Copying. Something everyone does, something that makes life easier. For the copier and the copier only.
When I was small (a little more than I am now), there used to be a thing at school, Copycat, and it still exists. Not copy crow, not copy cow, only Copycat. If I drew a house, my friend would draw one too and then I'd call her a copycat. It was a kind of an insult, resulting in not many people copying each other. But now, copying others has practically become a way of life.
Why copy? Because you like it and want yours to be similar. So that you don't have to take any efforts of your own. So that yours will get the praise theirs' gets. So that you will be praised. So that your life will become easier and thus effortless.
Copying one-word answers in a test is one thing because the answer is meant to be the same for everyone, but copying essays? Copying open ended questions' answers? Why not be a little creative and do something of your own? No, it will take too many efforts. Why copy when everything is ready for you?
hope you got the meaning of these two pictures!!
The copy-pasting done at school or college is fine [for some, not me] but when things go ahead of that, it's not so fine anymore. As a girl, I completely agree that I would love to have the same style of clothing as another girl's. I might copy the style, but not the clothes. There are two reasons why one would do that.
- They like the style and think it would look good on them
- They think people like the style, and everyone would say that it looks good on them.
Copying is usually done for the sake of saving time and efforts and not letting the brain work too much, but it is also done in a great proportion for the sake of the peers' thoughts. Peer pressure again. I think I should name the whole blog as "Stuff somehow related to peer pressure" But then again, it is a fair point. I might copy a girl by tying high ponytails instead of low ones because I like it, but someone else in my place might do that so that people will appreciate them just as much as they appreciate the said girl.
The funny thing is, these copying people don't admit the fact that their copying something on purpose. According to them, they and the person they've copied are just having very similar thoughts or they had no idea even though were literally plagiarizing someone else's work.
Plagiarism also happens to the greatest of people. They cope with it in an amazing way I'm hoping to learn at some point. The biggest of companies have their marvelous ideas copied in the blink of an eye, and they react to it positively. If someone copies them, what they've done is really good. But what if the plagiarism goes up at an alarming rate? What if all their credit is being stolen by others? I would wholeheartedly love to talk with someone who has been through that.
I've given the post the title 'Lifecopiers' because there are people who do that. Google is currently telling me that the word 'lifecopiers' is not in its dictionary and is suggesting that I put a space between 'life' and 'copiers' but no way I'm listening to that. It's real, copying everything about others, their style, their diet, their skills and talents, everything! In short, copying their lifestyle! There are some people who don't just select a specific target, they obtain something from everyone they meet, but not in an inquisitive sort of way. Soon, they have nothing left of their own; they are a completely different person, having lost their own true identity and become something they've pressured themselves to become.
As for those who make copying others a routine habit, I feel as if things are going in the wrong direction. There is this one point in everyone's life when they are completely alone, no one to help them. Many facing the same issue as they are, many knowing the solution, but none helping each other. For the ones who copy everything, there is a chance, okay, a huge chance that they will fail in the task. Miserably.
You should learn to do something that makes you, you. That gives you your identity. May it be singing, or some sport or knowing a lot of facts about a particular topic. And if you ask me, we are already unique and have our very own one-of-a-kind personalities. And we should let them be ours and let the others' keep their own personalities to themselves. We should learn good traits, not copy them. There is a huge difference between learning and copying and we should understand it.
Basically, it's okay to copy the good traits and habits, but it's not the best choice to copy the lifestyle for the sake of appreciation and credit. The next time you copy something without asking the person, think about what you'll feel if that happened to you. And even if you do copy, leave a share of the credit for the person you copied it from.
And through this post, I have expressed myself and even vented a fair bit of my anger but in kinder words. I feel as if I'm writing a little too much then necessary for a post this simple, so I suppose I'll just stop now!
Comments
Post a Comment