That's not to excuse it and I know it can be serious but it may not always be as clear-cut as it seems.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]"The whole world is a circus if you know how to look at it."
Tony Randall, 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)[/center][/font][hr]

Stick a fork in this guy. His career is over.

Who was the Democrat a while ago who was accused of plagiarism and then turned out to have a brain tumor? I can't recall the details. Like 15 years or so ago.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]"The whole world is a circus if you know how to look at it."
Tony Randall, 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)[/center][/font][hr]

This may be the result of the "gotta get out the next big thing/publish or peril" phenomena that plagues the academic world ... especially, once they reach "rock star" celebrity.

. . . very thorough and revealing article. (instructive, as well)

Hope for the best for Chris.

Don't they know they'll get caught?

Maybe the temptation is just too great.

pressure to publish bigger and better stuff, once one has reached celebrity status.

I'm willing to believe The New Republic broke this story, but only after another main stream or a liberal organization picks it up and reports it, too.

are smeared these days. So I'll wait to hear Hedges version of the story.

And since the article was apparently not published, we can't judge for ourselves. I haven't read this link yet, but if it doesn't give specific examples, it isn't very credible.

I hope it is not true, and if that is the case, that Hedges sues them.

He's had a very long and distinguished career, Seems odd that he would do something so 'blatant', as they are claiming, knowing he has enemies just waiting to pounce on him.

nt

Do I need the sarcasm thingy?

Lovely.

Hedging your bets?

He could continue to generate exactly the same essays, but with proper credit given. That also contributes to the functioning of a community of writers, rather than a competitive jungle.

out of his way to give a weapon to his enemies, and he knows he and all journalists who have refuse to remain silent, have to be very careful.

I'll wait to hear his side of the story. This seems very 'convenient', another journalist smeared ....

..

and that this pride protects a man from deliberately stealing other people's ideas.

Somehow I get the feeling the author and his editors at The New Republic were high fiving each other in the background. That doesn't go over very well either.

This looks and smells like a hit piece, which will get lots of air time then once repudiated will go away, but the taint to Hedges will remain. Seems like a classic Rovian tactic. Has Hedges worked on anything that would have caused offense to Hughes? Something about this just does not seem kosher.

Were there not concerns about The New Republic maintaining its integrity when it was purchased by the billionaire Hughes?

Grant us the luxury, 'cause all our heroes are thieves."

-- D. Lowery

has been his bleak and morose fatalism. Consequently, I haven't been reading many of his recent essays (at least not closely). I'm already down enough from just reading regular news stories every day; his dark analyses can just be too much for me sometimes.

However, I do like him and I've admired him as a writer for quite a while. I'd hate for this revelation to be true, but if it is, he'll tumble down a few notches on my admiration scale.

As a relatively obscure writer myself, I believe there is no excuse for a writer of his caliber to do such a thing.

and I haven't really cared for him since. there are others who articulate his political views that i agree with who satisfy that need for me so i don't need to read him. his speeches/talks always seem like sermons.

all that being said, this piece seems pretty thorough as to the plagiarism proof, i am not sure what else needs to be added to make it more believable for some.

I respect Harper's, so if that's the source of these allegations in The New Republic, I'm be inclined to believe them. I'll see when I read the entire article later tonight, I suppose.

Also, regarding his preachy style: he has an MDiv from Harvard Divinity School, so that probably influenced it.

I've noted here that he came out of divinity school and, too often, his work reminds me of apocalyptic sermons. I did like his book that examined war as a force to give people's lives meaning, tho.

And he does have good things to say, often.

I'm sorry to hear about this situation, if true. Plagiarism in academia is a death sentence.

I've called him a neo-millenarian before. I like his early stuff, but over the past few years I think he's been more of a ranter than anything else.

Kind of ironic, then, for him to personally fail such a basic moral test: the integrity of not flat-out stealing the work of others.

Apparently he ripped off parts of his War book straight from Hemingway.... what kind of chucklehead thinks they're gonna get away with that, for long?

is only 'splainin'. For a journalist, the consequences of this type of negligence are never worth the time saved.

For musicians, however...like Stravinsky said, "A good composer does not imitate. He steals."

I mean a good 60% of rock and roll is based on a single Bo Diddley riff.

I'm shocked!!!!

But it could be a hit piece to shut him up or discredit him.

Dammit, I love Chris. Just read a piece on harassment that he would be perfect for. Dammit!

How very sad. He's a hero to many. An oracle, I thought.

certainly made clear that he started down this path because Hedges had plagiarized his wife's work...but on the surface it looks like the author has made a case. I stopped reading about 1/2 way through so hope there is something further that will legitimately refute these allegations but...I don't know.

My question after reading it and the sourcing the article gives... Is.....WHY NOW?

The sourcing does seem to show that Hedges many times didn't properly source when quoting...but the allegations go far back (his first book) and it seems odd that suddenly this breaks in the "New Republic." If Hedges has been plagiarizing for many years....surely this would have been big news before now.

Given the way the Left is constantly being thrown Under the Bus....it's best to be cautionary and wait to see how this plays out. Who might have a motive for trying to discredit Hedges and who runs with it the longest. I doubt Faux News even knows who Chris Hedges is...but our Neo-Lib, Third Way'ers certainly would find him a huge thorn in the side going forward.

Hard to judge...

....because Hedges had failed to attribute several paragraphs that were written by his wife.

So there is motive for the expose' and it seems that Harper's and perhaI'ps others have been have been aware of this tendency for some time now.

Something that does bother me is this writer's characterization of Hedges as angry and stubborn when accused. I don't know how to evaluate that, given the writer's personal focus on Hedges.

I'm a bit surprised that someone else wasn't assigned to write this. Someone more dispassionate.

per NR.

i heard a few weeks ago that he was working on this...we are admirers of Hedges and
don't want him hurt...or delivered into the hands of his many enemies on the right...i was kind of hoping Chris would back off...

HOWEVER...this guy is very liberal, very thorough, and very physically brave...who has worked tirelessly to build a paying career as a freelance journalist and i can't believe that he would risk it all to randomly smear an icon of the movement he believes in...

All personal motivation about his wife aside, i would be extremely surprised if this story isn't true...makes me sad, but doesn't alter my opinion of the good work Hedges has done...

He should of and could of been more careful!

Better to miss a deadline or forego a publication opportunity than take a bite of the ever-present apple. Per the article Hedges was given a chance to withdraw the Harpers MS but instead of taking the friendly advice he chose to make a stink. Bad move. He'll survive I'm sure as he's ever so convenient to the Koch crowd but many a more deserving reputation would be destroyed for far less. Doris Kearns comes to mind for example.

Matt Katz @mattkatz00 · 12h
So apparently I was plagiarized http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118114/chris-hedges-pulitzer-winner-lefty-hero-plagiarist … Here's my original series about Camden. Still relevant:
(http://www.philly.com/philly/hot_topics/69285007.html …)

because the magazine seemed thoroughly neoliberal to me: IIRC they were enthusiastically supporting the contras in Nicaragua. So it may be unfair, but I have an enduring prejudice against TNR

I liked Hedges very much as a writer five to ten years ago: in addition to being on the correct side politically, he had some unrtesolved tension, so he was not entirely predictable and was interesting to read. But Hedges has gone somewhat flat in recent years: one does not get much more than a formulaic anti-establishment view from him. And it is not a particularly interesting view, since it lacks new insights in current conditions that might hint at organizing angles and model strategies. More than anything, it seems to me that, after years as a war correspondent, Hedges has psychologically fallen into the frame of mind of someone hopelessly pinned down by hostile fire in the ruins of some city, waiting for an inevitable ugly death: he's exhausted, and he's the victim of his own too-accurate imagination

Some of the instances cited by the New Republic do look like plagiarism to me, and others seem a bit nit-picky. The real examples support my view that Hedges hasn't yet dealt with his exhaustion; the nit-picky examples merely suggest to me that the New Republic would like to discredit Hedges for his anti-establishment views

I think Hedges should take a break from expressing his own opinions for a while and try to redefine himself as a correspondent by choosing a handful of issues that interest him and trying to accurately report on those issues, by telling us (say) about particular labor struggles or environmental court cases or political campaigns or legislative fights. He should try to report to us what the people in the trenches think is happening and how they are trying to address current affairs. And he should discipline himself to be an accurate reporter, until he really begins to understand how successful movements work

Yes, I have a problem with Chris Hedges

I know that some on DU have great admiration for him. My problem with Hedges isn't so much his diagnosis- although I don't completely agree- it's his solution and his insistence that there is no meaningful difference between the parties.

His solution is to abandon our society completely and go live on communes. Quaint but not exactly achievable- or desirable for millions. And why does he prescribe this? Because he wants the entire system to go kaboom. He's what is known as a secular millenarian. He believe that the current order must be utterly destroyed in order to enable the rising of new age. Not really much different than other end timers.

He seems to me to be another facet of white male privilege. He is willing to sacrifice, the poor, the disabled, the elderly, minorities, LGBT folks and women in order to get to this new bright day.

I find that repugnant. Don't believe me? Read his articles at Truthdig.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021715647

and Bill McKibben has been far more effective at battling the industry than this guy wiebo.

I read this article closely and like so much of what Hedges' writes, I found discrepancies and a lack of evidence for his claims- I find that really irritating.

Hedges is trying too hard to make this guy into some monkey wrench gang type of hero. He minimizes a pretty despicable incident: the murder of a 16 year old girl. Just the way that Hedges characterizes this event is maddening- almost as if the "sons and daughters of oil workers roaring through the compound" was a justification for murder. fuck that.

and he makes claims such as Wiebo presenting the skull of horse who purportedly died from sour gas. He presents it as fact that the horse died of such, without presenting any evidence.

then, after extolling Wiebo and writing admiringly about these saboteurs, he informs us that Wiebo turned away from violence.

Hedges has a creepy old testament quality to him that I can't get beyond.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024119176#post3

I've written quite a bit about how I disagree with Hedges on DU, in particular, the apocalyptic flavor of his writing and his prescription for change.

This wouldn't surprise me in the least and I think Ketcham is credible.

The difference between plagiarism and reserarch.