DCP's ongoing problem with plagiarism

[Guest]

It should be noted, as I review this thread, that Daniel C. Peterson HASN'T CORRECTED HIS PLAGIARISM on those FIVE Deseret News articles I found from a couple of years ago. And, I never received an answer back from the editors at the DN regarding contributors and plagiarism. I didn't out Mr. Peterson to the DN, because I don't believe in doing that sort of thing, but I pointed them in the right direction and gave very clear indications that some of their articles' material was being pilfered by contributors and re-branded as their own.

This tells me two things.

1) That Mr. Peterson's plagiarism is SO historical and SO thorough, that he couldn't find the articles I was alluding to and thus didn't bother to go back and correct them because the workload would've been too much.

2) DN editors don't care that their contributors are stealing material and publishing under their own names.

Says a lot about Mormons, To be honest.

- Doc

[Guest]

I hope this submission to the thread isn't redundant.

To inaugurate 2015, Dan Peterson made a post to Sic et Non, entitled "New Testament 19, 20"

The post begins,

In Kurt Aland’s Synopsis of the Four Gospels, which I’m using as the structural basis (and the Greek text) for my ongoing commentary...

Suggesting an inspiration from Aland to guide Dan's own, "ongoing commentary."

Next he says,

Let’s move on now to a couple of comments — many, many more could be offered! — on the temptation in the wilderness.

And offers 3 passages for the reader to follow along: Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, and Luke 4:1-13.

From here, Peterson begins to reflect on the number 40. He writes, in the next 2 paragraphs:

The number forty often seems to be connected with a period of testing in the Bible, time of trial or probation. Moses, for example, lived for forty years in Egypt and then for forty years in the Sinai desert before he was called to lead the Hebrews out of bondage. Then, he up on Mount Sinai for forty days and nights on two separate occasions (Exodus 24:18, 34:1-28), receiving God’s laws. He also sent spies to investigate the land of Canaan for forty days (Numbers 13:25, 14:34).

The prophet Jonah warned Nineveh for forty days that the city would be destroyed if it didn’t repent. The prophet Ezekiel laid on his right side for forty days in order to symbolically represent Judah’s sins (Ezekiel 4:6). Elijah went without food or water for forty days at Mount Horeb. And, of course, in today’s readings Jesus was tempted by the devil during forty days and nights of fasting immediately before the commencement of his ministry. And, later, he’ll appear to his disciples and others for forty days after his resurrection from the dead.

Quite an interesting and fascinating set of facts, woven so artfully into a common thread, Dr. Peterson! Your ongoing commentary suggests a healthy bit of research, and I so appreciate the specific scriptural references.

And yet, this delving into the number 40, it's not the first time I've heard this before. Being the year 2020, I'm sure we have all seen that email about 20+20=40, making this the year of 40, connecting the pestilence of Covid-19 with Biblical curses and trials.

Well, it got me thinking, so I ran a quick Google search on articles published pre-1/1/2015, using some textual fragments from Dan's 1/1/2015 post, and what do you know? Up pops an equally fascinating article, published in March, 2014, by an anonymous online Christian outreach called BibleStudy.org.

You can read about BibleStudy.org here (though the webmaster doesn't reveal too much about his/her identity):
https://www.biblestudy.org/who-operates ... -site.html

The site features a nifty page entitled "Meaning of Numbers in the Bible"
https://www.biblestudy.org/bibleref/mea ... ction.html

And, then if you click on the link for the number 40, you'll arrive at the page turned up by my Google search:
https://www.biblestudy.org/bibleref/mea ... le/40.html

Note that there are no ellipses disconnecting any of what follows. This is linear text from from BibleStudy.org's 3/20/2014 post first, then Dan's 1/1/2015 post. Alternating colorization added by me to visually highlight plagiarism (with occasional alterations to insert trademark Petersonesque transitions) of both content AND sequential flow.

https://www.biblestudy.org/bibleref/mea ... le/40.html
Published March 20, 2014
Mentioning 146 times in Scripture, the number 40 generally symbolizes a period of testing, trial or probation. During Moses' life he lived forty years in Egypt and forty years in the desert before God selected him to lead his people out of slavery.

Moses was also on Mount Sinai for 40 days and nights, on two separate occasions (Exodus 24:18, 34:1 - 28), receiving God's laws. He also sent spies, for forty days, to investigate the land God promised the Israelites as an inheritance (Numbers 13:25, 14:34).

The prophet Jonah powerfully warned ancient Nineveh, for forty days, that its destruction would come because of its many sins. The prophet Ezekiel laid on His right side for 40 days to symbolize Judah's sins (Ezekiel 4:6).

Elijah went 40 days without food or water at Mount Horeb. Jesus was tempted by the devil not just three times, but many times during the 40 days and nights he fasted just before his ministry began. He also appeared to his disciples and others for 40 days after his resurrection from the dead.

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeters ... 19-20.html
Published January 1, 2015
The number forty often seems to be connected with a period of testing in the Bible, time of trial or probation. Moses, for example, lived for forty years in Egypt and then for forty years in the Sinai desert before he was called to lead the Hebrews out of bondage. Then, he up [sic] on Mount Sinai for forty days and nights on two separate occasions (Exodus 24:18, 34:1-28), receiving God’s laws. He also sent spies to investigate the land of Canaan for forty days (Numbers 13:25, 14:34).

The prophet Jonah warned Nineveh for forty days that the city would be destroyed if it didn’t repent. The prophet Ezekiel laid on his right side for forty days in order to symbolically represent Judah’s sins (Ezekiel 4:6). Elijah went without food or water for forty days at Mount Horeb. And, of course, in today’s readings Jesus was tempted by the devil during forty days and nights of fasting immediately before the commencement of his ministry. And, later, he’ll appear to his disciples and others for forty days after his resurrection from the dead.

Strangely, Dan provides no link or citation credit to the good evangelical webmaster over at BibleStudy.org. There is no quotation mark or reference of any kind. The work is simply presented as Dan's own, original, "ongoing commentary."

Note the scriptural citations are exactly copied -- every one of them -- and left in the same parts of relevant sentences.

I also point to the "Then he up [sic]..." mistake in the Peterson version of the article. I think this offers a strongly supportive piece of evidence for plagiarism. It indicates the text was formed through a copy+paste+modify model, as this is the kind of error not found in Dr. Peterson's freehand writing. I suspect that what happened was the following:
1) "Moses was also on Mount Sinai" (original copy)
2) Edited first to "Moses was up on Mount Sinai"
3) Then edited out "Moses" to "Then, he" replacing the proper noun, in order to further remove echoes from the copied text
4) Resulting in "Then, he up on Mount Sinai" as it was published.

Yikes, Dan! As Ace sings, "How long has this been going on?"

[_Dr Exiled]

Maybe Dan or Coach isn't really human but more computer, casting its dragnet far and wide over the internet to find religious and scientific nuggets it can call its own?

[_Lemmie]

I also point to the "Then he up [sic]..." mistake in the Peterson version of the article. I think this offers a strongly supportive piece of evidence for plagiarism. It indicates the text was formed through a copy+paste+modify model, as this is the kind of error not found in Dr. Peterson's freehand writing

Excellent point about how repeating errors due to cut and paste supports the plagiarism conclusion, dr. Moore. It came up several years ago, also, but I know this is a very long thread to get through, so I am reposting it here, if you are interested:

The textual critic in me can't help but say: shared features are not enough to prove dependence, only shared innovations. In other words, a clear mistake unique to two texts is what proves that the one derives from the other. I think "derivative" is a highly accurate word to describe Daniel Peterson's intellectual work (such as it is), and his tralatitious writing is at least a reflection of that. But find a mistake in something he writes that can only have come from another source and you'll nail him for good as a copy-and-paste plagiarist—if you haven't already.

[bolding added]

We have, at least twice in this thread that I remember .

First, when DCP plagiarized his blog entry about Anfinsen from Dimitrov's piece, he repeated an error:

As additional proof, note in the very first copied piece, I have enlarged two parts where DCP makes the identical error, found in his source, of repeating "the" just before the quote which begins with "the."

In 1979, Christian Anfinsen converted to Orthodox Judaism, and he remained a practicing traditional Jew for the rest of his life. He had, he said in explanation, been deeply impressed by the " the history, practice, and intensity of Judaism.”

In 1979, Anfinsen converted to Orthodox Judaism, a commitment he retained for the rest of his life; he maintained that he had been deeply impressed by the " the history, practice and intensity of Judaism.”(http://nobelists.net; also see http://scigod.com/index.php/sgj/issue/view/3)

http://mormondiscussions.com/phpBB3/vie ... 9#p1084299

Also, when he plagiarized from Pearcey, he footnoted a Berenstain Bears book, but actually copied the same misquote that was in the Pearcey chapter:

....when I was looking into Peterson's plagiarism I also noticed that his Berenstain Bears quote was incorrect. The text from the actual Berenstain Bears book is this:

Nature is you!
Nature is me!

It's all that IS
or WAS
or EVER WILL BE!
https://www.google.com/search?q=%E2%80% ... WWrSijJS_M

According to Peterson's footnote, he is quoting the book itself, even though what he wrote in his blog entry is NOT from the book. What he wrote does, however, exactly match what Pearcey wrote, right down to the ellipses and the error:

The Berenstain Bears’ Nature Guide. In it, the Bear family invites the reader on a nature walk, and after a few pages, we open to a two-page spread, glazed with the light of the rising sun, proclaiming in capital letters:
“Nature … is all that IS, or WAS, or EVER WILL BE!”23

And here is Peterson:

As the 1975 children’s book The Bears’ Nature Guide, featuring the Berenstain Bears, informs its young audience,
“Nature . . . is all that IS, or WAS, or EVER WILL BE!”[3]

[bolding added]
http://mormondiscussions.com/phpBB3/vie ... 0#p1103220

( link to original post, p 10 of this thread: http://mormondiscussions.com/viewtopic. ... 5#p1115255 )

With your addition, Dr. Moore, that’s at least three times Peterson has plagiarized not only others’ work, but others’ errors.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

I mean he’s just so flagrant about it. Two minutes ago I was all like, “Let’s take a looksee at DN and see what his latest thievery is.” I simply googled “Daniel Peterson”, clicked on his DN profile, opened it up, saw a series of articles, clicked on the one with Mary because it was eye-catching, voila! Plagiarism!

Lol. So. All I did was copy and paste the title of the plagiarized article, “How Mary’s ‘Immaculate Conception’ is about her origin”, into Google and this was the second hit, not including his DN piece:

https://www.catholicfaithstore.com/dail ... onception/

It’s so bad his article just follows the plagiarized piece down the page when you compare the first two paragraphs of his DN article. Anyway, if you keep googling his article you can see where he lifted bits and pieces from his Google searches, and just composed a pastiche of plagiarized articles. This is par for the course, and the DN doesn’t care.

BYU Professor. Deseret News columnist. Priesthood holder.

- Doc

[_Dr Exiled]

Coach is a clever one. He plagiarizes because Joseph Smith was the master plagiarizer, perhaps. Perhaps it is because imitation is a form of worship? Or perhaps is it done as an open form of taunting to his critics? Catch me if you can sort of thing when he knows that the church with its leaders who make up stories and statistics for salesmanship sake won't bat an eye to his copying habits?

[_Dr Moore]

Notice the new pleading for permission to post "notes" without standard citation marks:
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeters ... oices.html
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeters ... nking.html

Well, sure, but in the 1/1/2015 piece above, it is impossible to plead such an excuse with the text of the post under a banner of "my ongoing commentary."

It's just good old, cheap, dishonest plagiarism.

[_Doctor Scratch]

Oh, wow. He's making what I'm almost certain is a false accusation in an attempt to doxx someone.

[_Dr Moore]

Clearly the topic strikes an exposed nerve.

Simple solution - just retract all of the plagiarized material and stop doing it.

[Guest]

Oh, wow. He's making what I'm almost certain is a false accusation in an attempt to doxx someone.

Yes, he is, and yes, it is.

[Postscript: To ____ ______ and one or two of her associates, who eagerly scan these blog entries in hopes of finding evidence of plagiarism:

Smokey, of all people, told him that is who I am. And Peterson believes it, given what a reliable source Smokey is. :rolleyes:

Also, being a film professor totally explains my familiarity with Bayesian analysis, right? :rolleyes: How much more naïve could Peterson possibly be? I apologize to the person he named, if she should ever happen to see this, and may I say, Peterson is an asshole.