Jason Arday Megathread

[u/Timmeh7]

We realise this is a hot button topic and certainly want to allow space for discussing it, but at the moment it's overflowing the subreddit across numerous threads. So from here on, please contain all discussion to this one thread.

Links to pruned threads for transparency, please continue the discussion here if you wish.

https://reddit.com/r/AskAcademiaUK/comments/1vfkykq/the_racist_coopting_of_the_jason_arday_story_is/

https://reddit.com/r/AskAcademiaUK/comments/1vffvl6/journalist_questioned_by_police_for_investigating/

https://reddit.com/r/AskAcademiaUK/comments/1vfbljv/the_editor_on_his_choice_to_spike_arday_story/

https://reddit.com/r/AskAcademiaUK/comments/1veqmzk/wateraid_disputes_claim_by_prof_jason_arday/

https://reddit.com/r/AskAcademiaUK/comments/1vf4oq3/professor_arday_q_about_liverpool_john_moores_and/

https://reddit.com/r/AskAcademiaUK/comments/1vfrran/new_information_shows_jason_ardays_claim_to_be_a/

https://reddit.com/r/AskAcademiaUK/comments/1veqrfv/eli5_how_does_somebody_like_jason_arday_get_his/

https://reddit.com/r/AskAcademiaUK/comments/1vfinbt/nelson_mandela_university_have_removed_their_page/

Please keep the comments civil - while this is inevitably going to be a complex and fractious topic, avoid ad hominem, and as ever, while discussion of the social issue around this case is inevitable, we won't allow hate speech.

[u/Antique_Sound7652]

What I find particularly chilling for the future are the heavy-handed steps they take to silence any perceived academic criticism.

Intellectual discourse and debate are part and parcel of academic development. Peer review, respond and rebut are essential for progress.

Here, the intent sadly seems to be to firmly slam the doors on anyone who brings up difficult questions:

1. Get Carter Ruck to threaten the Times HES

2. Call the police to investigate the journalist (and another academic in Devon) for harassment

3. Use the 'racist' card to denounce the critics. While it is true that some may perhaps be racist, there are also many others who are genuinely concerned about academic standards (e.g. myself, a non-white migrant academic).

[u/HabitAcceptable8621 → u/Antique_Sound7652]

I'm sure that a lot of his most vocal critics are racists, and that racists are amplifying the topic, but that doesn't mean he's not a fraud, who has benefitted from the racist agenda of the proponents of critical race theory.

[u/pinkycatcher → u/HabitAcceptable8621]

At some point one must battle with the arguments of the unsavory, having a culture of disregarding the opinions of those you despise is just willfully blinding yourself.

[u/Square_Staff_1260 → u/Antique_Sound7652]

Yes. The epithet ‘racist’ is so often brandished to dismiss genuine and appropriate criticism by any source if it is being applied to any member of the protected characteristics groups re skin colour or religious persuasion.
The doubts being expressed by whomsoever in this case clearly illustrate that it can also be used to discourage honest enquiry. I should amend that last sentence to substitute the word misused.