Play-giarism

I don't know if I agree with all of the above. Especially as a writer who has met his fair share of creative types in the wonderful world of theatre who believe sincerely that "Intellectual Property, like any other Property, is theft" and that just because I came up with an idea doesn't necessarily make it mine exclusively. To be honest a good part of me doesn't really care where you take my work to if you just straight up took it from me.

Yet on the other hand I have often found in my writings the streets of de Chirico's paintings, the anecdotes of friends long lost, the dream pacing of William Burroughs, the terse machismo lyricism of James Ellroy, the bebop prose of mad-buddha Beats, the S&M burlesque of Men's Adventures magazines, the ideas of Robert Anton (and Colin) Wilson, the magick in fury and practice of the 20th century occultists, the songs of Cave and Waits and Cash and Cohen... not to mention wayyyyy too many comic books to possibly list here... just to name a few of the influences seeping through my haphazard style.

So when does inspiration become plagiarism? Or is every creative act, no matter how ingenius or original, an act of 'appropiation' on some level? Because I really do agree with the "... devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs..." that Jarmusch mentions in the above quote. But at the same time I get really pissed off when I drunkenly spill an idea out over a conversation only to find days later that someone else took it under the divine right of 'I can have it if you can't you stop me from taking it'.

Any thoughts?