The German newspapers are filled with reports on the plagarism scandal swirling around the defense minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg--a handsome charismatic fellow who has a devote following in Southern conservative circles. He was a rising star and main competitor to the Germany's foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle.
Bildung is supposed to matter in Germany, so a politician cannot immediately play a "know-nothing" manuever as it is done in the US. Ph.D.s actually considered important in Germany's public life. Angela Merkel has one, Helmut Kohl as well, though the rumors have swirled for years that his was also ghost written.
What's new about the Guttenberg scandal is the internet: It is so easy to plagiarize using the internet, and it is just as easy to uncover plagiarism. There are now wikisites in Germany devoted to finding all the stolen quotes in Guttenberg's dissertation. Hunting them down has become a past time for German academics. If you have been grinding away for years on your own opus, why not take a few hours off to pick at the pretty boy politician's forgery, and then post your findings publically. Good resentment-filled academic fun.
The other lesson in the Guttenberg dissertation is recognizing how systematic and widespread the plagiarism is. The dissertation does not just contain a few misquotations and inaccurate footnotes. From the opening paragraph that was lifted from an article in Germany's leading business newspaper onwards, the cut and paste job was carried out systematically by Guttenberg or his ghost-writer. Out of 393 pages for the entire dissertation, 270 have plagiarized material.
Plagiarism can take a lot of work, it requires all sorts of editorial skills, which the internet facilitates but also uncovers.
Conspiracy theorists like to point out that the dissertation Helmut Kohl wrote in the 1950s has disappeared from the shelves of German libraries. The sources it quotes are not available online, so it would take an enormous effort to track down any irregularities. The job could really only be done by an expert in the field, whereas now with Guttenberg, anyone with a search engine and some basic research skills can uncover the defense minister's lies.
"anyone with a search engine and some basic research skills can uncover the defense minister's lies" - Well some may be so well covered that it takes a bit more sleuthing.
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