KARACHI:
In our formal or informal discourse, we commit plagiarism of intellectual property. It is to pass off another person’s ideas or suggestions as your own without giving any credit to the person. It is the worst form of moral turpitude because in academic plagiarism there is tangible evidence as the plagiarised material is scanned and identified, but in discussion and discourse the perpetrator easily gets scot free after committing intellectual vandalism.
Some people even mention your idea in your presence without observing any courtesy. However, when one attributes the idea to its exponent, one begets respect from the audience for displaying moral integrity. In this way, the intention behind quoting the idea succeeds in attaining its desired impact. The respect for the quoting person is doubled in the eyes of the quoted person as well when the former cites the reference of the latter in the latter’s presence. Sometimes, students use their teacher’s arguments and workarounds while debating a point with him without observing courtesy-to etiquette. Some senior students to inspire awe in the juniors foist on the latter the knowledge pirated from the teacher as their own showing off as pseudo-savant. G.B. Shaw warns: “Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.”
In today’s knowledge driven economy, generation and projection of information get plagued with such unethical alloys. Educational moralists call it intellectual corruption paving the way for corruption of material resources. Moreover, students who execute such ideological mugging remain bereft of epiphany in the journey of attaining knowledge and awareness. Poached knowledge is always injurious to cerebral happiness. Ethically, knowledge earned through honesty and diligence is the halal knowledge: constructive and beneficial. Such knowledge never makes us supercilious because it bestows upon us mindfulness that lends inner contentment and spiritual bliss.
M Nadeem Nadir
Kasur
Published in The Express Tribune, January 21th, 2024.
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