I saw another blogger lambasted today for apparently "stealing" another blogger's idea and incorporating it into their own article. Having been previously accused of the same, I felt it was a good topic for discussion.
When I log on to JU, I don't have the time to peruse blog articles of the last several days. Being limited to a few hours' access three or four times a week, once I have purged, checked, and answered my email, I read the recent forum posts. Then I begin blogging on articles that have been stirring in my head for days.
For sometime after Hurricane Katrina, that was the topic. Sometimes CPS is the topic. Other times, fiscal responsibility and small government, key components of my Libertarian philosophy, are topics. But it is not infrequent for my topic to be related to current events. It is, in fact, natural.
The fact that the argument put forth in the blog is similar to arguments elsewhere on JU is, again, not coincidence. The majority of JU's conservative bloggers tend to have a general neutrality towards Libertarian philosophy, if not a complete sympathy, and their sentiments are echoed in their blogs.
So next time you read a blog that seems to be more of the "same old, same old", don't write it off hastily as a copycat blog. It may be just that. But then again, it may be individual ideas, expressed differently.