Anybody here follow the story of Jason Arday?
- Thread starter ALAYMAN
- Start date
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2012
- Messages
- 13,882
- Reaction score
- 3,971
- Points
- 113
- Location
- Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Good article. (Not Christianity Today, incidentally--just Christian Today, an independent British media site.)
The Jason Arday story was a tragedy. I mean that in the literal, Shakespearean sense: Arday was a deeply flawed man who rose well above his ability, and in the end those flaws did him in. "Be sure you sin will find you out" (Num. 32:23).
Arday was supposedly severely autistic, nonverbal until he was 11, and unable to read or write until adulthood. Nonetheless, he achieved a PhD in 2015 and became a professor at Cambridge in 2022, the youngest black professor in their history. His story was basically false, of course; Arday was an academic Baron Munchausen. But he was propped up and promoted by progressive academics who saw him as a DEI triumph.
He probably would have had a successful career as a gifted undergraduate, had he not been pushed beyond his abilities.
The Jason Arday story was a tragedy. I mean that in the literal, Shakespearean sense: Arday was a deeply flawed man who rose well above his ability, and in the end those flaws did him in. "Be sure you sin will find you out" (Num. 32:23).
Arday was supposedly severely autistic, nonverbal until he was 11, and unable to read or write until adulthood. Nonetheless, he achieved a PhD in 2015 and became a professor at Cambridge in 2022, the youngest black professor in their history. His story was basically false, of course; Arday was an academic Baron Munchausen. But he was propped up and promoted by progressive academics who saw him as a DEI triumph.
He probably would have had a successful career as a gifted undergraduate, had he not been pushed beyond his abilities.
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2012
- Messages
- 10,843
- Reaction score
- 3,981
- Points
- 113
lol, I literally consciously thought that I had typed that out correctly, knowing that the article wasn’t from the slightly left leaning Christianity Today site.
I know I really shouldn’t be surprised in this culture where every elite institutional to outdo the other on its progressivism, but it really did stun me that nobody vetted his pedigree, at least not to the appropriate level of investigation.
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2012
- Messages
- 13,882
- Reaction score
- 3,971
- Points
- 113
- Location
- Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Well, look at what's happened to the media and others who did examine his pedigree and credentials. It's been said the scandal would set back racial studies and humanities departments; that it makes life harder for other black academics; that it's being weaponized by far-right racists; that it was, in fact, out-and-out racist and would make people assume all black academics falsify or exaggerate their credentials.
In other words, it's not Arday's fault he was a fabulist; it's the media's fault for being racist and reporting it.
It's been argued both that the scrutiny over his credentials is due to his race, while conversely a white academic would not have been so closely scrutinized;[1] also that his race was what shielded him from a more rigorous vetting.
It's easy to imagine why an institution might be hesitant to vet the claims of a Jason Arday. The backlash could be severe.
[1] On the other hand, in a North American context, look what's happened to the reputations of "Pretendians" like Elizabeth Warren, Ward Churchill, or Grey Owl. It seems to me, rather, that a white academic would likely never have been seriously considered for Jason Arday's job if his fabrications were discovered early enough.
Last edited: