#4 - Plagiarism and Fabrication

Plagiarism is in many ways soon to be a thing of the past, not in the sense that it will be eliminated but that it will be hard for a someone to get away with this practice. With programs that are able to search for similar items it is not hard for the person to be caught. While this will benefit areas like education and journalism, it can create problem in the world of literature.

Recently author Sadia Shepard has come under fire for her story Foreign-Returned after it was published in the New Yorker in January. Shepard was accused of plagarism after similarities were noticed between her story and The Ice Wagon Going Down The Street by Mavis Gallant. These accusations were brought forward by a group of readers led by author and professor Francine Prose. 

Sadia Shepard

The stories do have a similar concept running throughout them that being of people in a foreign land after a significant event. Gallant's story deals with Canadians in post second world war Austria and Shepard's deals with Pakistani's living in the midwest after the 2016 election. Now these similarities are not unnoticed by Shepard saying she owed "great debt" to Gallant. This did little to please her critics, with Prose saying that "Some phrases and sentences are mirrored with only a few words changed,". Shepard who was not pleased with Prose's statement went on to clarify what exactly she meant " use Gallant's classic story of self-exile in postwar Europe as a point of departure for an exploration of the immigrant experience of Pakistani Muslims in today's America,". 

New Yorker author Jess Row also defended Shepard, by saying that the accusation itself of plagiarism "denies both Shepard and Gallant the respect they deserve". Shepard was not defended entirely as author Lincoln Michel thought that Gallant is famous enough for Shepard's work to directly mention that it was inspired by Gallant. 

#3 - Advertising Ethics

We see advertising everywhere from late night TV infomercials to banner ads on websites, and all of them varying in effectiveness. The product of course will be targeted in order to get at something in the viewers life that needs replacing or rejuvenating. These ads could target a multitude of things from your clothes, your appetite, or even your physical ability. Now, showing that someone doesn't the best taste in clothing is one thing, or the need for hunger, but casting doubt on someones physical abilities is a personal attack.

With something so personal as this it is completely reasonable that one would respond by trying to fix this perceived imperfection, not through some sort of exercise but through the proper application of supplements, specifically Infowars life Super Male Vitality.

Now if you dont know InfoWars, that would be the "news-outlet" that before the 2016 election was mainly know for its leader Alex Jones promoting the idea that the silicone valley giant Peter Theil is a vampire and that the government has put chemicals in the water in order to "turn the freakin' frogs gay.".

Returning to the product Super Male Vitality it is supposed to help the body in the production of normal levels of testosterone. It is marketed in a way that makes it seem like a miracle drug with the ad video treating us to a slideshow of Jones' with guns, fishing, and a before and picture of him in order to demonstrate the weight-loss.

If that wasn't enough the product was supposedly created by Infowars lead researcher Dr. Group who has somehow discovered 16th medical secrets that have helped him to create the product. This is a key selling point as if they didnt make something like this product would sound incredibly similar to various other kinds of testosterone supplements on the market. Also, Dr. Group is a chiropractor and anti-vaccination advocate.


Link the Super Male Vitality Page.
Link to Dr. Groups Page.