"They’re All Dead": The Ethical Dimension
Yamamoto and Ananou’s paper focused mostly on plagiarism as the ethical wrongdoing that comes with the digital age. While plagiarism is, without a doubt, a problem in the academic setting today, I would like to propose that there are more ethical questions to be accounted for. Dehumanization of persons is easier on the internet, especially considering the emotional and social dimensions that were discussed earlier. Ethics in the digital age means examining not just plagiarism and what that means, but actually the ethical reasons as to why plagiarism is wrong. Who does it hurt? Why? Just like saying hurtful things over the internet can have lasting effects, plagiarism can also have effects on both the person who plagiarized and the person who they stole from. Helping students grapple with ethical and moral dilemmas, letting them see the morally ambiguous choices we have to make sometimes, and recognizing that sometimes there is no “right” answer would be at the heart of teaching ethics and morals in the classroom.The other action to take is to put at the core of all educational decisions and actions should be strong ethical behavior that seeks to benefit students.