Margaret Wente's sincere flattery

I hate to say this, but as a professional editor I don't find these recent issues anywhere near her former offences, and more crimes of inadvertence  than of commission;

the writer Jesse Ausubel, whose bear anecdote MW adapted, told The Star that he did not see anything wrong -- his name was cited correctly, so people can find him and his writing;

he thought the reader who complained about Wente had "a prior dislike of Ms Wente and continues to dislike her".... so, an axe to grind?

Thanks, DaveW, for that reality check.

I thought we had been through this before:

Unionist, on Sept. 28, 2012 wrote:

[size=8]Please stop this bullshit. All of you. Thank you very much.[/size]

As for Wente, the "plagiarism" charge is questionable and in any event diversionary. It truly is analogous, in more than one way, to the attack on Bev Oda for her $16 glass of orange juice. In both cases: 1) The abuses they have committed against ordinary folks and progressive organizations is ignored ("that's not the subject we're discussing!"). 2) It's not accidental that both are women (I'm coming reluctantly to that conclusion). They're both "dispensable". They both allegedly show weakness in personal habits. Gee, what stereotypes does this fit?

Why should progressive people jump up and down about "plagiarism"? I can understand, in school, that we want to be able to assess and assist young people based on their real work. But Wente isn't trying out for exams or jobs, so far as I know. If someone is upset about seeing their words come out of her pen unattributed, let them plead their case. My problem with Wente, I repeat, is her siding with the most regressive forces in the world and mocking and trying to crush anything progressive. If she borrows from others to feed her onslaught, does that make her worse?

 

I repeat what I said then, and glad to recall that others agreed.

I'm truly disappointed that this diversionary bullshit about "plagiarism" is being revived.

swallow wrote:

lagatta wrote:

The article was just a stupid rightwing trope about how useless social programmes (such as public housing) are.

I har that all Wente's future columns will simply involve typing "stupid rightwing trope" over and over again. 

[url=https://ricochet.media/en/1121/why-hasnt-margaret-wente-been-fired-yet]A... Mitroveca: Why hasn’t Margaret Wente been fired yet?[/url]

You have described her articles well and that is the answer to the question in the headline. She gets paid to write right wing garbage and she knows it. She is likely bored to tears and that is why she plagiarizes so much. But then a job is a job.