Laugh Tracks and Plagiarism! Together as One!

Chuck Klosterman wrote an article about laugh tracks that was very interesting.  His viewpoints on the topic are some I have never taken before.  He says that people laugh because they are conditioned to.  After a visit to Germany, he noticed that Germans do not fake laugh.  If they do laugh, it is because they legitimately think something is funny.  For instance, he said was paying for something and the clerk asked for exact change, and, in short, he laughed and said no.  The clerk just looked at him strangely, wondering why he was laughing.  This is very true.  Americans laugh so much that we are unaware that we are laughing at things that are not funny.  However, I do not view this as a bad thing.  Just because Americans laugh more, does not mean we are stupid; it simply shows that we are happier more.  Germans seem to be angry all the time because they rarely laugh.  This is also not a bad thing.  Seriousness is a good trait too.

As for plagiarism (the dark side of laugh tracks… I guess.  These two topics were put together to be able to talk about plagiarism as a conjoined topic with something fun), I do not see what is so hard about not taking someone else’s work for your own.  Just paraphrase it in your own words and all will be okay.  Do not copy and paste without putting it in quotes and putting a citation.  It takes the whole of five more minutes to do this, and you will not fail your paper!  What a great idea!  Paraphrasing, as a clarifier, is not using even phrases of someone else.  Everything you write must be your own.  Their idea translated into your own words.

However, on the topic of laugh tracks....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7mq9w1d1wQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GrV3OZdjP8&feature=related