Lethem Reading

I choose to research a passage from the section titled  "The Commons". Lethem's purpose in writing this section was to show often ideas and works of others are stolen from the commons, a public source of knowledge, without being noticed since there usage is seen far and few.  Lethem makes the point of how essential it is for those in Western Society to give credit to the work they use and promptly states, "We have to remain constantly vigilant to prevent raids by those who would selfishly exploit our common heritage for their private gain. Such raids on our natural resources are not examples of enterprise and initiative. They are attempts to take from all the people just for the benefit of a few." This quote is line taken from Harry S. Truman's "Address on Conservation at the Dedication of the Everglades." While in both instances this quote is used to defend the commons from being abused by individuals seeking personal gain the circumstances are completely different. While Lethem aims to protect the work of others in the academia world Truman used this quote in defense of national parks. The text in context means literal "raids on our natural resources" as oppose to resources found in the commons that Lethem describes. This usage of this quote in many ways highlights the point of this section. Even though this quote is on public record and easy to access anywhere its usage is rare, if not unheard of, outside of its original text. These factors alongside the completely different use of the quote make plagiarism of lines such as this one all to easy.