Ghostwriting

Today in class Deborah Brandt came in and talked with us about her paper “Who’s the President” and her experiences with ghostwriting. She talked about how she studied ghostwriting in the employment force. I was amazed when she told us that out of about 40 to 50 people she interviewed, between 14 to 17 of them had experience ghostwriting in their job! Before discussing ghostwriting in class, I did not realize how frequent it occurs. I only really thought of ghostwriting existing in political speeches.

After today’s discussion, I still feel torn on whether or not I think ghostwriting is ethical. I believe that if a person has someone write something for them in order to achieve money, status, or power, I think it is wrong. However, at the same time, someone could have really good ideas, but may have difficulty expressing those ideas into words. I think that ghostwriting is wrong when someone is capable of completing the writing, but is too lazy to do it. I feel like I’m constantly going back and forth between whether or not I think it is acceptable. I think that it really depends on the situation. Our class today made me aware of the fact that I would not be comfortable writing something for someone that did not share similar values and beliefs to my own.

I’m still contemplating what topic to do my ghostwriting project on. I’m going to be ghostwriting for my good friend, but at the moment she does not have any writing assignments. We are going to make up an assignment for me to do, but I’m still trying to come up with something! If you have any ideas, feel free to let me know :)