PLOT TWIST: Michelle Obama Accused of Plagiarising Saul Alinsky in her 2008 DNC Speech - Polidicks

[quote=Article][B]Michelle Obama: “…the world as it should be.” [/B]In 2008, the aspiring First Lady was accused by [URL="http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2008/08/michelle_obama_4.html"]bloggers[/URL] of lifting lines for her DNC speech from Saul Alinsky. Alinsky wrote, in [I]Rules for Radicals [/I](emphasis added): “The standards of judgment must be rooted in the whys and wherefores of life as it is lived, [B]the world as it is[/B], not our wished-for fantasy of [B]the world as it should be[/B].” Michelle Obama [URL="http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/convention2008/michelleobama2008dnc.htm"]said[/URL]: “And Barack stood up that day, and he spoke words that have stayed with me ever since. He talked about ‘[B]the world as it is[/B]‘ and ‘[B]the world as it should be[/B].'” (Perhaps Mr. Obama who left out the attribution.)[/quote] [url=http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/07/19/melania-trump-plagiarism-hillary-biden-barack-michelle/]Source[/url] A less conservative source that confirms a part of the speech came from Alinsky [url]http://www.snopes.com/michelle-obama-copied-her-2008-dnc-speech-from-saul-alinsky/[/url]

Seriously? Wow. How far does the chain of possible plagiarism go?

Saul Alinsky copied off JFK who copied off Abraham Lincoln who copied off George III who copied off Shakespeare

I wouldn't consider those two phrases as plagiarism at all. That's so minor that it's really an embarrassing defence.

[QUOTE=MuTAnT;50742650]I wouldn't consider those two phrases as plagiarism at all. That's so minor that it's really an embarrassing defence.[/QUOTE] Honestly I wouldn't either but people are throwing plagiarism claims left and right now since Melania gave her speech yesterday

That's sort of a stretch. We're comparing a sentence worth of statements which aren't the most original choice of words - to someone who has a paragraph worth of sentences, all laid out precisely as to what Michelle Obama had laid out during her speech.

[QUOTE=SonicHitman;50742662]That's sort of a stretch. We're comparing a sentence worth of statements which aren't the most original choice of words - to someone who has a paragraph worth of sentences, all laid out precisely as to what Michelle Obama had laid out during her speech.[/QUOTE] Honestly I don't think any of the accused copied off of another; they're just snippets of common phrases. Even in Melania's case I can't think of how I would've rearranged the word order in a logical or impact fashion. On top of that English isn't even her primary language.

[QUOTE=RIPBILLYMAYS;50742655]Honestly I wouldn't either but people are throwing plagiarism claims left and right now since Melania gave her speech yesterday[/QUOTE] Isn't it obvious that Melania couldn't have [I]possibly[/I] plagiarized if Michelle did it first :v:

[QUOTE=fruxodaily;50742649]Saul Alinsky copied off JFK who copied off Abraham Lincoln who copied off George III who copied off Shakespeare[/QUOTE] its all a direct quote from a lost section of the epic of gilgamesh

how fucking typical trump or someone in trump's menagerie shits their pants, and the immediate response is finger pointing and elementary school "but they did it first" bullshit i refuse to believe that anyone here is brain dead enough not to be able to tell the difference between using the same phrase as someone else and copying an entire passage from someone else' speech, word for word just fucking admit she lied when she said she wrote her own speech, jesus christ. I don't know what's more embarrassing, the constant fuckups of the Trump campaign, or the absurd excuses and mental gymnastics people go through to paint those fuckups as a part of some grandiose and brilliant master plan.

I love how everyone is criticizing the important things.

[QUOTE=RIPBILLYMAYS;50742819]Honestly I don't think any of the accused copied off of another; they're just snippets of common phrases. Even in Melania's case I can't think of how I would've rearranged the word order in a logical or impact fashion. On top of that English isn't even her primary language.[/QUOTE] except she didnt write the speech, and the speech writer has said they read past convention speeches for inspiration.

[QUOTE=Sableye;50743354]except she didnt write the speech, and the speech writer has said they read past convention speeches for inspiration.[/QUOTE] Where is this information from?

It's all plagiarism off the treatises on the rights of dinosaurs and men by ungerbunga, the third of his cave in the year 19,853BC and it really upsets me that his revolutionary words are parroted to this day.

Most of my posts are plagiarised from reddit

5 words anyone could say <> an entire paragraph almost 1to1

That's a huge stretch. Melania's speech took entire paragraphs, almost word-for-word, from Michelle's speech. This is just a few words, and a common set of them. I'd like to go on the record as stating that I don't care at all about Melania's supposed plagiarism. It's moderately embarrassing for the Trump campaign, and the speechwriter should probably be fired, but it's really not a big deal at all and I don't understand why everybody is blowing this out of proportion.

[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;50744121]and the speechwriter should probably be fired[/QUOTE] According to the campaign, she wrote the speech herself with "as little help as possible."

I sincerely doubt that, but alright, I'll allow it. She should feel moderately embarrassed then, because she was caught plagiarizing. You don't accidentally pull entire paragraphs from somebody else's speech, you know? Either way, like I said, this really isn't a big deal beyond the minor amusement it might provoke. Anybody outraged over this, or by the accusation itself, is making mountains out of molehills.

Honestly, I don't see why anybody gives a fuck. It's a simple message that was given, regardless of how it was said, furthermore, the country would have been completely fine without it in the first place. I guarantee that all of the (potential) first ladies have been given all of their speeches by someone else who manages the campaign, they don't write their own words, they are given what to say. It's only because people hate trump that this has been dug up, even though michelle obama got away scott free with it because obama was well liked. People are sheep and whatever the media covers is what people are outraged about. This whole thing is so stupid.

[QUOTE=DiBBs27;50744248]Honestly, I don't see why anybody gives a fuck. It's a simple message that was given, regardless of how it was said, furthermore, the country would have been completely fine without it in the first place. I guarantee that all of the (potential) first ladies have been given all of their speeches by someone else who manages the campaign, they don't write their own words, they are given what to say. It's only because people hate trump that this has been dug up, even though michelle obama got away scott free with it because obama was well liked.[/quote] That's fine and all except she claimed she did write it herself. And the First Lady is a reflection of her husband, the man running for President whose integrity has been challenged on a number of occasions already. [QUOTE=DiBBs27;50744248]People are sheep and whatever the media covers is what people are outraged about. This whole thing is so stupid.[/QUOTE] [url=http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/wake_up_sheeple.png]Cue XKCD?[/url]

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;50744265]That's fine and all except she claimed she did write it herself. And the First Lady is a reflection of her husband, the man running for President whose integrity has been challenged on a number of occasions already. [url=http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/wake_up_sheeple.png]Cue XKCD?[/url][/QUOTE] Love that commic! Yea thats true, but do you think if someone gave her a script that she would be like "yeah somebody gave this to me to read". To be honest i think that would go over a hell of a lot worse. Look, these whole candidacy speech things are ALL marketing ploys. They are designed and put out by master PR agencies. I wouldn't think anything of it if the last 5 first ladies all had their speeches scripted for them. The fact is PR agencies know exactly what words get people riled up and excited, they study this shit. And they also know that people are indeed stupid and will forget a speech from 8 years ago. That leaves them the opportunity to just recycle the same shit over and over. Of course she is going to say she wrote it herself. I wouldn't believe shit that american media spews. Every single second you stare at CNN or FOX news you're being fed politically charged bullshit to generate a strong political opinion based off SOMEONE'S bias. People should know this. The whole presidential race is a sham.