To (ironically) copy the content from a LinkedIn post I wrote back in 2020…

I bloody love a good quote from Oscar Wilde.

What was it he said...

Imitation is the sincerest form of devious work-shy fuckery.

Yes, that was it.

It was a post I shared after having one of my blogs shamelessly knocked off by another copywriter, who massively shot themselves in the sack with this move, because if there’s one trait that paying clients really don’t fucking like in a copywriter, it’s when said ‘professional’ proves themselves as incapable of creating anything ‘with the words’ that the client couldn’t have gone and googled/ripped off themselves.

To me, it didn’t matter that countless people jumped on the post to note that they’d seen the blog before – and were almost certain they knew who’d originally written it – because the damage had already been done. People who were laying eyes on the blog for the first time were going right ahead and rightfully praising the apparent author, because the piece they were reading was shit hot (obvs, coz I wrote it). I simply don’t have the time or the brain space to go out there into the world and actively check if my stuff’s being plagiarised all over town, much as I similarly don’t have the patience to try and convince someone that I’m the original author of something, either. We could argue that what I don’t know doesn’t kill me, but that’s another phrase I’m not exactly Justin and Lancing (NSYNC) with, too. It may not directly hurt or kill me, but it’s doing my brand and my reputation a good deal of damage, nonetheless.

I used to be a primary school teacher, so I’m really not okay with the notion of people on one level doing all the hard work, whilst other people trample all over them in order to take all the rewards and praise in their place. Oh, and you think I’m talking about the kids, don’t you…

Back to Oscar’s quote what I stole, though, seeing as it’s at least fucking funny, if not the opinion you share… it took precisely 4 and a half minutes from the point of posting for the sense of humour bypass patients convalescing on LinkedIn to wind their weary necks out and inform me – in standard disappointed tones – that I was mistaken on the verbatim of the quote, owing to the fact that Mr Wilde would never have used such “ineloquent language”.

Well, obviously these weren’t The O-Man’s precise words, but by god, I bet he’d be bloody proud of my paraphrasing, no? More importantly, though, as an immensely clever, talented and revered writer, he’d have no doubt been happy that I’d at least openly credited him with the original idea. And that’s what this blog is about, innit?

I have no problem with people imitating ideas, copying quotes, or rehashing a rhetoric or two. This is absolutely fine if it helps you to prove a point you’re making or supports a belief or narrative that you hold that you’d quite like to share out in the world with your own spin. Having said that, it’s a total dickbag move (trademarked, you can’t have it) when you neglect to credit the original creator of the mast you’ve just nailed your colours to. And no, a sad little tag at the end of your soliloquy isn’t good enough, if that’s your MO. Make it an initial focus – and boost your credibility as a professional – by making sure you’re clear about the origins of the content you’ve appropriated for your own gains.

For all the things people say about my content being “unprofessional” (the slang, the sarcasm, the swearing), at least it has one credible life-source running throughout its verbacious veins…

It’s always, always, my own writing.

I know that there’s no such thing as a new idea, and that we’re all just adding our own take on things, but honestly, “imitation is the best form of flattery“… just no. Content theft is lazy, tacky and sneaky; kind of like Mr Men characters for the Netflix age. I love Oscar Wilde, and I imagine it was easy for him to make this bold statement at the time, given the fact that if someone wanted to rip him off, the fallout would likely take bloody ages to materialise (formally published in a book, taking place on stage in a play, etc). These days, however, your shit can be clean ripped off before you even sit down to have your first child-free bog visit of the afternoon. No, if it is indeed the case that imitation equals flattery, then either I’m massively confused around what the word “sincere” actually means, or I’m surrounded by a world full of people who are practically bending over to allow others to take full advantage of their hard work and talent.

If imitation is truly a sincere form of flattery, then I’d love to know why everyone goes batshit crazy over something so seemingly trivial as identity theft…

Well, content thieves and ideas shysters… you can take my passport details, my bank statements, and a digital scan of my retinas if you must, but come for my content, and pray to the god of your choosing that I don’t find out about it, because to quote Mr Wilde one more time, this time from his deathbed…

“One or the other of us has to go.”