Imitation is used more for taste, style, etc...
@doroffee (4222)
• Hungary
13 Nov 12
That's atrocious. He's acting as if he was right to do that? A politician, who is representing a country, should not be someone to break the law or to commit a sin like that. A proper person wouldn't have done that, or if they would, they would resign immediately, not defending himself. If a politican can do that, why can't a kid cheat on a test? Now, as universities punish students even for a sentence coincidentally worded in a way it could be paraphrased from a writing, when it's his own, a politican could get away with that? It's politicians who make up the adeucation laws anyway... why are they EXPECTING the citizens to be sinless if they are sinners? Nonsense. In my country, the president was a plagiarist, and he was lying after that and saying that if the university let him get away, it's perfectly fine. He only resigned after a huge public backlash...