I think what it is, is you are afraid that if you develop a reputation for being a joke thief, no one will ever listen to your comedy. If you value the joke, do a bit about it. Parallel thinking isn't considered theft, Calculus is a mathematical field that is credited to both Leibniz and Newton, both arrived on the logical system of calculus independently. If we go down this road of making thoughts and observations and jokes intellectual property, pretty soon there will be no speech at all. It's an absurd premise. Imagine that someone says that to you, and they are wrong or are lying - and they do it over and over again. At what point do you just stop caring about what has been said before?