The film by grassrooots films for CatholicVote.com has been viewed over 2 million times and has been praised by many.
I guess some Protestant groups also liked it so much that they decided to copy it. I received this bit of information
The AFA – American Family Association completely parroted the film and slapped their name on it: compared to the original: www.catholicvote.com. Ironically, the AFA film was produced by Creative Laboratory. Not one “creative” aspect to it, you’ll note.
And, it has been brought to my attention that other groups have used (and abused) the film by taking out the Catholic elements and filling in whatever they want more appropos for their denominations. Here is an even more audacious example: http://www.cbasc.com/ (just see their voter’s guide video on the homepage).
I find this quite unfortunate that while our goals are the same in this election that they ripped off somebody else s work to one degree or another and passed it off as their own. This seems more like something Joe Biden would do.
24 comments
Has anyone thought about contacting the film creator and just asking them?
I queried the CBSC and they said:
We received this video from http://www.youtube.com/user/gradearawk under the topic of Christian Vote. Thanks for your comments.
Jim Smith
Executive Director
CB Southern California
jim.smith@cbasc.com
909.944.5900
Unbelievable. I just pray that all of these films (even the plagiarized ones) make a positive difference. I have never been more concerned about an election.
Well, this is just a case in point demonstrating the ontologically reality that whatever is true in Protestantism, it has taken from Catholicism.
I suddenly remembered my college days on thesis writing. If you just copy from one source, its called plagiarism, I you copy from two or more sources, that’s research.
Here’s a fun thing: watch them both side-by-side.
Keith – exactly! Brad – interesting, and thanks for the side-by-side. Let’s hope that some of the believers out there take the time to think and pray then vote (for life!). As one bishop recently commented, it’s important to keep that most important moment, Judgement Day, in mind before casting one’s vote.
I wondered about that. I thought: Grassroots Films couldn’t possibly be behind THIS one. And I was right.
How sad that they saw the need to plagerize Grassroots’ hard work. I just pray that the videos make a difference.
And I agree with Esther: What about contacting Grassroots and/or the other companies?
Another example of redistribution of wealth, perhaps. Someone got paid for this.
Perhaps they got permission from the original author before modifying it. In the end I really don’t care. A really good Catholic video can now be shown to Protestants, conveying the same message, without turning them off. It can only help save our nation in this election.
Keith expressed my thoughts exactly.
The generic Protestant version looks (interestingly) a whole lot like the original and inspired Catholic vision with some stuff left out, which sums up Reformation theology in general.
What is with this ridiculous term Protestant you are using here?
Don Wildmon is a member of the United Methodist Church.
The AFA is a pro-family Christian organization.
Perhaps some fact checking here might be in order. Stop trying to demean fellow Christians with misleading terms.
Would you like to be called a bunch of Romans? It’d be about the same thing.
Mr. Zuckermann, “Protestant” is the accepted term in English for all the churches derived from the Protestant Movement. Methodism derived from the work of Wesley and other members of the Anglican Church (itself Protestant), it falls under the term, too.
FYI, the term “Methodist” itself was an insulting term given by Anglicans to the members of their church who formed as small society of Oxford students. The insult was based on their methodical approach to studying Scriptures and Christian living. Often a perjorative is only insulting until it’s embraced.
God Bless Them!
Remember the words of Ben Franklin…”We must all hang together or we will all hang seperately” Praise to The Lord that our lost brothers are fighting with us today! Ut Unum Sint
God Bless Them!
Remember the words of Ben Franklin…”We must all hang together or we will all hang seperately” Praise to The Lord that our lost brothers are fighting with us today! Ut Unum Sint
It wouldn’t have been that hard to just give credit where credit is due. If asked, Grassroots may have even created a more generic version that other groups could have used if they felt so uncomfortable with the Catholic parts of it.
Ripping it off is not cool – even if it IS for a good cause.
However, protestant friends of mine did indeed pass along the Catholic version of it because they liked it so much. I thought that was pretty sweet.
If I had produced anything like this, I would be thrilled if the Jews, the Mormons, the Muslims and the Zoroastrians took and made it their own, and helped me accomplish the purpose for which I created the video in the first place.
Talk about petty animosities. Good Lord, I have had letters to the editor published that I *hoped* would be ripped off, modified and published in papers throughout the country over other signatures.
I doubt very much that the producers of this video want credit anywhere near as much as they want distribution and the widest possible impact.
Well Lee, perhaps that attitude is why we have so few exceptional quality Catholic filmmakers. People expect everything they do to be offered up as charity work.
Is there some reason why an amazing film cannot both inspire people to vote as true Christians *and* and be subject to basic copyright protection? Is there some conflict there? There shouldn’t be.
Keith has truly hit the nail with his head. Awesome point – even in their advertising media, they borrow from the True, original Church and just edit and splice a little.
One can look up the term “Protestant” in any dictionary and confirm that it is used properly by everyone here.
They know have a note acknowledging the source of the video. They linked to a youTube edit from a 3-rd party, and were unaware of the source.
Criffton
Monica-
I’m all for propriety, observing the copyright laws, good manners and all the rest, but when the Huns are at the gate, to hell with it.
We run a very serious risk of the republic being submerged under years of Marxist darkness.
Under that circumstance it is effectively anti-Catholic and anti-Christian to be pursuing pseudo-intellectual discussions about the meaning of Protestant! Here and now it damn well doesn’t matter.
If some Protestants made good use of a Catholic video to stave off a leftist dictatorship, we should be sending them thank you notes and nothing else.
Here Reagan’s motto, “No enemies on the right” needs to be kept in mind.
So neither you or anyone here, however exasperating, is an enemy 🙂 But, Good Lord!, let’s keep a sense of proportion.
Criffton, thanks for letting us know that.
Personally, I am relieved. Yes, we should work together as Christians, but we also have to be a witness to the world about honesty and integrity. My dad used to say that there’s a right way and a wrong way to achieve a goal. It’s a message that’s losing ground today.
I have to deal with young adults who think it’s fine to plagiarize, pirate, and copy – in other words, to steal from other people. That’s why I’m happy about CB’s attribution.
Have a nice day. From http://www.genstkobr.com
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