Privilege has its rankness. What do they mean by privilege? I'm not deprived because I never had a TV in my room as a kid (I still don't have a TV) or that I remember many times when I had to beg my parents to buy a book (they didn't want me to become a total bookworm--ha!--but then again, they never bought video games for me either). I'm not disadvantaged because I never took test prep courses (didn't need them), went to a public high school, or shared a room with my sister for a couple of years. People can get by comfortably without the flashy bling, the expensive tutors, and the European vacations as long as they have food on the table and all their shots. Heck, just having food on the table and no abusive guardians is pretty privileged if you ask me.
Cassie Edwards’ Books Bear Similar (okay Exact) Text to Previously Published Texts. (original exposé here) Oh man, this is so weird. A romance novelist plagiarizing a treatise on ferrets? Well, regardless of the subject matter, the writing quality (or lack of), or how many rabid fangirls rush to her defense, ripping off another person's work is wrong. But I'm afraid this is going to end like all other debacles involving badly behaving authors--no punishment of any substance is going to be exacted and Edwards will continue to publish.
I went camping as a kid. I loved it. At 21 I still haven't set foot in a hotel.
Ah anyway. As for the plagiarism articles, it's rather sad that this doesn't come as a surprise to me. I'm okay if ideas are similar (it's hard to be original these days), but to copy text word for word is just plain lazy.
I don't think it was a ranking system (I suppose the title is misleading due to the linked blog's authors penchant for puns), just indicators of "privilege", i.e. class/social status. I think people care because kids having these privileges are perceived to have an advantage over kids who don't. Personally, I think having privileges can be detrimental in some ways--if you only know the pampered life, how can you ever appreciate hard work?
