# What are your thoughts on the "Opal Mehta" story/scandal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 29, 2006, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-thoughts-on-the-opal-mehta-story-scandal/354715 "2006-04-29T06:18:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2006, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-thoughts-on-the-opal-mehta-story-scandal/354715/41 "2006-04-30T20:03:54Z")
[QUOTE=Musicat] Just like when George Harrison was convicted of plagiarism for _My Sweet Lord_, which was judged to have taken significant elements from _He’s So Fine_. The song wasn’t pulled or banned, but now the royalties go to different parties. [/QUOTE] It’s a fair arrangement. To nitpick, though, I believe it was ruled that Harrison’s plagiarism was unconscious and therefore unintentional. If the court was right, I wouldn’t say he did anything wrong. But I’d say it’s indisputable that lifting dozens of bits from someone else’s work and trying to disguise it as your own is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2006, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-thoughts-on-the-opal-mehta-story-scandal/354715/42 "2006-04-30T21:04:34Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] It’s a fair arrangement. To nitpick, though, I believe it was ruled that Harrison’s plagiarism was unconscious and therefore unintentional. If the court was right, I wouldn’t say he did anything wrong. But I’d say it’s indisputable that lifting dozens of bits from someone else’s work and trying to disguise it as your own is wrong. [/QUOTE] There is also a difference between lifting whole prose passages and lifting a rhyme scheme and meter and two sets of chord changes. The latter is a lot easier to do unconsciously, especially when those changes sound like something you’d write. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2006, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-thoughts-on-the-opal-mehta-story-scandal/354715/43 "2006-04-30T21:08:01Z")
The more I read about this, the more I’m convinced that Viswanathan had no idea that these passages were in the book. I read a Slate article that described her original novel as a dark story set in Ireland. The agent, or Alloy, suggested she write a story truer to life and suggested plot turns, etc. in the book. It sounds like minions fleshed out the book more or less and perhaps she just suggested the general thesis of the book. It would probably be more embarrassing to say, “Hey, I didn’t even write that part!” Having co-authored a few books and chapters myself, I certainly can remember the general gist of a phrase or a sentence years after writing it. I could probably tell you what inspired it and so on. She seems too bright a girl to have lifted from a source and never mentioned it. Some editors have a heavy hand and will insert rephrased sentences and so on into your writing, and you have to have a fair bit of confidence to say, “No, I think it should read that way.” And I can also imagine the constant back-and-forth of QAs (queries to the author), and how Viswanathan, in the midst of applying to college and so forth, perhaps didn’t even pay attention to them. That’s not an excuse, however. If these were your words, I think you’d exercise a great deal of scrutiny if an editor attempted to change them. It does speak to the inappropriateness of the arrangement as I understand it. Since when are books written in a marketing department - books worth admiring and commenting on, that is? I don’t think any of us would have an issue if it turned out the Sweet Valley High books were pumped out by cubicle-housed English lit drones, but those books aren’t exactly high literature, and I imagine if one was involved in writing one, it might merit a mention in an essay. But it doesn’t seem the cornerstone of a college application. I think I can imagine what the IvyWise counselors advised this young lady to do. In selective admissions, students blur together, especially those at competitive schools. I can tell you from experience that anything that makes a student stand out is incredibly valuable. There’s an excellent book called _The Gatekeepers_ by Jacques Steinberg that details the admissions process at Wesleyan U., and one of the more revealing stories is that of a high-achieving Asian American girl who blended in with so many other students of similar socioeconomic and geographic origin. She is rejected in short order, but the book reveals that she regularly wrote letters to inmates on death row. She never mentioned it in her application because she felt it was a personal activity, and one she never intended to do for the sake of getting into a college, but it was precisely the sort of thing that would have made her stand out… and interesting. The application essays I’ve read tend to follow the same template: student is exposed to some social inequity and gets involved (soup kitchens, working in Latin American countries with terminally ill kids, organizing a literacy project). Student comes to terms with their privilege, and pledges to spend their life working to end this inequity. College will help give them the skills to do this even better. Whether they get into college or not, they will continue this work because the sparkle in the eye of little Wilmer tells them they must do so. Which is sad, really, because I imagine there is some truth in these stories. But they all sound exactly the same. You wouldn’t believe the number of nonprofit organizations or volunteer groups that are established by 16- and 17-year olds applying to selective colleges. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-thoughts-on-the-opal-mehta-story-scandal/354715/44 "2006-05-02T05:26:01Z")
**UPDATE…UPDATE…UPDATE…** Whoever _really_ wrote _Opal Mehta_ plagarized from a book by [Sophie Kinsella](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/02/books/02auth.html?ex=1304222400&en=68a727009aae22f5&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss) of _Confessions of a Shopaholic_ fame, too. Geez, Alloy Entertainment, don’t you have any original thoughts in that author farm of yours? ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-thoughts-on-the-opal-mehta-story-scandal/354715/45 "2006-05-02T05:36:54Z")
[QUOTE=Musicat] Just like when George Harrison was convicted of plagiarism for _My Sweet Lord_, which was judged to have taken significant elements from _He’s So Fine_. The song wasn’t pulled or banned, but now the royalties go to different parties. [/QUOTE] Sounds like the perfect song to put on the soundtrack of the movie version of this sordid tale? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-thoughts-on-the-opal-mehta-story-scandal/354715/46 "2006-05-02T05:39:59Z")
[QUOTE=mobo85] Whoever _really_ wrote _Opal Mehta_ plagarized from a book by [Sophie Kinsella](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/02/books/02auth.html?ex=1304222400&en=68a727009aae22f5&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss) of _Confessions of a Shopaholic_ fame, too. [/QUOTE] I’m guessing that they’ll discover bits of _A Million Little Pieces_ and _Holy Blood, Holy Grail_ in there later this week. > [@](#): > > Geez, Alloy Entertainment, don’t you have any original thoughts in that author farm of yours? The concept of an author farm does not really make me think “creativity.” Despite some of the things I’ve said in this thread, I have been trying to feel sorry for this girl. So much for that. Perhaps when this controversy dies down, she can change her major and study something a little closer to her heart. She’d be a great Kinko’s technician, or maybe a stenographer. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-thoughts-on-the-opal-mehta-story-scandal/354715/47 "2006-05-02T18:05:24Z")
[QUOTE=mobo85] **UPDATE…UPDATE…UPDATE…** Whoever _really_ wrote _Opal Mehta_ plagarized from a book by [Sophie Kinsella](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/02/books/02auth.html?ex=1304222400&en=68a727009aae22f5&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss) of _Confessions of a Shopaholic_ fame, too. Geez, Alloy Entertainment, don’t you have any original thoughts in that author farm of yours? [/QUOTE] Apparently, the “Alloy” in their name alludes to blending together the plagarism of several works per book. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-thoughts-on-the-opal-mehta-story-scandal/354715/48 "2006-05-02T18:27:41Z")
[QUOTE=Gozu Tashoya] Apparently, the “Alloy” in their name alludes to blending together the plagarism of several works per book. [/QUOTE] Ghost writers are way too professional to do things like this. And they have too much depending on it. They might not write great prose, and they may write it very quickly, but it is original. This is amateurish. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-thoughts-on-the-opal-mehta-story-scandal/354715/49 "2006-05-02T18:54:51Z")
She gets absolutely no sympathy from me. I detest and abhor plagiarism and I think she deserves every bit of grief and misery she’s getting. It’s nothing less than utterly contemptible to steal another artist’s work and try to pass it off as your own material. Her age is irrelevant as far as I am concerned. If a 16 year old kid steals somebody’s _car_ we don’t say he should get a break because of his young age. Plagiarism is stealing, just a different kind, and she was more than capable of understanding exactly what she was doing. I also don’t think she deserves to make one red cent of profit from her blatant theft of McCafferty’s work, and shit. ---
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-thoughts-on-the-opal-mehta-story-scandal/354715/50 "2006-05-02T19:10:13Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] If a 17 year old steals a car we dom’t say he should get a break because of his age. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Cervaise] If a 16 year old kid steals somebody’s _car_ we don’t say he should get a break because of his young age. [/QUOTE] Yes we do! …don’t we? ---
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-thoughts-on-the-opal-mehta-story-scandal/354715/51 "2006-05-02T19:11:31Z")
Oh, and yes, I get the joke. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-thoughts-on-the-opal-mehta-story-scandal/354715/52 "2006-05-02T19:46:26Z")
I actually started reading the book a week or so before the scandal broke. Being an Indian-American myself, the author’s life story and circumstances interested me. I’ll have to admit to a healthy feeling of schadenfreude for her. I know exactly the type of overachieving little twit she is and her puffed up, pushy family. I’m still reading the book, just out of curiosity. It’s a terrible book, and I’m sure that it’s largely autobiographical. In fact, I get the feeling that Viswanathan is trying to create a better version of herself – somehow rewrite her own history. It’s sad that she would have to do that at the age of 17. ---
**Author:** ![vix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a88e4f/32.png) [@vix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vix)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-thoughts-on-the-opal-mehta-story-scandal/354715/53 "2006-05-02T20:46:21Z")
[QUOTE=Hippy Hollow] I don’t think any of us would have an issue if it turned out the Sweet Valley High books were pumped out by cubicle-housed English lit drones, but those books aren’t exactly high literature… [/QUOTE] I’m pretty sure they are, actually. Not sure if it was Sweet Valley High books or some other, similar series, but a friend of a friend of mine did actually ghost write those for a while. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-thoughts-on-the-opal-mehta-story-scandal/354715/54 "2006-05-02T22:34:18Z")
It looks like her plagiarism was [even more blatant and widespread](http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=513204) than previously reported. > [@](#): > > Now [Viswanathan] appears to have borrowed passages from Salman Rushdie’s “Haroun and the Sea of Stories,” and Meg Cabot’s “The Princess Diaries.” In each of the cases, the passages in question contain similar rhymes and descriptions. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-thoughts-on-the-opal-mehta-story-scandal/354715/55 "2006-05-02T22:48:23Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] It looks like her plagiarism was [even more blatant and widespread](http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=513204) than previously reported. [/QUOTE] This has crossed from funny to unfunny to “so bad it’s really funny” faster than anything else I can think of. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-thoughts-on-the-opal-mehta-story-scandal/354715/56 "2006-05-02T23:08:55Z")
[QUOTE=vix] Not sure if it was Sweet Valley High books or some other, similar series, but a friend of a friend of mine did actually ghost write those for a while. [/QUOTE] The _Sweet Valley High_ books are produced by- you guessed it- Alloy Entertainment. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-thoughts-on-the-opal-mehta-story-scandal/354715/57 "2006-05-02T23:16:37Z")
One of the pieces found newly plagarized in _Opal Mehta_ sounds like it could have been plagarized itself (though it wasn’t): > [@Salman Rushdie](#): > > If from speed you take your thrill > Take precaution- Make your will > > All the dangerous overtakers > End up safe as overtakers I’m sure if Burma-Shave still existed, they’d put a fatwa out on Rushdie, too. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-thoughts-on-the-opal-mehta-story-scandal/354715/58 "2006-05-02T23:17:59Z")
Oops- the second sign should read > [@Salman Rushdie](#): > > All the dangerous overtakers > End up safe as undertaker’s Eh. I’ll take “Don’t stick your elbow out so far, it may end up in another car” over that anyday. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-thoughts-on-the-opal-mehta-story-scandal/354715/59 "2006-05-02T23:22:19Z")
[QUOTE=mobo85] I’m sure if Burma-Shave still existed, they’d put a fatwa out on Rushdie, too. [/QUOTE] I had the same thought. You plagiarized my brain! ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2006, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-thoughts-on-the-opal-mehta-story-scandal/354715/60 "2006-05-02T23:28:00Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] I had the same thought. You plagiarized my brain! [/QUOTE] Nah, he just _internalized_ it. Braaaaaains…! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-thoughts-on-the-opal-mehta-story-scandal/354715.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-thoughts-on-the-opal-mehta-story-scandal/354715.md?page=4)