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Is Imitation Flattery, Really?

PROMPT: Charles Caleb Colton once said: "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." What, in your opinion, makes for a good imitation?

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Humans learn by the monkey-see-monkey-do method from birth on, but not all imitation is perfect. Looking at it from the aspirant’s angle, imitation can be the first step in learning anything, but it can also stifle creativity and take away from the definition of one’s own product. In fact, most anything imitated is mediocre at best.

Yet, it can be flattery to the real thing as only the top products or the envied ones are imitated by the lesser ones. If a person imitates another in whichever thing, it means he or she admires him. This, however, can irritate the copied one. When I was in my teens, my mother’s best friend’s daughter who was about two years younger than me kept imitating me and comparing herself to me all the time. How annoying it was, I cannot even begin to tell. Frankly, I wasn’t flattered at all.

Then, what if someone copies a woman’s style of dressing or copies every fashion trend she picks up when the first woman wants to be the only one wearing something distinctive in a gathering? What if someone steals another’s ideas and presents them as his own before the original idea-owner can present it? Isn’t this stealing instead of flattery? What if someone likes your partner enough to snatch her or him away from you, only because he or she admires your taste?

Although we can’t have copyrights on partners, most things have to abide by the copyright laws. If imitation was at all sincere and well-meaning and there was something good about it, would we need copyright laws at all?