Brian63
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2001
- Messages
- 1,639
- Location
- Michigan
- Gender
- Male
- Basic Beliefs
- Freethinker/atheist/humanist
Think of any proverbial sayings or powerful expressions you heard in life that have inspired your attitude. Now think of the person who said those. When we publish those remarks in public or even just think about them privately, should it matter who the actual person was that said them? Does that change their value? No. It would be committing a genetic fallacy to evaluate a claim on its origin rather than its own merits. The original person who spoke that expression may have been a respected and public figure or an anonymous nobody on the internet or anybody else. Regardless of who it was, the value of the claim should be evaluated on its own and not by its author.
At the same time though, it seems awkward to NOT cite the author of a good phrase when also repeating their phrase. There is an urge to give people a quasi-copyright for any expression that they created, so that others cannot pretend to have come up with it themselves. If the person is a well-renowned and respected person, then citing that person will also help in marketing the message than if it was an unknown source or a disrespected person.
So there are those 2 competing forces that I see when good expressions are given and then the author of them is also cited. It presents a dilemma about which behavior we should favor or disfavor. I lean towards the former, and not citing the author of an expression. Judge an expression based on its merits rather than on the person who authored that expression, and do not even cite their names.
Do you have thoughts on the matter?
At the same time though, it seems awkward to NOT cite the author of a good phrase when also repeating their phrase. There is an urge to give people a quasi-copyright for any expression that they created, so that others cannot pretend to have come up with it themselves. If the person is a well-renowned and respected person, then citing that person will also help in marketing the message than if it was an unknown source or a disrespected person.
So there are those 2 competing forces that I see when good expressions are given and then the author of them is also cited. It presents a dilemma about which behavior we should favor or disfavor. I lean towards the former, and not citing the author of an expression. Judge an expression based on its merits rather than on the person who authored that expression, and do not even cite their names.
Do you have thoughts on the matter?