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> It is very sad that Arday took his life for what was at most a temporary setback. I hope you and others realize that he was being relentlessly harassed. I hi

by baubino 1mo ago

> It is very sad that Arday took his life for what was at most a temporary setback. I hope you and others realize that he was being relentlessly harassed. I highly doubt the academic job was the only thing causing him distress. His claims were questionable at best but not worthy of the vitriol he received.

amiga386 1mo ago
He was subject to intense public and media scrutiny due to the uncovering of his wrongdoing and his recalcitrant non-apology. He wasn't some rando, he was one of Cambridge University's "star" professors. His appointment was heralded in the media as hugely important. He guest-edited the BBC's flagship Today programme. He became a cultural advisor for ITV. He was a media celebrity... on the basis of what is likely an invented life story. There is a genuine public interest in further investigation. For the past 3 years he and his college actively suppressed inquiries about his plagiarism using reputation management lawyers and false claims of harassment to the police. He should have read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_You%27ve_Been_Publicly_Shamed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_You%27ve_Been_Publicly_Sham... and what happened to Jonah Lehrer. Lehrer is still shamed for plagiarism and his career has not recovered... but he is still alive.
- baubino 1mo ago
  I know exactly who he was, the accusations against him, and the likelihood that he lied and misrepresented many aspects of his personal history. Still doesn’t justify the pile-on and relentless racially-tinged harassment. He was an academic for fucksake, not a politician or a world leader. We live in a bizarre world where far too many people believe that harassment is permissible if someone is famous, in the public eye, or if they’ve done something wrong. Yes, his claims and credentials should have been investigated (and done so years ago) but, again, none of this justifies relentless harassment. That others have been publicly shamed and harassed in the past does not justify this public shaming and harassment. That others did not take their life over it does not make this public shaming and harassment somehow okay. It is very possible to believe that Arday misrepresented himself AND ALSO believe that the harassment against him was unwarranted. I personally would have much rather seen all that energy funneled into pressure on the institution — Cambridge and the other universities he worked at — to be transparent about their hiring practices and answer for clear inconsistencies in Arday’s work history.
  - wahern 1mo ago
    The claims of harassment came from him, and began long before this became sensationalized. Certainly the claimed harassment before the public scrutiny is highly suspect, and in some cases already shown to be utter fabrications, such as the pig head that he claimed he was sent. And reading between the lines, the harassment that Cambridge and his family has claimed seems to be them simply parroting claims he made privately to them, i.e. highly suspect. This psychologically impaired, pathological liar deftly leveraged DEI narratives and caricatures of racism to simultaneously aggrandize and shield himself from scrutiny. There are many people like him in this world. The reality of pathological liars is far more complicated than what people expect; these people are rarely malicious, and can seem (and legitimately be, until challenged) nice people. And the emotional pain they feel is no less real, and often more intense, than normal people. This guy happened to be black and figured out how to use white guilt to almost comical ends, but this type of person is usually quietly shown the door before things blow up so spectacularly. (Often the public ire ends up being about why authorities quietly showed these people the door, especially when they find new people and groups to dupe. Often part of the reasoning is concern about psychological fragility and being responsible for creating an even bigger mess.) The credulity exhibited by Cambridge is, IMO, patently racist. Whatever racial harassment he experienced after things became public pales in comparison to Cambridge and his supporters elevating this psychologically ill man into the position he reached. He was treated as a black avatar rather than a human being.
  - belZaah 1mo ago
    Harassment is not permissible. But if he had been a black researcher in, say, microbiology, it wouldn’t have materialized to that extent. His research tried to shame a very large chunk of the society for being racist. And it turns out people react in unpredictable and unpleasant ways to accusations towards their core identity that are based on lies. There’s a difference between normalizing harassment and understanding where it comes from. I’d also like to be more forgiving about people talking bs about me. But I’m not. Also, imagine being a black person trying to build a career in academia after such a story. The vitriol _they_ will receive, the scrutiny of _their_ work.
    - 1mo ago
belZaah 1mo ago
Everyone deserves compassion. I feel sorry for him. But the fact remains, that he deliberately used lies and deception to gain a high social position in a very politically derisive context. It couldn’t have come as a surprise, that every single racist out there would jump at the opportunity to pull him down should there ever be doubt about his academic work. Plus the people, who really care about academic integrity. Plus a whole lot of folks who simply do not like people blatantly lying for massive personal gains. The vitriol was entirely predictable. The internet is not known for being forgiving. He very deliberately and knowingly took a huge and, given the absurdity of some of his claims, unfounded risk the materialization of which he could not handle. I do feel sorry for him to have started on this path. What state of mind would push a person to take such risk? He must have been a tortured man long before it all exploded into the open.
duxup 1mo ago
I’ve found a disturbing pattern of “I’m being harassed” (without explanation of what exactly that means) as a sort of blanket statement to discount any kind of questions or scrutiny. The idea of someone having to explain what harassment is occurring is of course unpleasant, but that’s also what makes it an effective method of trying to distract from the topic. If he was being harassed that’s wrong, but it doesn’t make him immune from questions about other things.
ejanus 1mo ago
That is his words, but no evidence. He should have resigned since, and accepted his frailties. That way he could have found strength to rebuild.

by baubino 1mo ago

amiga386 1mo ago

He was subject to intense public and media scrutiny due to the uncovering of his wrongdoing and his recalcitrant non-apology. He wasn't some rando, he was one of Cambridge University's "star" professors. His appointment was heralded in the media as hugely important. He guest-edited the BBC's flagship Today programme. He became a cultural advisor for ITV. He was a media celebrity... on the basis of what is likely an invented life story. There is a genuine public interest in further investigation. For the past 3 years he and his college actively suppressed inquiries about his plagiarism using reputation management lawyers and false claims of harassment to the police. He should have read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_You%27ve_Been_Publicly_Shamed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_You%27ve_Been_Publicly_Sham... and what happened to Jonah Lehrer. Lehrer is still shamed for plagiarism and his career has not recovered... but he is still alive.

baubino 1mo ago
I know exactly who he was, the accusations against him, and the likelihood that he lied and misrepresented many aspects of his personal history. Still doesn’t justify the pile-on and relentless racially-tinged harassment. He was an academic for fucksake, not a politician or a world leader. We live in a bizarre world where far too many people believe that harassment is permissible if someone is famous, in the public eye, or if they’ve done something wrong. Yes, his claims and credentials should have been investigated (and done so years ago) but, again, none of this justifies relentless harassment. That others have been publicly shamed and harassed in the past does not justify this public shaming and harassment. That others did not take their life over it does not make this public shaming and harassment somehow okay. It is very possible to believe that Arday misrepresented himself AND ALSO believe that the harassment against him was unwarranted. I personally would have much rather seen all that energy funneled into pressure on the institution — Cambridge and the other universities he worked at — to be transparent about their hiring practices and answer for clear inconsistencies in Arday’s work history.
- wahern 1mo ago
  The claims of harassment came from him, and began long before this became sensationalized. Certainly the claimed harassment before the public scrutiny is highly suspect, and in some cases already shown to be utter fabrications, such as the pig head that he claimed he was sent. And reading between the lines, the harassment that Cambridge and his family has claimed seems to be them simply parroting claims he made privately to them, i.e. highly suspect. This psychologically impaired, pathological liar deftly leveraged DEI narratives and caricatures of racism to simultaneously aggrandize and shield himself from scrutiny. There are many people like him in this world. The reality of pathological liars is far more complicated than what people expect; these people are rarely malicious, and can seem (and legitimately be, until challenged) nice people. And the emotional pain they feel is no less real, and often more intense, than normal people. This guy happened to be black and figured out how to use white guilt to almost comical ends, but this type of person is usually quietly shown the door before things blow up so spectacularly. (Often the public ire ends up being about why authorities quietly showed these people the door, especially when they find new people and groups to dupe. Often part of the reasoning is concern about psychological fragility and being responsible for creating an even bigger mess.) The credulity exhibited by Cambridge is, IMO, patently racist. Whatever racial harassment he experienced after things became public pales in comparison to Cambridge and his supporters elevating this psychologically ill man into the position he reached. He was treated as a black avatar rather than a human being.
- belZaah 1mo ago
  Harassment is not permissible. But if he had been a black researcher in, say, microbiology, it wouldn’t have materialized to that extent. His research tried to shame a very large chunk of the society for being racist. And it turns out people react in unpredictable and unpleasant ways to accusations towards their core identity that are based on lies. There’s a difference between normalizing harassment and understanding where it comes from. I’d also like to be more forgiving about people talking bs about me. But I’m not. Also, imagine being a black person trying to build a career in academia after such a story. The vitriol _they_ will receive, the scrutiny of _their_ work.
  - 1mo ago

belZaah 1mo ago

Everyone deserves compassion. I feel sorry for him. But the fact remains, that he deliberately used lies and deception to gain a high social position in a very politically derisive context. It couldn’t have come as a surprise, that every single racist out there would jump at the opportunity to pull him down should there ever be doubt about his academic work. Plus the people, who really care about academic integrity. Plus a whole lot of folks who simply do not like people blatantly lying for massive personal gains. The vitriol was entirely predictable. The internet is not known for being forgiving. He very deliberately and knowingly took a huge and, given the absurdity of some of his claims, unfounded risk the materialization of which he could not handle. I do feel sorry for him to have started on this path. What state of mind would push a person to take such risk? He must have been a tortured man long before it all exploded into the open.

duxup 1mo ago

I’ve found a disturbing pattern of “I’m being harassed” (without explanation of what exactly that means) as a sort of blanket statement to discount any kind of questions or scrutiny. The idea of someone having to explain what harassment is occurring is of course unpleasant, but that’s also what makes it an effective method of trying to distract from the topic. If he was being harassed that’s wrong, but it doesn’t make him immune from questions about other things.

ejanus 1mo ago

That is his words, but no evidence. He should have resigned since, and accepted his frailties. That way he could have found strength to rebuild.