It’s come to my attention that, in my already-published article, and soon-to-be-published book, Post-Cinematic Affect, I appropriated my colleague Jonathan Flatley’s notion of “affective mapping” (which is indeed even the title of his fine book) without citing him. Now, my entire method of writing is based upon appropriating and hijacking textual material as widely as possible. But I always try to acknowledge my sources and points of indebtedness. And in this instance, I egregiously failed to do so. So let me offer my profound apologies to Jonathan, and alert my own readers to the deep extent to which my own work has been informed and affected by his.
Giving appropriate credit isn’t a hijack, but is good for the author from whom you borrowed an idea to marshall forth your own ideas.
Number of citations can be an appropriate index of influence. We all want influence, I suppose.
But we don’t want our work just stolen. Intellectual production is at least as difficult as material production.
Capitalism extends into the creation of ideas and even phrases. It’s all production! And it’s all good!
State capitalist creation of ideas is on the other hand always bad, especially when it extends into the realm of ideas. Marxism lends itself to corporate fascism, and too often destroyed the individuals who made it successful (Stalin’s abuse of his most talented engineers — using them to invent new tanks and airplanes and then destroying them when he thought they had garnered power that might impinge on his own).
Individual creativity is always a good thing, and should be honored. I’m glad that you do this in honoring your colleague Jonathan Flatley. What a funny name!