(German defence minister) Guttenberg Seeks to Wait Out Plagiarism Scandal

Source: Spiegel Online International

German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg announced on Friday that he was temporarily dropping the "doctor."

German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said on Friday he would temporarily relinquish his "doctor" title in the wake of accusations that he plagiarized entire passages of his dissertation. But his attempts to deflate the growing scandal may ultimately fall short.

The Internet never sleeps. And neither, it would seem, does one of the web's newest pages. Since it went online on Thursday, the site (German only), a Wiki devoted to examining the Ph.D. dissertation of Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg for yet more instances of extensive borrowing and inadequate citation, has been overrun with contributors. As of early Friday morning, fully 76 passages had been identified as revealing uncanny similarities with previously published works.

Definitive proof of ill intent is still lacking, but one thing has become clear: accusations that Guttenberg plagiarized portions of his dissertation, first uncovered by the Süddeutsche Zeitung earlier this week, are not going away. And they could soon develop into a significant danger to the defense minister's political future.

The facts of the scandal would seem no longer to be in dispute. Large passages from Guttenberg's 2006 dissertation -- published in book form in 2009 -- were taken one-to-one from newspaper articles, presentations, journal entries and speeches without proper citation. Even the first two paragraphs of his introduction appear to have been borrowed from a 1997 article in the center-right daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Read more: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,746378,00.html

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As of this posting, the count has risen to 176 pages where volunteers have identified plagiarisms, on 44.78% of all pages of the "summa cum laude" dissertation:



Here is the Wiki providing the quotes:

http://de.guttenplag.wikia.com/wiki/Plagiate

I like the name of the Wiki.

Guttenberg

of his name. His academic title is gutted now, but to address him correctly, you should say:

Karl Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg

One of the core tenets of German society is that the achievement of any particular level in academia or even professional certification is a meaningful measure of competence and imparts authority and certain rights, privileges, and responsibilities. This can't be forgiven and has sent tongues waging like no other recent scandal.

That brings up another aspect of German culture, one which I don't want to emphasize too much as it is sometimes stereotyped, namely that inside every German grandmother is a policeman. The uninhibited finger-waving at someone who screws up is just too good to pass up.

And if that's not enough, it occurs at the worst possible time of year for a politician, Fasching, or Carnival. Since the time of Napoleon's occupation it's been the season for crude satire and merciless ridicule of politicians and self-important leaders. It's been a bit dull since Bush left, but now this year is bound to be good. Danke, und bye-bye Herr Guttengerg.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, some blasts from the recent Fasching past:

Thanks to the "Guttenplag" Wiki users who have now identified a staggering 286 plagiarisms in the thesis pretty much everybody with an education has realized by now that the defense minister is an impostor and a fraud. His party, the government coalition and - allegedly - the majority of the Germans still support this flake, though.

His current line of defense is "I didn't mean to do it, I must have lost oversight!"

Right. 286 times he "forgot" to mention that he lifted entire paragraphs from newspaper articles, handbooks, term papers and even studies he had commissioned the German Congressional Research Service to do.

http://gut.greasingwheels.org/

They quickly deprived him of his academic title, but he remains a prominent member of the Federal Government.

It may well be that in every German grandmother there is a policeman. More pertinently, though, we seem to be experiencing various aspects of the Hauptmann von Köpenick effect here. Adorn yourself with attributes of authority and the masses will follow you.