Fraters Libertas

A Footnote to Whores' Story

One of the business decision crimes of the 21st century is the refusal of Vox Day's publisher to release his book, Media Whores, to the masses. Vox has been good enough to publish some excerpts on his blog, including the entirity of Chapter 2, where he defines a particular species of Media Whore, the Courtesan.

It's laugh out loud funny stuff and a direct hit to the facades put on by the pundits he targets. Among other topics, he addresses the issue of plagiarism among the journalistic class. While I was reading that section, I must admit I was momentarrily dazed, then confused at seeing some of my unattributed prose appearing there. That's right, some unedited, uncited Fraters Libertas gold (from this post in August 2004) smack dab in the midst of a Vox Day book bound for greatness.

Thankfully, before calling my lawyers to gin up a plagiarism suit and a garnishment on all future royaltees (I actually don't have any lawyers, but I can try the Power Line guys, they're always looking for an easy buck), I read the rest of his chapter, and the footnotes, and the sly joke on plagiarism was revealed. My citation was there:

(6)I didn't actually write any of that. I just cut and pasted the entire thing, beginning with ?The first similarity...? from my man Saint Paul of the Fraters Libertas blog. But I manifestly did not do anything questionable because I am the proud owner of a license to steal, that is to say, a Press Card from Universal Press Syndicate. I am journalist, hear me roar!

Now I have even more reason to want to see this book publlished. Who wouldn't want to be a footnote in a Vox Day book with the word "Whore" in the title?