Academic against orthodoxy
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Andy Scott retweeted
This is incorrect. Jason Arday was responded to as a symbol of a tribe against whom there is much animus but that tribe was not “black people.” It was Critical Social Justice (woke) activists. And enablement of the wrongdoing was directly tied to the views of that movement
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Why was Jason Arday's plagiarism a front-page story, and not Johann Hari's? Or Dr William O'Reilly's?
Because when white people do wrong, they're seen as individuals, and not stand-ins for their entire race.
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
The Arday's case goes way beyond plagiarism. He lied on his bio, his credentials, he invented attacks on him, he sent police to shut down research into his own academic fraud. It ceased to be plagiarism case a long time ago. theguardian.com/education/ng-i…
Andy Scott retweeted
I think @PaulEmbery makes some very valid points here. It is so difficult because in these tragic circumstances, we all need to reflect. But for now a worry: the hounding narrative is in danger of pushing serious mistruths & will lead to even more chilling of free speech, press freedom & accountability. Those who maliciously/carelessly accuse others of racism (in my book at least one of the worst smears); those who glibly call in libel lawyers or the police to silence scrutiny; those who shamelessly blame queries about academic corruption for a truely devastating death - it is THEY who are recklessly hounding good faith individuals. If the 'lesson learned' is 'put up or shut up', we may as well abandon truth-seeking, integrity, journalism. That would be another tragedy.
Jason Arday’s death is tragic. But please spare us the sanctimonious complaints that he was merely an ‘obscure’ academic who was the victim of a racist witch-hunt. The probing and questioning and exposure were entirely legitimate.
Arday was plainly guilty of plagiarism. He had also made a series of fantastical claims about his life and career. He ended up being appointed as a professor at one of the world’s most august seats of learning – where his students, who had worked extremely hard to get there, were paying large fees for the privilege of being taught by him.
Far from being obscure, Arday had happily engaged with the media over many years, often repeating his false claims. He appeared on numerous TV shows and guest edited Radio 4’s flagship Today programme. He even carried the Olympic torch.
Moreover, he had secured a major publishing deal for his autobiography, which was set to be released in Britain and the US just as the scandal broke. By no measure was this man ‘obscure’.
When a fellow academic in Plymouth began to question his credentials, Arday (or someone close to him) made a complaint to the police. When a journalist from Times Higher Education started investigating, he was subjected to a police inquiry and also received a threatening letter from the leading libel solicitors, Carter Ruck.
Arday and those around him were clearly not averse to hounding others when they felt like it.
It’s very possible that Arday did not have sufficient support measures in place when he was finally exposed – but that’s on others. The investigation and questions amounted to legitimate journalistic inquiry.
This was never just about Arday’s fabulism. It was also about the increasingly controversial philosophy of DEI, the obsession of our political, corporate and educational institutions with pushing that philosophy, and how it might have led to someone with Arday’s subpar credentials being appointed in the first place.
These are all valid questions to ask – and, by asking them, journalists are simply doing their jobs.
Andy Scott retweeted
The leader of the Lib Dems, and the leader and deputy leader of the Green party, think some women have penises. In itself, it seems like a relatively unimportant matter. But it is symptomatic of a contempt for science and evidence-based truth. Could you vote for a flat-Earther?
Andy Scott retweeted
You cannot simultaneously believe that (1) all borders are fake and should not be policed, and (2) that land can be "stolen."
This is one of the most braindead beliefs a person can hold.
Andy Scott retweeted
The superiority of western civilisation - almost entirely downstream of British civilisation by the way - is so obvious and clear that an entire industry of pseudo-academics has to work full time to propagandise against it.
Andy Scott retweeted
Today marks the 10th anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attack, where Islamist gunmen killed 12 people in response to the magazine's controversial cartoons.
So, naturally, we should all share the cartoons on X, highlighting the importance of free speech and the right to satire.
Andy Scott retweeted
I'm sorry, but the goal of science and thus the job of a scientist is to discover what's true, i.e. produce knowledge, not to "serve or save" anyone.
All science does is discover what's true. It is then up to societies or individuals to decide how to use those truths to pursue their goals based on their values.
Social Justice is destroying science and thus our ability to pursue truth and knowledge, and we must not let this continue.
Andy Scott retweeted
.@sally_hines, I've given your book 'Is Gender Fluid?' to several people who want a short primer on what gender identity ideology's all about. So far, 100% of readers have rated it self-contradictory, unevidenced bollocks. You have my permission to use that quote on the cover.
Andy Scott retweeted
I am an academic. I can say honestly that (outside of gender studies) virtually no one really believes that men who identify as women are women. What is puzzling is that many intelligent progressives have decided to go along with this and brush it off, saying "what does it matter?" But it does matter to women. It does matter to gays/lesbians. And it does matter to children. It mattters a lot.
Andy Scott retweeted
Rowling is one of, literally, perhaps 4-5 people globally who convinced normies it was OK to notice the naked Emperor.
Andy Scott retweeted
Calling a man a man is not 'bullying' or 'punching down.' Crossdressing straight men are currently one of the most pandered-to demographics in existence, and women are under no obligation to applaud the people caricaturing us.
Andy Scott retweeted
Incomprehensible, therefore must be profound? Or just pretentious, meaningless bilge? If you have something worthwhile to say, why would you deliberately cultivate obscurity?
“This form of theoretical extractivism had to be countered by uncovering specific histories and archives, more accountable narratives, and ways of knowing, produced by those who had for too long constituted the phantasmatic objects of fear, the zones of experiments, the fetishized examples that demonstrated the “validity” of Western epistemologies.”
Andy Scott retweeted
My message of hope on Trans Day of Visibility: 'trans' does not exist, the sex you were born with is your sex, calling yourself something else is self-delusional words infinitely weaker than biology & evolution, 'trans' is a psyop from deluded and/or evil people, but it's only a feeble trendy psyop doomed to fade so you can escape it by the power of thought alone!
If you want to understand / be cured of the LGBTQ+∞ cult read Dostoyevsky's The Devils
#Hope #TDOV
Andy Scott retweeted
One of the most serious dangers comes from the idea--promoted by both right and left--that to be offended by speech is to be harmed. And as we believe that we can stop actual harm, we can stop stop speech that offends us. If we value liberal pluralism, we must reject that idea.
Andy Scott retweeted
The notion that slavery is the great sin of the British Empire is nonsensical and a result of American culture wars being copy and pasted into a context that doesn’t make sense.
It’s especially bizarre when muddled together with imperialism, given that the Empire forced abolition onto its subjects multiple times, ending their indigenous culture of slavery which none of these peoples are expected to atone for.
Andy Scott retweeted
As it happens, life expectancy in Gaza is higher than in Glasgow. If only there was someone in a position to do something about that…
The people of Gaza urgently need access to food, water, fuel and medical supplies.
@UNRWA is providing life saving aid to those caught up in the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe.
Please donate if you can, so that they can continue their vital work:
donate.unrwa.org/gaza
Andy Scott retweeted
Has anyone written a good piece about how the left seems to be using the word “genocide” to mean “civilians who died in war while looking the same”?
Andy Scott retweeted
And now children, here's your bedtime story:
A French philosopher named Michel Foucault, who was alleged to have abused young boys in Tunisia, was primarily responsible for a theory that came to be known as postmodernism. This theory was adopted by mediocre academics who were unable to do any serious thinking. These academics came up with a number of bizarre ideas, including but not limited to, that sex was not binary and was on a "spectrum," that sex was not immutable and could be changed, that sex was irrelevant and only gender mattered, that everyone had an "innate" sense of gender even though gender is a cultural construct, and that men could be women and had a right to use women's toilets and other facilities, and to play on their sports teams. The Foucauldians rejected the idea that we should all just live and let live and, instead, demanded that, although there was no truth, everyone had to accept their metaphysical, quasi-religious beliefs as literally true and had to do whatever the Foucauldians wanted or they would be called lots of horrible names and be subjected to endless repetitions of slogans such as "trans women are women" and "trans rights are human rights" until they wept from boredom. Liberal, pluralistic society disappeared, virulent misogyny was given free reign, everyone had more pronouns than anyone could remember, and the only music permitted was that of Billy Bragg. Everyone remotely interesting was canceled. Universities abolished all departments except for gender studies because all other areas of study, especially all biological sciences, were deemed “transphobic.” Everyone was absolutely miserable, especially those who had surgery and took hormones and regretted it. No one lived happily ever after.
That's the end of our story, children. Sorry it was such a bummer. Good night.
Andy Scott retweeted
It’s the movie they really don’t want you to see: #WhatIsAWoman?
Watch the explosive documentary starring @MattWalshBlog FREE on Twitter for 24 hrs. teapaw.org/realDailyWire/status/1…