The ecstacy of influence

I believe that Jonathon Lethem wasn't writing to say that plagiarism is bad, but instead he's writing to say that plagiarism is common and should be embraced. Not many thoughts will ever be truly original, they're in fact better, more modern thoughts. A very widely known example of borrowing thoughts is the Walt Disney company, as they took most of their stories from old wives tales and whatnot. I believe that this is what should be happening, everyone should be working together to reach a common goal instead of fighting against each other.

Plagiarism has been embraced so well by society because no person has had their own original thoughts. Every person has had the same thought at one time, so what Lethem suggests is that it's not stealing ideas, it's just taking ideas others have thought and solidifying them. I believe that we don't need to give credit to the others who had the thought, one because we don't know who they are, but two because it was your idea to put it into writing, and they're just dumb for not. It's an 'early bird catches the worm' type deal.