Merged Arday life and death

[Ziggurat]

Helen and dirtywick seem bent on ushering us into the "it's not a big deal and making it a big deal means you're racist or a tool of racists" phase of the progressive dismissal of progressive failures.

 

[smartcooky]

If Arday called the cops, he must have been in a bad way, likewise appointing Carter-Ruck.

Or, he knew he had something to hide and tried to intimidate people who were trying to discover what it was.

The police warned the hack to leave him alone

David Harris, Professor Emeritus at Plymouth Marjon University, is a hack now?

Journalist Jack Grove from Times Higher Education, is a hack now?

 

[Safe-Keeper]

Macchiarini got jail time many years after he started his fraudulent career in Italy, the US, Sweden and Russia, and the men who recruited and defended him also resigned several years after the fact. There were no hordes of people either defending or condemning him, but there were certainly a great many people who defended/condemned him.

I am not screaming racism about how Arday's career ended, I'm saying that racists, who would never pay any attention to academic fraud otherwise, have run with this, supported by the Russian desinformation machine.

And @theprestige, I am not saying that people in academia, or people concerned with academic fraud, only care about this because of race. I am saying that it has blown up out of all proportion, because of people who are definitely racist.

It has even been used in the general election (on the 13th) campaign here, by the very far right, as an example of how important it is to keep "Sweden Swedish".

Not all people who condemnArday's fraud are racist, all academic fraud should be condemned. Some people who condemn Arday are racist, and many of those racists are using it to spread distrust, and misinformation, for political reasons that have nothing to do with academic fraud.

Exactly. He was obviously a fraud, and the story blew up because people who don't ordinarily care about (academic) fraud could use it as ammunition in their culture war. Two things can be true at the same time.

 

[Vixen]

Additionally, a lot of people who otherwise wouldn't care about academic integrity have come out of the woodworks to defend Arday, seemingly on the premise that Arday should NOT be exposed to any scrutiny BECAUSE Arday is black.

I think there is a cultural divide here. Nathan Cofnas, being American, and some Americans in this thread, have taken the wrong end of the stick and have assumed Arday was 'a DEI hire'. There are no quota requirements in the UK to fulfil 'DEI' or more correctly, 'EDI' quotas (and is in fact, prohibited by law). This is a gross simplification to illustrate the point but the sociological difference between the USA and the UK re race is that in the USA, your race is stamped on your birth certificate. People tend to mix almost solely with their own homogenous group; Southerners, Appalachian hillbillies, Brooklyners, WASP's, Irish, Italians, Hispanics, Puerto Ricans, whatever. The UK is more subtle and class-based. It's based very much on privilege and who you know. You get into Eton because your dad was there and can afford £50K a term plus the cost of the uniform, choristers gowns and the gymkhana/polo gear. Arday didn't get appointed because he was Black. He was put on the ladder by chancing upon some academic called Cohen-Baron who mentored him in studying, putting Arday on the path of a degree at Twickenham. He got on the rungs to Cambridge because he networked and chanced upon the right connections. Cofnas and the Atlantic & other US news outlets believing Arday was some kind of wokerati DEI hire, who was only hired by Cambridge because they had to, have missed the point. Arday was more likely to be looked down on for being working class and coming from a poor area, not to mention having a dreaded Sarf Lunn'on accent. It is all snobbery in academia and there is a lot of of infighting amongst academics, with half the staff room not speaking to the other half.

 

[Vixen]

Or, he knew he had something to hide and tried to intimidate people who were trying to discover what it was.


David Harris, Professor Emeritus at Plymouth Marjon University, is a hack now?

Journalist Jack Grove from Times Higher Education, is a hack now?

Being a braggart or 'giving it large' is not actually a criminal offence. It is immoral but hardly cause to run a character assassination campaign. Had Arday actually committed a criminal offence, he'd be protected by libel and subjudice laws until such time he was convicted.

Why did Harris of Plymouth start fine-tooth combing through Arday's theses in the first place, and then get in touch with Groves? I dare say Groves felt he had a great story and felt vindictive because Arday called the police on him and got Carter-Ruck (who deal with libel) to send a desist letter to the TIMES. There is nothing unreasonable about that; this was Arday's entire livelihood, career and identity at stake. Groves, feeling no doubt vindictive about the police warning, went ahead anyway but then there was an astonishing two-week pile on with all of the mainstream UK press joining in. It was the sort of character assassination that used to be dished out to rapists and murderers. All over some minor professor nobody but a small handful had even heard of.

 

[Emily's Cat]

I think there is a cultural divide here. Nathan Cofnas, being American, and some Americans in this thread, have taken the wrong end of the stick and have assumed Arday was 'a DEI hire'. There are no quota requirements in the UK to fulfil 'DEI' or more correctly, 'EDI' quotas (and is in fact, prohibited by law).

And yet Cambridge went out of their way to laud and proclaim Arday the youngest BLACK professor at their institution, and to emphasize Arday's race. After having made a point of telling the public that they were actively seeking to increase the portion of minorities that they employ and teach.

This is a gross simplification to illustrate the point but the sociological difference between the USA and the UK re race is that in the USA, your race is stamped on your birth certificate.

It's not on my birth certificate. I just went and checked. It also wasn't on my recently departed dad's birth certificate. Nor my mother's, nor those of my siblings. I've recently seen all of those in the process of getting everything switched to my mother's name.

People tend to mix almost solely with their own homogenous group; Southerners, Appalachian hillbillies, Brooklyners, WASP's, Irish, Italians, Hispanics, Puerto Ricans, whatever.

Tell me you know nothing about the US other than what you've been fed by social media without actually saying it.

The UK is more subtle and class-based. It's based very much on privilege and who you know. You get into Eton because your dad was there and can afford £50K a term plus the cost of the uniform, choristers gowns and the gymkhana/polo gear. Arday didn't get appointed because he was Black. He was put on the ladder by chancing upon some academic called Cohen-Baron who mentored him in studying, putting Arday on the path of a degree at Twickenham. He got on the rungs to Cambridge because he networked and chanced upon the right connections. Cofnas and the Atlantic & other US news outlets believing Arday was some kind of wokerati DEI hire, who was only hired by Cambridge because they had to, have missed the point. Arday was more likely to be looked down on for being working class and coming from a poor area, not to mention having a dreaded Sarf Lunn'on accent. It is all snobbery in academia and there is a lot of of infighting amongst academics, with half the staff room not speaking to the other half.

Snobbery isn't limited to the UK... and your post is in contradiction to other brits in this thread who have proclaimed that UK has a big problem with racism... so... I don't know where that leaves you.

 

[Ziggurat]

Being a braggart or 'giving it large' is not actually a criminal offence.

I don't recall anyone claiming it was.

It is immoral but hardly cause to run a character assassination campaign.

"Character assassination" is used to describe unfair or false portrayals of someone's character. This was neither. Furthermore, how is immorality not deserving of criticism?

You continue to defend Arday, even when everyone knows the truth that he was a fraud.

 

[Emily's Cat]

Being a braggart or 'giving it large' is not actually a criminal offence. It is immoral but hardly cause to run a character assassination campaign. Had Arday actually committed a criminal offence, he'd be protected by libel and subjudice laws until such time he was convicted.

Why did Harris of Plymouth start fine-tooth combing through Arday's theses in the first place, and then get in touch with Groves? I dare say Groves felt he had a great story and felt vindictive because Arday called the police on him and got Carter-Ruck (who deal with libel) to send a desist letter to the TIMES. There is nothing unreasonable about that; this was Arday's entire livelihood, career and identity at stake. Groves, feeling no doubt vindictive about the police warning, went ahead anyway but then there was an astonishing two-week pile on with all of the mainstream UK press joining in. It was the sort of character assassination that used to be dished out to rapists and murderers. All over some minor professor nobody but a small handful had even heard of.

Vizen, do you make up your arguments as you go, in an ever-shifting sandbar of excuses? You're changing the order of events to fit your created narrative.

IIRC, Harris noted similarities in Arday's work and that other person (forgot the name and can't be assed to go look it up). They looked into it on their own and found enough overlap, unattributed quotes, etc. that they felt it was unethical. They called Arday to ask about the similarities.

Aday called the police on them AFTER that happened, and then sicced the lawyers on them for good measure.

 

[ahhell]

And yet Cambridge went out of their way to laud and proclaim Arday the youngest BLACK professor at their institution, and to emphasize Arday's race. After having made a point of telling the public that they were actively seeking to increase the portion of minorities that they employ and teach.

It's not on my birth certificate. I just went and checked. It also wasn't on my recently departed dad's birth certificate. Nor my mother's, nor those of my siblings. I've recently seen all of those in the process of getting everything switched to my mother's name.

Tell me you know nothing about the US other than what you've been fed by social media without actually saying it.
Snobbery isn't limited to the UK... and your post is in contradiction to other brits in this thread who have proclaimed that UK has a big problem with racism... so... I don't know where that leaves you.

I think Vixen's knowledge of the mostly seems top come from 1950s gangster movies.

Race was stamped on my Grandfather's immigration papers, granted it was in the 20s and it was "Irish".

ETA: Did a little googling, apparently race is sometimes written on birth certificates and sometimes not, mostly up to the parents as to what they want to right down or not.

 

[Vixen]

I don't recall anyone claiming it was.

"Character assassination" is used to describe unfair or false portrayals of someone's character. This was neither. Furthermore, how is immorality not deserving of criticism?

You continue to defend Arday, even when everyone knows the truth that he was a fraud.

Cambridge opened an investigation and was never given the chance to investigate the claims. So some envious guy decided he couldn't believe Arday had had a tumour twice, or had run 30 marathons in 35 days or that he had had epilepsy and injured his leg from falling. Also it is outrageous that Arday should claim to have been in a car crash that left him feeling locked in in a coma. OUTRAGEOUS. That's how envy works. It inspires an impetous to tear down the person you are envious of. But whilst Cofnas and Groves claim plagiarism, they gave Arday no opportunity to have a fair investigation by Cambridge but decided he must be a 'fabulist' because running 30 marathons in 35 days is impossible.

 

[Matthew Best]

Several things he claimed to have done were possible. It just seemed like ALL of them together was incredibly unlikely. And, well, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and there was none.

 

[Ziggurat]

This is a gross simplification to illustrate the point but the sociological difference between the USA and the UK re race is that in the USA, your race is stamped on your birth certificate.

That's an oversimplification to the point of basically being a lie. When a child is born, parent's self-declared race is commonly recorded for demographic data collection purposes. Most birth certificates issued do not contain this information, so it is not "stamped on" your birth certificate. And it has zero legal significance anyways.

People tend to mix almost solely with their own homogenous group; Southerners, Appalachian hillbillies, Brooklyners, WASP's, Irish, Italians, Hispanics, Puerto Ricans, whatever.

Have you ever even been to the US?

 

[Vixen]

Several things he claimed to have done were possible. It just seemed like ALL of them together was incredibly unlikely. And, well, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and there was none.

Perhaps they should have asked around a bit more:






You don't believe his leg swelled? Better out the guy as a fraud all over the UK and US press.

 

[Vixen]

That's an oversimplification to the point of basically being a lie. When a child is born, parent's self-declared race is commonly recorded for demographic data collection purposes. Most birth certificates issued do not contain this information, so it is not "stamped on" your birth certificate. And it has zero legal significance anyways.

Have you ever even been to the US?

Yes.

 

[theprestige]

That's an oversimplification to the point of basically being a lie. When a child is born, parent's self-declared race is commonly recorded for demographic data collection purposes. Most birth certificates issued do not contain this information, so it is not "stamped on" your birth certificate. And it has zero legal significance anyways.

Have you ever even been to the US?

The US is a large and diverse transcontinental nation-state. Even most Americans haven't really "been to the US".

A European saying they've been to the US is about as cringey as saying they've been to Africa.

 

[theprestige]

Yes.

Really? What parts?

 

[Matthew Best]

Perhaps they should have asked around a bit more:

You don't believe his leg swelled? Better out the guy as a fraud all over the UK and US press.

I don't believe quite a lot of what he said happened to him. Editing that down to "his leg swelled" is not exactly steel-manning my position.

 

[Ziggurat]

Cambridge opened an investigation and was never given the chance to nvestigate the claims.

False. Cambridge had literally years to investigate, starting from 2023 when they were first alerted to concerns. They did nothing. And nobody is under any obligation to wait for Cambridge to finish anything before looking into publicly available information themselves.

But whilst Cofnas and Groves claim plagiarism, they gave Arday no opportunity to have a fair investigation by Cambridge but decided he must be a 'fabulist' because running 30 marathons in 35 days is impossible.

Arday had plenty of chances for a fair investigation, well before Cofnas even got involved. He did everything in his power to avoid having a fair investigation. He can't complain that one never took place when he helped prevent one.

 

[Vixen]

Really? What parts?

Once at the border at Niagara Falls and the other occasion in Tennessee, via North Carolina Airport. Touched on a shopping mall in Alabama.

 

[Ziggurat]

Once at the border at Niagara Falls and the other occasion in Tennessee, via North Carolina Airport. Touched on a shopping mall in Alabama.

And you think this makes you an expert on the US? No wonder you think Arday is qualified.