Toronto Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente has never been short of smug, self-righteous indignation when taking on people, social movements or ideas that deviate from her ideologically world-view. Indeed, in all her columns she never betrayed any hint of self-doubt and never gave the impression that she was not perfect. Now that she has been accused of plagiarism by Carol Wainio, a University of Ottawa professor, she makes the surprising admission that she, of all the people is not only not perfect but sometimes she even make mistakes:
"I’m far from perfect. I make mistakes"
In her latest column, she begins with what appears to be an apology of sorts, but by adopting the best-defence-is-offence strategy:
But I’m not a serial plagiarist. What I often am is a target for people who don’t like what I write.
Plagiarism is of course nothing new, but it so happens that Wente herself had expressly railed indignantly against plagiarism in an earlier Globe and Mail column. Here is what she wrote sometime ago:
"When I was a kid…if you were caught plagiarizing, you got a zero”
She now claims that: "I haven’t always lived up to my own standards". Not sure what her own standards are, but most of her columns have always displayed fairly low standards - unless ideological bubbles, unintended humour and lack of irony count constitute the measures.
After the plagiarism accusations, an editor of the Globe and Mail announced that "appropriate action" will be taken but did not bother to elaborate on what that would be.
Link to Carol Wainio's blog:
Media Culpa Carol Wainio's blog
"I’m far from perfect. I make mistakes"
In her latest column, she begins with what appears to be an apology of sorts, but by adopting the best-defence-is-offence strategy:
But I’m not a serial plagiarist. What I often am is a target for people who don’t like what I write.
Plagiarism is of course nothing new, but it so happens that Wente herself had expressly railed indignantly against plagiarism in an earlier Globe and Mail column. Here is what she wrote sometime ago:
"When I was a kid…if you were caught plagiarizing, you got a zero”
She now claims that: "I haven’t always lived up to my own standards". Not sure what her own standards are, but most of her columns have always displayed fairly low standards - unless ideological bubbles, unintended humour and lack of irony count constitute the measures.
After the plagiarism accusations, an editor of the Globe and Mail announced that "appropriate action" will be taken but did not bother to elaborate on what that would be.
Link to Carol Wainio's blog:
Media Culpa Carol Wainio's blog
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