When a robber preaches to not rob

There was a seminar on the topic “The ethics of research and counseling in Psychology.” Nine speakers, belonging to the field of psychological research and counseling, were invited in the seminar for the lectures. The auditorium hall was filled with an audience of about five hundred individuals.

One of the speakers did not reach the venue on time. The organizers called the speaker to find out when he will reach. He apologized for being late. He told them to begin the seminar without him and he would join them an hour later.

Anyways, the seminar started and speakers came one after the other on the stage to present their topics. One of the speakers delivered a lecture about “Ethical issues of Plagiarism in Psychological Research”. She presented the topic well facilitated by multimedia. After her lecture, she went back to her seat in a big round of applauses from the audience.

Everything was going well in the seminar. Speakers kept on coming to the stage on their turn. Some time later, the speaker who was late also joined the seminar and waited for his turn.

Finally, it was his turn to come to the stage. His topic was also “Ethical issues of Plagiarism in Psychological Research”. He started giving his presentation, and the bad time for someone else started. When the first multimedia slide appeared on the screen, it was just similar to the one presented by the previous speaker of the topic. He kept on giving his speech confidently, unknowingly that not only he had lost his respect but there was another lady who was hiding her face from the audience.

Actually it was not only the first slide that was similar but the whole presentation was exactly the same. EXACTLY THE SAME……..!😲. It means 100% plagiarism, and it was plagiarized through Google. While the second speaker was unaware that he was caught (as he was absent at the time of first speech), the first speaker knew quite well what had happened. Literally, she put her hand on her face and head in a way as to avoid eye contact with the audience and her fellow speakers.

It is an incident that I witnessed during my university days. The thieves were telling us why theft is bad. Well, their presentations couldn't give us the lesson that their actions had given us. We learnt plagiarism can give you applauses if it is hidden. However, if it is caught, get ready to face the shame and permanent distrust.

This is my entry for Comedy Open Mic Biweekly Contest. You are invited to participate.