all-encompassingly

keeping with our “idiot” theme….

my radio was tuned to 104.3 (“K-BIG 104”) in LA a week ago, where, commenting on katie couric’s tough interview* on the harvard sophomore, a writing expert said she was disappointed with our tendency in america to “gang up” on people when they’re down.

i had to laugh. plagiarism may not be a big deal at harvard, where 90% of students graduate “with honors,” but this girl signed a contract worth half a million bucks at age 17 to write two kids books. reportedly, over 40 passages in her work are taken directly from books by several other authors (not just megan mccafferty, as has been the focus of the story).

viswanathan’s excuse? “a photographic memory” and “internalizing” books she read in the past.

the reaction by couric and others isn’t uncalled for. the young author messed up a $500,000 book deal by breaking the number one college rule (”don’t plagiarize”). the media reaction isn’t some kind of mean “ganging up” — it’s a juicy news story.
like ashlee simpson before her, kaavya has made the career-killing mistake of being a near-total fake.

*i haven’t seen the interview. it is available at msnbc.com. i did, however, read the transcript. see [1] and [2]