As most readers of this blog are by now aware, a top YA blogger was caught plagiarizing, and the fallout has been significant. (Just Google “plagiarism” and “The Story Siren”).
I’d like to make three points about it, from my own point of view as a philosophy professor who specializes in feminist ethics, and as someone who does a good amount of clinical ethics work outside the academy:
(a) The important of the apology: I’ve seen some bloggers asking what the point is of an apology. Of course, no apology has the power to reverse time and undo the moral wrong that has been committed. But I don’t view ethics as a ledger you keep clean. Ethics is a way of being in community. The Story Siren’s plagiarism created rifts in the community. In particular, it damaged the trust on which the book blogging community is based. A good apology can help begin the process of moral repair. What we got from The Story Siren, beginning from the moment she asked her victims to keep quiet, continuing when she deleted her own plagiarism post, and then again when she reworded her own (already inadequate) second apology post, was the kind of apology that seeks to repair personal damage and restore personal social status, much like the celebrity and politician apologies we see on TV every week.
A restorative apology is not focused on the self, but on re-building community. Since The Story Siren appears to be moving on, business as usual, I doubt one is forthcoming. I’m sorry that she has opted not to take this opportunity for educating and strengthening the book blogging community. I won’t bore you with my idea of the elements such an apology would contain, but I will make a prediction based on my many years as an ethics consultant working with health care providers who have made medical errors: without a meaningful attempt to take responsibility and restore trust, The Story Siren will never fully recover. With them, she may become more admired and influential than ever.
(b) Blogging is writing: I’ve been distressed to see the many defenders of The Story Siren who have claimed that there is nothing new in blogging, so there’s no possibility of plagiarism. My own undergraduate students sometimes say the same. Putting aside the question of plagiarism and “common knowledge”, I see this as part of a general view of blogging that it is somehow not writing. My fellow academics will defend their blogs by talking about how it helps them “with their writing”, by which they mean … other writing: journal article writing, monograph writing, grant writing, etc. Authors will say blogging helps them “with their writing”, too. By “writing”, they mean novel writing, short story writing.
But blogging IS writing. It may not be the same kind of writing as writing a novel or a journal article, but it is writing. I’m sorry that so many YA bloggers think so little of what they do. It’s as if, to some of them, creating blog posts is like taking a piss. You’ve got to go, and it just flows naturally. But that’s not my experience as either a creator or reader of blog posts. I see bloggers talking about how they are wrestling with a difficult post, editing a review for the tenth time, killing themselves trying to make sure their tone and words are appropriate for their post. Even The Story Siren’s “apology” post nods to the effort book blogging takes by making reference to the “pressure” she was under.
When I look at the book blogging community (by which I mean everyone who writes about books), by and large, I see a hard working, reflective, self-aware group of writers.
(c) Women and moral autonomy: Perhaps the most distressing facet of this whole thing is the tendency to characterize legitimate ethical questions and well-grounded moral judgment as jealousy, hatred, pettiness, or some other selfish and nonrational phenomenon. I have seen the same thing happen in the romance community. I think I’m uniquely situated given that my main job is teaching the history of ethical theory, and my other job is to help manage ethical conflicts in a large hospital, so I’d like to share what this looks like to me.
The history of Western moral philosophy, as diverse as it is in other respects, is, by and large, a history in which women are absent. Beginning well over two thousand years ago, and continuing through to the twentieth century, moral philosophers have claimed that women cannot be moral agents for a variety of reasons including their powerful emotions, their weak wills, their inability to grasp rational moral principles, their biology, and their social roles as caretakers. A moral agent, by the way, doesn’t just take morally praiseworthy and blameworthy action, but also makes moral judgments about other moral agents. I’m not going to throw quotes at you, but before you dismiss them for being philosophers, recall that these men, Aristotle, Aquinas, Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, etc., are products of societies which largely agreed with them.
I wish I could say that the opinion that women aren’t fit to identify ethical issues and make moral judgments — that is, act as full participants in the moral community — is a relic of the past. But I can’t, because I’ve seen too many times the way women’s legitimate ethical concerns are brushed off as … jealousy, hatred, pettiness, or some other selfish and nonrational phenomenon. How else to explain that when a male physician refuses to perform a procedure he thinks is unsafe or unwise, he is applauded for his conscientious objection, but when a female nurse attempts to do the same, she is reprimanded? The physician gets kudos, while the nurse “needs more education.” I’ll spare you many, many variations on that theme I have seen in my career.
My point is that the very ability to name something as an ethical issue, and to hold others accountable for it, requires a certain amount of social power. Historically, and at present, some groups have less of that power than others. I’m sorry to see some women participate so eagerly in a tradition that casts women as morally stunted, selfish children, unable to think past their own out of control emotions.
Thanks to everyone who has written in the past week on this.
Well worth the extra cent.
And a great response to the defenders saying, “But she APOLOGIZED, what more can she do?!” When she never really acknowledged any wrong doing (other than hurting her loyal, devoted readers) and has since gone on pretending it never happened.
Thank you so much for this post. All three of your points are valid and spot on. As someone who started a blog to hone my writing skills and works hard on all of my posts (as do my co-posters), I’m offended by the idea that blogging isn’t “real” writing.
Not to be catty, but The Story Siren’s reviews are pretty short and quick. They’re still real writing, totally, and I wouldn’t argue otherwise. But I wonder if her fans are more impressed by her publisher contacts, photos with authors, and huge pile of ARCs than her work and that’s why they don’t care so much about what she writes, only that she gives away books. I’m honestly curious as to their mindset because if someone I admired was caught plagiarising, I wouldn’t defend them and I sure as heck wouldn’t send hate mail to the victims that person stole from. But I digress.
Your third point is probably the best. I’ve seen a staggering about of posts about how it’s it’s just Frazzled Women Trying to Take Each Other Down. Which.. sort of blows my brain, to be honest. Gender has no issue here, and it’s amazing that the fact that it’s women is undermining the actual issue which is that plagiarism is wrong.
/rambling long comment
Like Tori above I particular appreciate your last point (though really, this whole post is great). It has always bothered me, for similar reasons, to see how often thoughtful discussions of issues relevant to blogging get dismissed as “drama”.
Thanks Jessica for this thoughtful and insightful analysis not only of the situation but of the issues that arise from it for us as members and participants in an online community of communities of interest.
I think the behaviour in this particular instance of Kristi and her minions has been awful and I can’t separate it in my mind from the range of YA, romance & m/m blogging and author issues we have seen over the past year. Your point about social power and who has it now resonates for me as the thing that is being tussled over in these situations in addition to the triggering event.
I also think your point Tori re the fuss about plagiarism and writing not mattering to some Story Siren readers because they value other things that the Story Siren blog gives them access to is important as well. It means I understand where they are coming from better even if I still think their actions have been appalling.
“creating blog posts is like taking a piss.” Nothing is farther from the truth. My post I wrote yesterday on blogger plagiarism took me 3 hours to write where I did non stop editing and rewriting until I felt it was ready to go live.
Bloggers take pride in their posts whether it be a review, a social commentary or even posting a video or a pictures.
Thank you so much for these three cents, which have given me a lot of food for thought. The way community works (or doesn’t) in this whole affair has surprised me. I teach first-year English, so I do a lot of teaching about academic honesty, proper citation, and how to avoid plagiarism. And yet, I pretty much catch at least one plagiarist every term. I have long ago given up wasting energy on taking this as a personal moral affront (how could they do this to me? How stupid do they think I am?). But I have thought that a sense of belonging to and being responsible to a community would help reduce plagiarism. I went to a small undergrad institution with a strong Honor Code tradition and very little cheating. I teach at a big commuter community college where many students have little attachment to each other or the college. They’re just passing through, so why would they feel an ethical obligation to uphold our standards? (of course they should, but I think many don’t). But the Story Siren episode shows some of the dark sides of attachment to a community. If Diehm had plagiarized from someone inside the YA blogging community, I wonder if the response would have been the same? I wonder how her own status within her community influenced her actions?
Since my other work responsibility right now is policy-making, and I’m about to start work on revising our Student Appeals policy, your points about reparative responses are really thought-provoking. Typically students are only sorry about being caught. They face a penalty and move on in one way or another. I wonder how if and how we could treat this as more of a learning experience and give them an opportunity to take some kind of reparative action (this can happen informally, of course, when an instructor gives a student an opportunity to redo an assignment, but if the case is egregious and it gets into the formal system, it’s all about punishment). Sorry for rambling on!
Fantastic post, and I agree, the last point very much needed to be articulated by someone with your experience and knowledge base.
I was also very interested in your first point from a recovery standpoint; one of the important principles of twelve step work is that an apology (or amends) must not be self-seeking. You were thinking of recovery of the community, not of the individual, but (unsurprisingly) they’re interconnected.
Thank you for taking the time to write this post. While all three “cents” are great food for thought, I want to say that I especially appreciate your first point. It seems to me that a true apology would acknowledge that harm was done.
Count me as another who really enjoyed this post – not only for the points it made, but for how lucidly it was written. I feel like my brain has been exfoliated (in a good way) when I read commentary like this.
Thanks for clarifying this situation. Your point about community is one I haven’t come across before, but it makes perfect sense. I wish I’d had it as a reference point those many years ago when I taught high school language arts. The plagiarists, though not plentiful, were always sorry (and sometimes embarrassed) about being caught, but that was it. Showing them how their actions hurt the school community would have been a helpful teaching tool.
Terrific post. Thank-you, Jessica.
As one of the many who wonder why the apology matters, thank you–and yes, that’s exactly why they don’t matter to me in these cases. These are non-apologies which, whether by cold-blooded design or by chance, have the effect of making the perpetrator into a victim. It is not surprising, then, that those who lurv them go on the hunt for the meanies making the plagiarist feel bad.
A sincere apology…well, I’ve yet to see it.
But it is your third point that is most important, in my eyes: how often we undermine ourselves by ‘proving’ the men right in their assessment of our capacities–or lack thereof.
Thank you.
This is a great post, thanks for weighing in.
This article is in my today’s paper http://www.dailylife.com.au/life-and-love/real-life/crime-and-punishment-20120427-1xper.html it seems to say that if I apologise you have to forgive me which makes it all about the ‘me’ and misses the restorative nature of apologising. Interestingly the author does canvas forgiving too easily (as in = doormat) all this suggests to me that there is a space that we need to stay with between the apology and forgiveness where that reparation can take place and that to rush or force an apology or demand forgiveness takes us away from the possibility of this.
I am now vaguely remembering a reflection by Ekaterin in Lois McMaster Bujold’s ‘Komarr’ on the function of forgvieness in her horrible marriage to Tien as being something that they hurried towards in an effort to avoid the issues/feelings aroused by the situation.
Great post! I agree that The Story Siren will not recover unless she makes amends. Her posts have failed on both levels for me (restorative and personal). Even if she never seeks to repair damages to the community by speaking out on behalf on the victims, she does herself a disservice by lying and trying to cover her tracks. I’ve heard that she is an aspiring author. Would a reputable YA publisher be willing to overlook this situation, as it stands? With her personal integrity and future in the business on the line, I can’t believe she isn’t coming completely clean.
To your third point, I really hate how I’ve come across several people who have derided this issue as people simply being petty. Plagiarism is a huge issue in the digital age and is most definitely an issue that deserves serious conversation. There are definitely some people who have turned this in to a petty sort of thing but the majority of people are upset for a good reason. No matter who plagiarizes, plagiarism is bad.
As the book blogging community, I believe that we have the responsibility to our readers to hold each other accountable no matter how high in the food chain we are. It can only make our community more honorable, reliable, and add to our integrity as a whole.
Thank you for providing the wide view, and putting the whole issue into a larger context. It elevates all discussions, I think, and is much appreciated.
Very well said. Not just for what it says about this case in particular but about how we act in general as people and bloggers and why those things matter. Thank you for posting. I hope I can become a better blogger (aka. writer) out of all of this.
A really great post that helped me clarify a lot of my gut reaction the Story Siren case. I’ve always felt that a real, genuine apology was vital. Even in a situation where it wouldn’t change any outcome. It is as necessary for all parties involved, as well as the community as a whole.
But your third point is the one I will carry away with me. I dislike the “mean girl” dismissal of these complaints. I never put together the historical context of such statements. I’ll be a lot less tolerant of those dismissals in the future.
@Tori: Yeah, I worried that point about blogging as writing might come off as too Pollyannish, because god knows there is some shit blog writing out there. But the idea that blogging is such a degraded form of writing that no one can possibly claim any originality when they do it just seemed so wrong to me.
@Liz Mc2: Yes, definitely, it’s easier to make targets out of people you see as “other” in some way. It seems clear the targets were chosen specifically because they were unlikely to have the same readers as TSS.
@Merrian: I think apologizing is a process, and both the wrongdoer and the wronged have to take part in it. What that process looks like depends on the situation.
@Meg @ A Bookish Affair:
Yes, this is how I feel as well.
Thanks very much to everyone who commented.
The aspect of this whole affair that has shocked me the most is not actually the plagiarism itself: it has been the response to TSS being ‘outed’.
As you say, there has not been a proper apology given and this has allowed some people to believe that the victims have behaved in an unreasonable manner. Through the wonderful world of Twitter I found this post at Smart Bitches, which includes some truly offensive emails that have been sent to the victims by TSS supporters. They show how this has become personality driven, and that to criticize TSS is akin to being rude to Mother Theresa. Although most of these emails show how ignorant their writers are, the very fact that TSS has not made a call for her followers to stop this behavior speaks volumes about her real intentions within the blogging community.
It seems that she sees blogging as a way to amass a following of adoring fans, who will support her no matter how poor her behavior. This strikes me as very strange. Surely, if you are blogging about books then it should all be about the books, not about how many acolytes you can attract to your own cult of personality? One of the comments on the post I linked to suggested that TSS is wallowing in her victim status and is actually fueling the backlash against the very people that she stole from. If this is true, I suppose we can expect a half-hearted plea for everyone to *sob* stop talking about the whole thing now in a few days’ time.
The only positive thing that I can find in this entire mess is that so many people in the community have made an open stand against her behavior.
This, right there, is what has soured on a big chunk of the Romance community.
Thanks for the great article, Jessica.
Thank you for this fantastic post! All three of your points were spot on and I hope many others have the opportunity to read your thoughts on this subject. I found your points particularly interesting given your background and profession.
I quote Sue CCCP, above: “One of the comments on the post I linked to suggested that TSS is wallowing in her victim status and is actually fueling the backlash against the very people that she stole from. If this is true, I suppose we can expect a half-hearted plea for everyone to *sob* stop talking about the whole thing now in a few days’ time.” If that’s not petty, I don’t know what the word means. And as a strong woman who supports other women, it would still be hard to convince me that while a large part of the response to the issue is certainly just, another part isn’t the validation people get from pointing out another’s wrongs, regardless of gender.
@Jodi N.:
Yes, of course you are right, and if I were a true friend of TSS, that would enrage me. I completely understand that. But how does focusing on the naysayers repair the trust that was broken?
If I were The Story Siren, I would be listening for the voices of my loyal readers, and concentrating on the strong messages they are sending about my behavior. I would be asking myself what I can do to win back their trust, and to move the community forward. I would not be focusing on the nasty behavior of some subgroup, because that’s not my challenge right now, and because there is little I can do about them. My challenge would be to focus on ways to really hear the concerns of my readers who are disappointed in me and angry with me, and to make sure they know they have been heard, individually. To let them know I understand — or am trying to understand, to the best of my ability — their anger (by not closing comments, by responding to comments on my blog, on Twitter, and on their blogs). I would open myself up to their questions and engage in actual dialogue with them rather than making one-way pronouncements. I would not take down my post on plagiarism, for example, but re-post it, and reflect openly on how right I was then, and how and why I went wrong. My challenge would be to ask, sincerely, what do you need from me right now?
Nobody can be reduced to one bad choice, and frankly, if lifting a few blog posts is the worst thing TSS has done, she’s doing pretty great. Every one of us makes makes bad choices, all the time, and my heart goes out to her that hers had to be made in front of thousands of people. I just think it would have been better if she used this terrible experience to remind everyone of the many positive qualities — the ability to listen to and understand her audience, first and foremost — that have made her such a popular blogger.
[...] nuanced and well-written discussion of the fallout of the scandal, read Read, React, Review’s My Three Cents on the Story Siren Plagiarism Case. These two blogs offer an intelligent and concise recap of what went [...]
[...] ReadReactReview and Smart Bitches on the Story Siren blog plagiarism case. [...]
Well written Jessica. I agree with your ideas. I don’t understand why people are so opposed to a form of apology that, like you mentioned, truly admits defeat and attempts to repair the community. To too many people an apology of this sort is an admittance of defeat that is, for some reason, unacceptable. As though by admitting defeat you will be lessening your own worth to the community, in some way, so an apology is simply political and defensive. I believe that the truth is actually opposite of this, that by making yourself vulnerable to the community you allow people to judge you, scold you, and, as I believe will usually and eventually happen, forgive you. Without this process people are left unsatisfied, feeling victimized, and begrudged. Do you agree with this? Is this a social process that is common in many facets of life?
Beautiful post.
Here’s a cliche: “a teachable moment”. But I think today (21-May-2012) The Story Siren wrote an apology that was crystal clear, as far as I could tell. She self-labelled herself a plagiarist and explained why. It seems that this week’s TSS guest blog posts will have different perspectives on being plagiarized.
I see this as a helpful outcome, helpful in the sense that the subject is being addressed, not ignored.
@Janet W: Yet she still hasn’t taken responsiblity for the ensuing attacks on her victims – her silence gave tacit permission and endorsed the poor behaviours. Nor did she do anything to contextualise this week of posts until pushed to do so. Too late and a dollar short I think.
[...] own reply to Ms Sorenson took me back to RRRJessica’s awesome post on the scandal (seriously, go and read the whole thing; it’s wonderful and full of win. The [...]
@Janet W: The problem is that her post accepts responsibility for the plagiarism in a half-hearted way: she is still trying to wriggle out of full responsibility. Her explanation of events still tries to play the ‘I didn’t really know I was plagiarizing’ card. I find the most telling aspect of the post, and the most disappointing, is what is NOT there. At no point does she actually apologize to the people that she stole from. At no point does she express regret for all the aggravation and grief that this incident has given them. Finally, as Merrian says, she has yet to express disapproval of the hate campaign that was launched against the victims of this whole sorry affair.
As far as I can see, she is trying to say ‘Sorry’ without actually doing precisely that. Without a clear and direct apology, the affair will not be resolved, just as Jessica stated above. When I saw the links to her post yesterday I hoped that it would be a constructive end to the mess, but I am not sure that it is sufficient.
@Janet W: I’m sorry but I still don’t see the true apology from Kristi Diehm. Particularly when she hasn’t contacted any of the people she stole from, directly, to apologize. One of them, B of Beautifully Invisible, has a great post on why all of the so-called apologies have so far fallen so terribly short of the mark: The Art of the (Non) Apology. I heartily suggest everyone who read the original posts read this one too.
Oh and also, the teachable moments? Today’s quest post ends with the following paragraph:
If that doesn’t raise some eyebrows…
I think some of my thoughts are a little different than either AL’s or Sue’s. I actually liked the post Janet is referring to, and I thought it was a big leap forward. I also think it is possible — and fairly common — to plagiarize ignorantly (but not excusably. There is such a thing as culpable ignorance).
But, ultimately, the “plagiarism education” week has been a disaster thanks to the hairbrained posts and lack of context. If this gal has confidantes and advisers, she needs to fire them immediately.
@Jessica: Of course, you are right that the post did some good things, such as admitting to the plagiarism in a straightforward statement. I think my reaction above was more about me being disappointed that this was a missed opportunity. The post could have been the full and comprehensive apology that was needed to end the debate and the series of guest posts could have been very educational and helpful to many people. I haven’t read any of the guest posts, but it sounds like I should avoid them. What a shame!
[...] own reply to Ms Sorenson took me back to RRRJessica’s awesome post on the scandal (seriously, go and read the whole thing; it’s wonderful and full of win. The [...]
@Sue CCCP: I see what you meant. thanks for clarifying! and yes, stay away from the guest posts.