Jason Arday dead

[ThisWiseRobin]

Just putting this out there, but just heared.A sad end to a whole sorry mess.

It’s interesting people are coming on here to slag off the DM when it was actually a journalist from the Times who broke the story after months of investigation. He ended being under investigation by the police, after a complaint from JA. I believe JA may also have had his lawyers send a letter to him. He began his investigation after being approached by a few academics, who had concerns about him and his work.

Well said

I do think his race played the role in all this but not the way a lot of people on here imply it did. He was not "hounded" because of his race. He was promoted to the position he was not qualified to hold purely because someone wanted him to be a figurehead for diversity, and I actually find it offensive on so many levels - but mainly because whoever appointed him thought he was "good enough", as if Black knowlegeble academics are not a thing. I think this whole sorry saga exposes racism of people who think they are champions of diversity- it shows their contempt for Black people - ah, you are pretty, talkative, charming - you would do, great.

Feel sorry for JA but think of only his claims were a bit less outlandish and his work a bit less obviously plagiarized he would still be there at Cambridge happily teaching unfortunate kids who chose to learn Sociology or whatever it was he taught.

JA was about to publish a book about.…. his life story.

@localnotail I agree that there was a racial element to the fact so many believed him without question (how did they not question) but I do think some of the reaction to the news stories/SM has been racist.

He was non verbal according to other classmates! One of his closest friends
and work colleagues has just been talking on R4. He is absolutely heartbroken, JA was talking and whatsapping him yesterday morning!

The friend (apologies didn’t catch his name) stated he knows several people who have confirmed he was non verbal when at primary school. He also had seen proof of his diagnosis of Autism and other additional needs whilst he was at school and he was a very gentle and venerable man.
JAs last message was that he just could not go on with the constant picking apart of evry
single aspect of his life. 😢

Well it would be, it is obvious there are a lot of racists around us. But it was not the main reason JA was exposed/ in the news. Rather, it was because he was paraded as a "youngest Black professor" or whatever and made such out there claims people started to notice and asking wtf is this.

A lot of people do seem to completely believe what they read in the press and then form very strong opinions. The likelihood is that there is some truth, some half truths and some complete falsehoods in this saga.

People still stating unverified claims as facts. People who were at school with JA have claimed he was pretty average speech and ability wise (at least one of these people is black for those to whom skin colour matters when assessing veracity).

we disagree - it happens.

There is no hidden motive, or secret reasons as to my position on the topic. You feel qualified to scrutinise - you are entitled to having this opinions, and maybe are more liberal than I am with how the professional conduct of those who are not public servants should be judged and the form of process associated with this and who is / is not qualified.

I am more cautious with the boundaries of my professional expertise - this is also valid. I do not like to cast judgement without reading the totality of facts about a case.

The point on policy - you and I would find it interesting, but my view is that most would not - and would not be as likely to sell newspapers as the race and age angle (and anti-elitiste institution angle) that we saw instead.

as a wider point - i think the scrutiny of institutions is much more warranted as part of a well framed debate, rather than the sustained focus on the sad actions of a man who was very vulnerable.

I did not say it was the reason he was exposed.

I was replying to your post about his “hounding”. I think there was an element of racism in his hounding because as you say there are a lot of racists around us.

Just to clarify, I am not criticising the Guardian. The coverage I read of theirs was well researched, proportionate and fair and I believe the fiasco needed to be reported.

But that didn't actually happen in the story, it was a vision of what would happen to Scrooge if he didn't change his ways (ghost of Christmas future). It was a warning about how you reap what you sow....... 🤔

Very true

He seemed to have gone to the normal school rather than special school, as he claimed.

There seemed to have been some parts of his story that were true, but a lot was ridiculously embellished and a lot made up. Also, there are some very grey areas where it's hard to understand what exactly happened - such as his early degrees, esp in Education, no one seem to know how he got them considering he did not have Math and English GCSEs. Timeliness also don't add up.

Ah, well therein lies the problem: when the word racist is bandied about so often, the times when it makes a real appearance get lost in the pile.

I don't know. Social media, maybe as it's a free for all. Papers - probably but mainly from the angle of him being a Diversity etc poster boy. Which is somewhat true as he would have not been pushed to his position had he not been Black.

To quote the guardian: “interviews with former schoolmates have produced conflicting accounts of his childhood. Two remember him speaking at primary school, describing a chatty child who loved making jokes, while two others say they did not hear him speak until he reached secondary school.” One of the people claiming he spoke is a YouTuber who might have an interest in producing a video guaranteed to generate views. The evidence seems inconclusive at this stage (as with some other things being claimed about JA)

It’s sad for him, but he did need to be exposed in his chosen lies

His fabrications could have been exposed without the relentless pile ons and hounding. The bloke who wrote A Million Little Pieces, for example, still has a career. And a life.

He probably had selective mutism where he was able to speak in certain environments but found it difficult in others. This was one of the things that got picked apart in the media because some childhood friends remember him being funny and chatty while others claim he never spoke and was taken out for special lessons.

It's also possible the terminology got mixed up at some point so they conflated mutism with non-verbal. and I know someone with ASD who is perfectly normal and capable of holding long conversations but stops speaking the moment he is back home with his siblings and family. It's almost like some sort of childhood switch gets flipped and he often sits through entire meals with saying a single word while everyone else is talking.

The point is he lied to promote himself and to advance himself in his life, career and status. His lying gave him advantages over people trying to build careers on their abilities alone, meaning he got jobs due to his lies, that someone else would otherwise have got.

JA is now a victim of his own lies. Other people were victims of his lies too. People who didn’t get the job he got, students who never got the education or supervision they were paying for, and had worked for, as he was not competent to deliver it. And now his family are his victims too.

I think that if Cambridge (or ANY of the institutions that were taken in by his story) had taken the accusations seriously, discovered the problems and let him quietly resign this all would be very different, a minor footnote in academia. Maybe a minor amusement be ayse if the wild claims.

The fact that any questioning (including from his students and journalists) were forced to back down with accusations of racism, police were called on people that could have effected their lives and livelihood means that this situation was a perfect storm of click bate.

Cambridge university humiliated
Exposing 'wokism' (regardless if you agree with the term'
Ridiculous claims (this alone make the story attractive and lots of media focussed on this)
The blow to higher education in general
Questionable scholarship
Racism
AI
Plagerism
lies

The story has everything.

Unfortunately for Jason, he built a glorious imaginary castle and went far far far too far to defend it. Of course when people found out it wasn't real they turned on him.

For once we agree. Information which is inconclusive should be treated with caution and not assumed to be fact, either way round.

Shame can be a strong driver of suicide and it does bring on thoughts of poor Caroline Flack
Sensitive people feel driven to escape in the most terrible way

Only recently a poor girl at the civil service was driven to suicide after the shame of possible job loss - in addition to this he had to excessive public scrutiny

Unfortunately the story grew legs because he had been promoted and paraded in the first place perhaps beyond his capabilities
The whole thing became a newsworthy circus because it was such a fantastical life story

It is a sad parable of our times but maybe if more rigour had been applied earlier to his applications he would have found a lovely job and had a lovely life 😞

Not hearing him speak doesnt mean he was non verbal he may have bern selectivly mute but thats not the samre
I had a friend a secondary school who looking back was probably autistic
Who never spoke in class and wouldnt even answer the register
But she spoke fine to me on our own.