A classic epigram comes to us from Seneca in his 'On the tranquillity of the mind' essay
"I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good."
It seems a fitting start to this post also.
Truth seeking
Though this quote may come to us in fact as an interpretation of Seneca through translation (the original quote seems to be more about confidently announcing bad news if it would be good to do so). It is nevertheless a rather poignant idea, hence I believe it merits honest consideration.
Of course, in casual conversation, perfect attribution of ideas isn't entirely necessary. You may not even be aware you are citing someone, ideas slip by us and enter the unconscious all the time. I think this is more about knowingly obfuscating the author for any reason.
Intuitively, I find it hard to believe people do not have a natural tendency to do this and if you can honestly say you have never done this, you are a better man than I am. Without really attempting to puzzle out the game theoretic reasons for this, I suppose it seems like an imbalanced exchange of information; which we might tend to err against. Nevertheless, when I find myself doing this, I feel the same unease that I get when I think "Oh, there's some rubbish. I could pick that up and put it in the bin which is... conveniently along my upcoming path!" and then I breeze past it without looking back. I'm not sure what that is all about, but I know it to be wrong, and that it can be overcome with some effort; that seems to me to be what the unease is for.
Whether you are in total agreement with the author or not, whether you are afraid of what it might look like to be associated with them or not, it does not seem appropriate to cheat: the author, yourself, and those listening to you. Not least because you always have the power to provide it with caveats. "[X] did not mean it in this way, but" or perhaps "I often disagree with [X], but", and so on. Distance yourself if it seems necessary, but ask yourself if it really is, I mean, they said something you agree with! How bad could it be? I opened this post by quoting a slave-owner after all.
I don't think it's necessary to argue the benefits of avoiding plagiarism, those seem self evident. The honesty will seem refreshing to many; I certainly appreciate it when others pay me the respect to let me into their own microbiome of influences. Wear your influences, let the idea speak for itself and it might give you the confidence to explore ideas from those whom you assume to disagree with. And hey, if it ends up being a bad idea, well you can clearly point the finger, but if it isn't, you might be on to something a bit closer to the truth.
'Til next time.