Sometimes, two people can come up with similar things. To what extent can be debated. Sometimes, the one person can accuse the other person of stealing things from the other person. The other may or may not be guilty of purposely stealing. In those types of situations, it becomes a question of whether plagiarism should include pieces that just so happen to be too identical with items that predate the newer items.
In other words, what is identity theft and where and how do people draw the line between how similar something is allowed to be or not be? Who decides what is Fair Use? Who decides what is Parody or of Transformative Effect? On one hand, I can purposely take your words and lie and say they are my words. Most people agree that would be theft.
But what if I were to accidentally say the same words you said? What if I didn't know what you said? What if I had no idea you even existed? In other words, how do we navigate some of these things? Walt Disney stole art and ideas and things probably around the 1930s and/or after that too from his business partner or whatever that guy was and went on to copyright or patent those things. That is my concern. That is usually my go-to example that I like to point at.
I see some things as laziness as you mention. I see people stealing. But at the same time, I am concern with myself for example of accidentally coming up with things that others already came up with. I say, take people to court for theft and such. Take them to trial and also expose them in the court of public opinion. But I would not want to violate the 4th and 5th amendments.
RE: This is A True Story