Krip Yuson rewritten. What ever happened to creative writing?

MANILA - Alas, poor Yuson! "I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. He hath bore me on his back a thousand times, and now how abhorr'd in my imagination it is! My gorge rises at it." Recognize the quote? It is in Act 5, Scene 1, The Tragedy of Hamlet. Hamlet is meditating on the skull of Yorick, whom he had loved when he was a child, a buffoon. In life, sometimes when there is a tragedy, there is a buffoon.

Jaemark Tordecilla is vitriolic about what happened: Krip Yuson plagiarized Ray Joble of GMA News Online; Krip apologized for it, then tried to explain it away, then some people dismissed it: (a) "Real writers know it was anything but plagiarism. There should be distinctions. For me the word applies only when the copied piece aspires to literary worth, not reportorial purpose," and (b) "In the legal profession we do it all the time" (18 April 2011, firequinito.com). Jaemark cannot forgive Krip for this transgression.

There is a "biographical article" on him titled with his full name "Alfred Yuson" in Wikipedia, but it is obvious to me that it is a rush to judgment, because, for one, it doesn't even have his complete date of birth, and immediately after the brief "biographical" notes follows the section "Plagiarism" with only this 31-word entry:

Alfred A Yuson was caught plagiarizing whole paragraphs of Ray Joble's article from GMA News Online. Yuson's contract was then not renewed as editor-at-large of GMA News Online after its expiration.

Trial by publicity? Jaemark wrote "Hall of Fame writer Krip Yuson plagiarizes for Rogue Magazine PBA article" on 06 April 2011 at 1633 hours and said that "almost the whole middle section of Yuson's article was lifted directly from (Joble's article about Rey Salud)" (firequinito.com). In the early evening of the same day, at 2016 hours, Jaemark uploaded "Krip Yuson replies" and Frank H sees that in it Krip apologizes sincerely and unequivocally:

In any case, I am deeply sorry for all this. I apologize to readers. I apologize to Rogue Magazine for apparently passing off someone else's work as solely my own. I also apologize to GMA News Online for failing to properly credit first appearance of that "chunk" on Rudy Salud. The deadline pressure simply overwhelmed me, and maybe, or make that SURELY now, I wasn't thinking right.

In his letter, Krip was saying "this injurious development," "I apologize to Rey Joble for not crediting him with the original draft," "my transgression," "My fault, still," "I know I'll be raked over the coals - for having joined the list of perpetrators of plagiarism."

So, I don't understand Jaemark's venomous attack. I felt I had to write this piece when I came across a few minutes ago "Shattering the silence: An open letter to the Philippine writing community" (blogwatch.tv) and I saw Jaemark among the 56 who signed. Pardon my ignorance, but the only name that rings a bell in my ears is that of Angela Stuart-Santiago, who also plainly hates Krip Yuson for his cut-and-paste of Joble's piece, but, shall I say, in a more refined manner (stuartsantiago.com).

Those who signed the open letter declared that they: (a) "Condemn the act of plagiarism that Yuson committed," (b) "Challenge the members of the Philippine writing community to make an unequivocal stand against Yuson's plagiarism," and (c) "enjoin the institutions of Philippine letters to cooperate in order to educate their constituents and the wider public about plagiarism."

Alas, poor Yuson! He may never be able to live down the shame his single act of plagiarism has brought him, and his Joble's job will hobble him for the rest of his life, maybe. That's enough punishment for him. What GMA News Online has done is now merely a prick in a battered body.

That reminds me of something I memorized when I was still in high school. From Hamlet Act 3, Scene 1:

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die, to sleep -
No more - and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep -
To sleep - perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub!

I knew Krip when he was Editor in Chief of The Evening Paper; I was a stranger and he took me in as one of the columnists. My column went from never mind to editorial page one, showing that Krip knew quality when he saw it. I even wrote a book review of his novel The Great Philippine Jungle Café - I can't find my review anymore but I remember I loved it. It was really an impressionist painting in words and images of Philippine history and culture. It was the way it was written that was original, intriguing and revealing of his talent as a creative writer.

Also revealing to me was his last paragraph in his apology emailed to Jaemark:

Maybe I've gotten too old and jaded, maybe I'm overworked, maybe deadline pressure got to me, but still, I should have credited my partner Rey Joble for that piece.

Krip Yuson didn't know what he was doing. Like he said, he wasn´t thinking right. Many people are careless when they upload their blog pieces, when they upload attachments to their emails - and not giving credit to whom credit is due is only one of their sins of omission.

I think that Krip Yuson really feels too old and jaded now. Age is a feeling - I am 5 years older than Krip who was born 1945, but I feel young and know I have greater mental acuity at 70 than at 60 than at 50 - thank God! I have so far written and published more than 1 million words in about 500 long articles all appearing in the American Chronicle, and no, no one can accuse me of plagiarism. I like to say, "I'm so original I can't copy myself."

Too much to do and too little time! Really, Krip Yuson is overworked, and that is his fault. When deadline pressure gets to him, that is his responsibility.

Even then, as a creative writer I know that I can use old text and come up with my own lines any old time. Pressed for time? I can type faster than you think, and I can think faster than you can imagine. I can rewrite somebody's technical jargon as if they were my own, and I usually gain new insight from old information - and I always remember to acknowledge original material with quote, unquote.

Do I condemn the plagiarism that Yuson did? I forgive him.

Do I condone plagiarism? No, but I understand. Should I join the chorus to "enjoin the institutions of Philippine letters to ... educate their constituents and the wider public about plagiarism?" No. I think that will only go as far as removing the signs of plagiarism, and that is not enough.

Why do students, scholars, scientists, lawyers, professors and PhDs plagiarize? Because they don't know any better! Because, as I said last year (16 November 2010, Radical Plagiarism, blogspot.com), referring to the plagiarism case of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Mariano Del Castillo, the blame is on the schools: "They have flagrantly failed to truly teach their suffering students to be original, not simply to not plagiarize."

Noted: Krip Yuson has authored 19 books, including novels, poetry collections, short fiction, essays and children's stories; he has won several literary awards and recognitions, and has been elevated to the Hall of Fame of the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, a most prestigious honor (Wikipedia).

From all that and what I have read of his works, I can say that Krip Yuson is great when writing literature but gross when writing the news. He is just one of the dreary news boys (and girls); I don't see any creative writing when it comes to news in Manila. No creative rewriting either.

Now then, since he can't rewrite material to save his neck, Krip Yuson now must learn to rewrite his life!