Idea Thief

By Tim “xrugger” Stebbins for The Burning Platform

Plagiarism is the gentle word we use to describe an act of theft. It is the innocuous sounding term we use to describe an extremely ugly act. Plagiarism is stealing pure and simple. The actions of one person stealing another’s very thoughts and ideas and passing them off as their own has got to be one of the most venal, pathetic things a person can do. Those who struggle to express what they believe in a creative way, and make it accessible to others, do so because they are trying to find their own voice and have it be distinguishable above the general cacophony of opinion that clogs the internet. Every writer is obligated to respect the efforts of others that are doing the same. To rob the mind of another writer is a despicable act not to be taken lightly by the writing community. It is certainly not to be taken lying down by the victim.

Now, I am telling you the above in order to tell you this. I have been contributing to The Burning Platform off and on for a couple of years now. Many out there have been very kind in their comments and appreciative of my efforts. Not a few others who have found many of the things I write objectionable. That’s fair. I cannot, and do not, expect to please everyone and my skin has thickened somewhat since I started publicly expressing my thoughts. However, one thing I will not abide is the misrepresentation of what I write or the outright theft of my words and ideas. I have defended myself against the former. I intend to defend myself against the latter.

Many of the denizens of The Burning Platform will likely remember a dust-up I had with a writer named Justin O. Smith some time ago over the issue of plagiarism. Kill the White Man / or South Africa’s White Genocide He had very obviously and blatantly plagiarized my work How Long is Long Enough? and found himself banned from The Burning Platform because of his actions. Well, Mr. Smith is at it again.

Today I read an article of his posted to “American Thinker.” live_free_or_die_and_government_gun_buybacks  The publishing date is 09/21/2019. Below is a paragraph excerpted from that article:

Our right to keep and bear arms shouldn’t even be up for debate, that time having long passed. No deluge of facts and statistics will change the minds of the Democratic communists and their radical brown shirts, since their true desire is to render the law abiding Americans defenseless and unable to defend our families, our property, our communities and ourselves and stand in the breach in defiance of their numerous depradations and treason, while they reduce everything and everyone to the common denominator of poverty and misery and nothing more than serfs, who are forced to surrender to their socialist super-state, the Leviathan. These radicals absolutely will try to take our weapons.

Keep in mind the publishing date of 21 September.

The most recent essay of mine posted to “The Burning Platform” is Red Line  It was published on 17 September. Below is a paragraph from that essay:

It is pointless to debate with those who worship the state about the issue of “gun control,” or the current euphemism of “gun violence.” That time has passed. No deluge of facts and statistics will alter their view. No argument will persuade them to alter their course. Their stated intent is to remove the means of resistance from the homes and hands of the law abiding. Their desire is to render defenseless those who would stand in the breach in defiance of their depredations. They mean to reduce everything and everyone to one miserable level of existence, leaving us bereft of any means to raise our heads above the level of a serf. They mean to deny us the ability to defend our families, our communities, our property, and ourselves. They mean to have our weapons.

As you can plainly see, Justin O. Smith has plagiarized my work once again. It is sad really. Not only does he blatantly plagiarize, he does not even do it very well. The entire essay at “American Thinker” is replete with many other examples of this miscreant’s thievery.

Obviously, Mr. Smith is a great fan of my writing and to him I would say directly, “Mr. Smith, I will happily  pay for some creative writing courses for you if it would help you stop stealing my ideas and words. There must be a community college out there in Murfreesboro that offers such courses. It must be difficult to go to the well of original thinking and come up empty so often that you feel compelled to pilfer words and ideas from my mind.”

At any rate, I have emailed “American Thinker” to express my concerns. I have also contacted Mr. Smith’s newspaper “The Rutherford Reader” once again. Justin O. Smith is a serial plagiarist and a loathsome example of much that is wrong in the culture at large and the opinion/blogging business specifically. I desired to submit this essay to Mr. Quinn both for personal reasons (Mr. Smith obviously read my work on TBP before he stole it), and to shine a light on what I see as a symptom of the intellectual dishonesty and moral rot of those who would seek to influence the opinions of others. I invite anyone interested to read and compare the linked essays and decide for themselves on the veracity of what I am saying.

Since I am relatively new to publicly expressing my thoughts, I would also welcome any advice or commentary by more experienced writers on how to deal with this sort of thing. Is there a legal remedy I might pursue? I await your thoughts Dear Readers. (I stole the “Dear Readers” thing from Doug Lynn’s most recent post). Thanks Doug! See how easy that is Justin!

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