Imitation is absolutely NOT the highest form of flattery
Summary
Imitation is absolutely not the highest form of flattery," a rider declares, kicking off a spirited rant about copycats and content thieves. She and Kareem swap stories about the excuses people make when caught ripping off ideas: "Oh yeah, it's totally possible that two people came up with the same idea at the same time, different parts of the world." They mock the classic deflections. "You didn't invent interviewing people," copycats tell Kareem, but he fires back that he did invent interviewing people on the train saying "What's your take?" while holding a metro card. The rider has her own mantra for the imitators. "They want to be me so bad." Both agree the move is simple: if you realize you've copied someone, "cease and desist right away." You cease yourself, then you desist.
Full Transcript
So, what's your take? Imitation is absolutely not the highest form of flattery. 100% agree. I hate—I hate when people say imitation is the highest form of flattery, cuz it's not. Absolutely not. It's actually an insult. It's a big insult, and it's just something that like copycats say when they get caught.
I agree. They're like, "Oh, jig is up. They caught me in my little scam. Guess what? I'm flattering you. You should be flattered. You should be so flattered. You should be so flattered that I stole your idea." Posers have like the preconditioned responses. One of them is, well, imitation is a serious form of flatter. The other one is that, oh yeah, it's totally possible that two people came up with the same idea at the same time, different parts of the world.
Well, that one I will say sometimes that happens. You might be right. You know, the internet and the zeitgeist, we might be thinking the same joke at the same time about the same thing because it's highly possible. It's totally possible. And that's like the beauty of Earth.
That is the beauty of Earth. It brings people together. It does. It really does.
What's the last thing that people say? I was hoping that you—oh, I got one. You didn't invent—absolutely. You didn't invent interviewing people. That's what they say to me. They love to say that you were not the inventor. But I say I did invent interviewing people on the train saying, "What's your take?" holding a metro card on a New York City subway.
Honestly, it's just better if you come up with your own ideas. In the long run, you'll feel better. The problem is everything is derivative. It's really hard to be novel. It is hard to be original in this day and age because we're getting so much pumped into our—it's like constant inspiration, constant. You're scrolling through the phone, you go, "Oh, that's cool. That's cool. Oh, that's cool. That's cool. That's cool. That's cool. That's cool. That's cool. That's cool. That's cool."
But sometimes it's not cool. Okay. And then they also love to say like, "I didn't even see that. I didn't even see that you did that. I totally didn't even see it."
That's like—that's a big one. Has that ever happened to you? What's that?
They want to be me so bad. Oh my god. That's literally—I have to say it every day. They want to be me so bad. It's ridiculous.
Really? I feel bad for them. May I say it?
Yeah. They want to be me so bad.
If I ever come up with an idea that I know somebody else has done, cease and desist right away. Yeah, you cease yourself.
Oh, I cease, and then I go ahead and I desist. Yep. Yeah. Cook.