Imitation Game: the importance of being an individual.
Inspiration and copying are two very different things that blur very closely together. It's a very fine line between the two and once crossed, can become dangerous territory.
Inspire: Fill someone with the urge or ability to do or feel something.
You can be inspired by people in many different ways- you can be inspired by the way they dress, the work they do, the goals they have. Whatever it is, they inspire you to do something similar to them, be that their process of thinking about a certain situation or their way of styling a certain outfit. You use them as a starting point, and the inspiration they fill you with helps you to create something or do something on your own, of your own credit.
Copy: Make a similar or identical version of.
If you copy someone, you do exactly what they do. If someone else, such as a celebrity or a friend at school buys something, you go and buy the same thing. If someone else posts a photo you think looks cool, you copy it. You get the gist.
There's one major difference between the two and that's this; being inspired by someone is flattering. Copying someone is not. It can be argued that inspirational people are copied by the people they inspire and again, this is why the line between the two is so blurred. It can be very difficult to stop yourself from transitioning from being inspired to full on copying.
I for one despise being copied. I've had tweets, blog posts, materialistic items, even my life goals copied by people I call friends, people I don't like and people I barely even know. Sometimes I can laugh it off, other time's it really grinds my gears. I like to consider myself quite a one of a kind individual, I have my own mind, do my own thing and work hard to stand out from everyone else. So when someone copies me- especially when they copy my work, such as a blog post- I get really ticked off! That's my hard work! How dare you rip it off and then get praised for it like it's your own!
Most people tell me to take it as flattery, that I'm clearly inspiring them but they're wrong. I know the people that I inspire because they usually message me and I watch them be inspired by my motivation and motivate themselves to achieve really great things! But never do they copy me.
A lot of people tell me not to let it get to me, but how can I not when I feel my hard work- and sometimes even my life- is being ripped off in second rate manners by other people?!
I know the further you thrust yourself into the eyes of a growing online audience, people are bound to see what you do and maybe want to do the same things, but can you at least credit people you get ideas from? E.G. "I saw XYZ buy this so had to grab one for myself!" or "XYZ wrote such a good post, I had to do a follow up with my own views on the subject" or something similar. Anyone else see what I'm getting at here?
I don't really know what more I can say on the matter...I just needed a huge rant about how much copying frustrates me. And I know I'm not the only one. When it comes to work and things such as blog posts, I have a few friends who constantly have their hard work ripped off and it's really not nice!
May I also note, that I don't feel that I am worthy of being copied or that I believe myself to be hugely inspirational or on trend or anything like that- but what I do know is that I have been and still continue to be copied all of the time and I am so tired of it!
People of the world, please stop copying. Take inspiration from people and their lives instead- but don't full on copy them! It's definitely not the highest form of flattery...it's down right annoying. Be your own person, live your own life and have your own dreams! Is it really that hard?
Have you had any incidents with copy cats? Let me know in the comments below!
Love from,
Florence Grace
Comments
Post a Comment