Quoting famed intellectuals to further an agenda and the loss of free thinking (Orwell, 48)-The collector quoting philosophers and original thoughts: absence in the schoolroom
The website titled The Collector publishes history, art and philosophy content. Yet concerning the latter, a bothersome realisation matches with the authors’ educational level. Masters and doctorate students write about philosopher’s interpretation of events. The website lacks original thinking. A problem so prevalent in the philosophical school. Where is the personal dedication? Where is the free thinking?
The website provides an array of immersive ideas. Everyday young intellectuals write about their study. Providing philosophy 101 to the average layman. Occupying a seminal space in the academic atmosphere. Inserting the philosopher and his idea. Summarising their content for formulation. Countless articles published daily. Yet the absence of original thinking is striking. Every article recalls a philosopher’s philosophy. There is little concern for producing subjective conclusions. While the aim of the website may be education so their articles are on point, it is a college course simplified. Explaining complex ideas to the commoner. A crash course in the history of ideas. It recalls the old and fails to honour the new. A teacher educating an eager audience with little personal ambition. Where is the original thinking? Where is the unique perspective? It is cliff notes instead of footnotes. Demonstrating a lacklustre realistic perspective to the audience.
Citing one’s work is the definition of honest material. Demonstrating the breath of knowledge learned and verified. Yet at the same time the need to quote is predicated on an ethos of legitimacy instead of the quality of the knowledge. Instead, citations are supplied to overlay a superior position. While this isn’t wrong in of itself, it does marginalise original thinking. A student who quotes either is finding support for his theory from apparent experts or he using their ideas to create his own. In the former, the addition of citations only tries to see citations that fit with his theory or reject his theory for theirs. In the latter, the second possibility is replayed. Reading through this literature exposes the student to the ideas but it also puts them on a silver platter. The individual is not asked to think for himself but apply for himself. A lesson in research not a lesson in growing. He has amassed wider knowledge on other’s perspective and to choose which he believes is best. Yet he loses his own credibility. He cannot quote himself He can provide nuance but he has already sacrificed his personal view for that of peer reviewed content. It is in the hands of the experts. They know best. His opinion is irrelevant.
Plagiarism is using without quoting. As long as the ideas is cited it can be used. The way around is to simply quote their idea. Failing to show respect is to receive a failed grade. A fair proposal for those who wish to take credit for other’s views. A demonic selfishness, too busy to think for themself. Had they simply added a footnote, it would’ve passed. Copying and pasting is part of the exercise. It is just preferred in smaller doses. Write in your own words does not mean the students original idea but what the author meant. Spending so much time arguing over what other people think but not what the student’s think. It is teaching the student to parody other’s ideas. It is alright as long as it is paraphrased or cited. A demonstration of a legitimate point is to refer to others. The school is promoting plagiarism. They're just providing a loophole to their own moral code. It is not so bad if different words are used then the author writes. Yet where is the student’s words if only to extend on that of the author. Compiling the responses and choosing is to be presented with selective options. What about thinking outside the box? What about the third option? Such an option is disallowed. It cannot be quoted.
Citing in school follows student’s through life. Quoting others ideas instead of forming their own. Student’s do learn to give due respect. Quoting an idea they received for inspiration or as simple as I heard this joke from so and so. Taking credit for someone else’s ideas is malicious. Whether or not it is a big deal is critical on a principle level. A dose of elevating the other. Tipping the cap to those who deserve it. Yet the insistency of quoting in the classroom only further denies the student’s nuance. The student merely spits back the author’s words. The student writes the teacher’s words on the test. It is a myopic transition. Education is reflective. Here is some ideas now repeat them back to me. Do not think deeper nor add personal insights just write how the teacher said. Do not forget details nor emendations. A policy of decaying growth and delayed inspiration. Desiring to escape, to demonstrate that freedom so heavily preached in the university stratosphere. Yet it is only to the confines of the campus spatial area. Intellectually the mind may expand but outside the classroom. The classroom is the space of monistic rhetoric unable to break free.
Graduating from the classroom continues the echo-chamber intro the real world. The ideas spawned in the paper are those thrown into conversation. Debating with people instead of ideas. Leveraging names over numbers and status over statistics. Amplifying a voice for submission instead of a crafted deduction. Creativity is rare. Sophistry is pandered. Phrases relayed in a hypnotic surrealist shell. Pawning off other’s ideas as one’s own. Unable to differentiate and think for oneself. Personal life is a projection of another on the self. Desiring to be another. To uphold their thoughts as one’s own. Helpless to decode a divergent route. Caught up in the societal coercion. My intellectual can beat your intellectual. Repeating verbatim without actually delving into their content. Arguing on jargon instead of the details. Obeying the self appointed representatives as a loyal servant of their cause. Marring any investigation into the ideas that are followed. The self replaces the professor with the media. The media, the celebrity informs the average Joe of his life’s purpose. Anything otherwise is the tempting devil.
Relying on others to cultivate destiny. Where is the pushback? Where is the scepticism? Parading ideas in the street. A desire for a coercive lifestyle. Following blindly. Existentialism has failed modern man. Instead of spending time reflecting he has preoccupied himself with finding a new master. His church, king, celebrity/media. He has found the populist who is like him but just beyond his reach. A fantasy of fortified connection. Modern man has failed to look inside and awed by his awesomeness. Unaware of his impressive faculties. He is questing for a guide. A external stimuli to show him the way. This is the advice of the sage whether that be an expert or a schemer. He seeks inspiration and validation. He fails to look inside for those possibilities. It is only as a lackey that he can be raised. The aspirations of the individual are mitigated by his own betrayal. He calls his being but then trots out to belonging. Fetishising connection to improve his mental state. Following their words to feel more deeply linked in a neurotic illusion. Swept up in the possibility of calming the loneliness he compromises for comfort. Serving a singularity that defeats his entire autonomic pursuit.
Fresh ideas are those who are outcasted and isolated. Those with no attachments or shame. It is easy to critique when the consequences are minimal. Cynicism runs rampant and the divisive conclusion is drawn. Nuance is a stream of uncorrected extension. Breaking away loosened and fragmented. Creativity is second guessing. Dissecting the accepted narrative. A new wave of possibility that pierces the glass.
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