Before you start of asking, what’s this got to do with gaming? Let me stop you right then and there, because I’ll be the first to tell you that this has nothing to do to gaming. However, I’d like to contend that since this site is composed of people who have in their own right experienced being plagiarized (yes that happened ladies and gentlemen). That I’d just like to shed some light on my take on this fiasco.

The Setting:

So to start things off, our senator, the Senate MAJORITY leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III used a blogger’s post to support his anti RH Bill stand without properly attributing the statements he used and made it his own. However he was found out and the act even going as far as saying why would he quote a blogger?  He eventually copped out but still maintained that he did not do anything wrong. He went as far as saying that Plagiarism is not a crime in the country just to defend himself from the backlash he has received.

He eventually claims that he was a victim of cyber-bullying and that this backlash was a smear campaign against him.

So that’s done.

Why Should Back2Gaming Care?

First and foremost I’d just like to say that in our pool of writers, we have two journalism students (me and Billy) and we have media major graduate (nicole) here as well. We have been taught to always, ALWAYS cite our sources when we can because that is one of the most important things a journalist does when writing an article not coming from his or her own experience.

It’s one of the worst sin a journalist can do, and this schmuck of a senator just trampled all over this principle to defend his oh-so important reputation.

I can continue on with the tirade by talking about academics, of plain common sense but that would only add more noise to the already Sotto-hate-filled internet. I care because it would mean that people can just lift our work here, (specially the really good articles my writers come out with) and just paste it on their blog without even attributing it to us or to them. It disrespects all the time we used just so we can bring out articles to the blog. It insults our dignity that someone can just use OUR work and claim it as theirs with impunity. Any douchebag can just do whatever he/she pleases without consequence just because someone in power did the exact same thing.

I can continue on with the tirade but I know you guys would just want to hang me too so here’s what I want to say to you senator Sotto: “Even if plagiarism is supposed to be not a crime in the country (which Justice Secretary Leila De Lima shot down, read the last part of the article), a VOTED official, more so a SENATOR is ALSO accountable to his constituents on not just to UPHOLD CRIMINAL LAW but MORAL LAW as well. In a profession where majority consider you as corrupt, isn’t this the best opportunity for one to show that even a POLITICIAN can be morally upright, even on this simple case of plagiarism?

Isn’t it a fact that slavery WAS LEGAL in the earlier years of the United States? It was then abolished because people finally wised up and realized that it’s not MORALLY RIGHT to treat people as slaves regardless of the color of their skin.”

I’d like to share this photo from the Sotto Resign fanpage to clearly state what I have in mind:

Maybe I’m just talking to a brick wall since probably the good senator doesn’t really care if he’s a moral example to the masses or that maybe he’s not aware that even if it’s not criminally wrong, an action may be morally incorrect.

However, since I do not know the senator personally, all I can is assume.

/endrant