Appropriation

To idea of appropriation can be traced from many different places.  If you think music then today we have countless DJ's and Musicians who sample older songs and put their own unique spin on them.  If you want to discuss art then you could cite artists and photographers who based their images on the past such as American Gothic or images from Andy Warhol in popart.  If you want to discuss films then you could cite Quentin Tarantino who films movies using scenes he has scene before or George Lucas who was inspired by the hero's journey and flash gordon.

The are countless examples that continue from this: art, music, film, math, science, ideas, or even inventions.  The list goes on.  The idea of copyright infringement is a hard topic to discuss because you could spend hours, days, or maybe months on this topic.  People who support copyright are those that probably want to get compensated for their idea, but sometimes they take it to the extreme out of greed. Those who support the freedom of ideas are those that believe everything should be part of the domain, nothing is private, everything should be public. Both sides truly have their arguments and it is difficult to choose what is right or wrong.

To think of an idea and lay claim to it is something people can do everyday, but isn't it enough to know that you created it first?  Isn't that accomplishment enough instead of seeking compensation?  People do not always profit off of the appropriation of other works.  Cite examples of famous artists who created iconic works and people tried to copy the work and sell it as the original.  This doesn't always work because the original is so well known, it would be easy to spot the fake.  Or you can think of the idea a Stradivarius violin.  Iconic workmanship that went into the violin that even fakes can be weeded out easily.  My point is is that if you create something so iconic, so memorable, that it doesn't matter if you get paid for it or not.  People will remember that you created it.  People will recognize who you are simply for creating the idea.

Even today we honor people who created ideas that paved the way for the future because those ideas were lasting.  Hell, we even honor people who stole ideas without people caring because sometimes stealing ideas makes history that overshadows the original.  (Benjamin Franklin, Oreos, Captain America, etc)