Me Thinks

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Plagiarism - The Hindu

I didn't want to give the title the Hindu plagiarism. I am against terms and people who use such terms as "hindu rate of growth" when they talk about Indian economy. So I had to rearrange the words a bit for the title. Whoever coined that term "Hindu rate" is a stupid person!! I digress....
Nina writes about how Gauthaman Bhaskaran plagiarises reviews from NY Times. Originality is the art of remembering what is said and forgetting who said it. I seriously don't remember who said that though I will remember the verse forever. :-) And its true in the case of GB.
Growing up in Chennai, The Hindu daily is like a family member for us. I am sure it is for many chennai-ites. "Read Hindu to improve your english", "Wow! He solves hindu crossword! Must be super-intelligent", "Advertise in the Hindu and your daughter would get married soon", "What Mr. X is dead?! I didn't see his name in the obituary column in the Hindu!" We all have heard these sentences. Over the years, I realized that Hindu is anti-national. Its a very left-leaning daily. And so is NY Times. NYT very popular and if it says a book is good, the book sells like hot cakes. Hindu has that kind of influence in the South at least. NY Times is as anti-US as Hindu is anti-India. Nina wonders "How could Hindu tolerate this?". Poor Nina, where else could GB have lifted it from? NYT and The Hindu share the same idealogy, so chill and stop keeping the Hindu on a pedestal.

10 Comments:

Blogger Kaps said...

I still remember the Tuesday "Know your English" columns. As u rightly said, The Hindu wields enormous power in South.

More the English press, the vernacular papers have much higher circulation and they influence the electorate to a large extent.

9:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm not sure what you mean when you call Hindu or the NYT anti-national? Do you mean left-leaning?

In any case, it's not a question of inclination, it's about good journalism and lazy journalism, isn't it?

2:03 AM  
Blogger D LordLabak said...

Kaps, I was a regular reader of the "Know your English" and "Between you and Me" columns. They were good.
"Lazy journalism" sounds very forgiving. I dont think such acts should be forgiven or patronised.

9:00 AM  
Blogger Nina said...

Er, what's ideology got to do with film criticism?

12:05 PM  
Blogger D LordLabak said...

Nina, I agree with you on condemning GB's act but my write-up is not on him. Its about how Hindu need not be kept on a pedestal.

1:15 PM  
Blogger Ajay said...

'when u copy one man's work, it's plagiarism; when u copy ten ppl's work, it's research'

12:56 AM  
Blogger APAM NAPAT said...

If you say leaning to the left is anti-India then it is. But in a day when everything is globalised and privatised. Aren't we re-inviting East India Company from the 1700s. And playing devil's advocate should not be considered anti/pro something. They have been consistently taking an anti-Govt. stand against BJP and Congress. In today's world, I don't see anything wrong in that because we have diversified sources at our disposal.

2:38 PM  
Blogger D LordLabak said...

Rajesh, from what I've seen they are anti right-wingers. And when they are neutral, they are anti-India.

12:20 PM  
Blogger APAM NAPAT said...

To continue this further,let me know how you would classify BJP, Congress and at local level DMK and ADMK. All as right wing?

8:23 PM  
Blogger ashok said...

whatever u say..Hindu has become an addiction to so many down south...Ive seen my grandfather go mad if Hindu doesnt come on day!

9:19 AM  

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