nashoernchen

it is our differences which make us dearer to one another

it is never too late to start loving

the enemy is not the foreigner, but the ones who tell you to hate the foreigner

everyone should have food, shelter, and work

everything is a yin and yang metaphor if you try hard enough

In the wake of some things I’ve been dealing with lately, I feel compelled to say this: not everything is plagiarism. Using the same font is not plagiarism. Writing in a similar style is not plagiarism. Being inspired by another writer, admiring their work, or unknowingly arriving at similar imagery is not plagiarism. Art is, and always has been, a long conversation between creators. We read each other, we move one another, and pieces of what we love inevitably find their way into our own work.

That is very different from repeatedly taking someone’s original ideas, wording, concepts, or creative identity and presenting them as your own.

I worry that we’ve become too comfortable using words like copying and plagiarism whenever we see resemblance. If we throw those accusations around carelessly, they begin to lose their meaning and severity. Then, when genuine plagiarism does happen to someone, it becomes easier to dismiss, minimise, or overlook. Nuance matters. Discernment matters. Similarity does not automatically equal theft.

As writers and artists, I think we owe one another both protection and generosity: protecting creators when real harm is being done, and extending grace when what we’re seeing is simply influence, coincidence, or the natural ways art echoes itself across people.