State of Monday: RACISM KILLED JASON ARDAY
It’s very simple, guys, stop being racist
Greetings, Dear Reader,
I’m back! The baby’s healthy, mommy’s healthy, the other kids are healthy, everyone’s driving me nuts, so I’m back at work.
I’m kidding (kind of), I love my family.
Like most men (at least the healthy ones), I did feel a drive to get back to work a little earlier than my leave technically allows.
So, here I am.
Well …
RACISM KILLED JASON ARDAY
Disgraced Cambridge professor Jason Arday’s suicide is a tragic loss. Every human is precious and every one deserves a chance at redemption. Once you get past the grief of direct family, the worst part of suicide is that it etches the lack of redemption into eternity.
Arday’s redemption is now solely in the hands of the public, and the public isn’t doing a great job so far.
His colleagues and supporters insist it was racism that killed Arday. Of course they do, and they’re right, but not for the reasons they think.
The contention is that the campaign to discredit his work was just too much for him to bear. Also that it only happened because he was black. The level of disassociation required to believe the “racist digital lynching” line is uniquely a trait of academia and elite media.
Race-conscious conservatives leading the charge against Arday and by extension Cambridge don’t help the case, regardless of how much they say it’s about merit. When it comes to the motives of either side of the debate, we primarily rely on our wits as evidence of sincerity.
On the subject of merit, the clearest objective truth in the whole story is that Arday had none, or at least not remotely enough to be Cambridge’s youngest black fully-tenured professor (“historic!”). What’s more, he was a liar of such profound pathology that reading about it reminded me of that kid at the bus stop in middle school saying his dad once jumped clear over that yonder mountain. In one leap, he did.
Likewise straining credulity was Liverpool John Moores University’s initial assertion that it had fully investigated Arday’s PhD thesis and found no reason to question it. Setting aside what appears to be a bilked dissertation, Arday’s writing was rife with grammatical and spelling errors that wouldn’t pass muster for a freshman-level English paper.
If there’s a larger allegory in this story, it’s that academia’s wounds are also self-inflicted. And it’s not just the Ardays of the world who are hurt by academia’s slow-motion suicide.
It was the entire elite academic community that elevated Arday despite his glaring insufficiencies. The cynics, who I don’t consider off base, insist it’s because of Arday’s race and corresponding 30 lbs of dreadlocks. It’s not even that tempting a conclusion considering Cambridge et al trumpeted Arday’s race at every turn.
I think it goes without saying that Jason Arday would probably still be alive if he were teaching sociology at a community college, where his tall tales would just be a part of his local eccentricity, and his academic malfeasance would more than likely go unnoticed.
Indeed, it was racism that killed Arday. It was the “institutional” or “systemic” racism that academics and their insufferable students constantly hammer on about, except it was happening in their midst and because of their policies. Institutions that need black people as pets are bound to look the other way when it comes to downsides.
The saddest part of the story is that if Arday is to have any posthumous redemption arc it will be because his name set into motion a return to color-blind meritocracy.
I’m not sure how likely that is. I won’t be holding my breath.
WHAT I’M READING
Trump’s Newly Minted Attorney General Refuses NBC Host’s Pledge
She got Blanche’d.
—
Socialist Lawmaker Suggests Shoplifters Should Get Pass If They Steal For ‘Biological Need’
They’re in power now.
—
ROOKE: State Has The Courage To Do What Whole Country Needs
Wish my state would do this.
Like what you’re reading? If so, please consider subscribing to State of the Day or sharing this with a friend. You’d be supporting this newsletter and helping keep independent journalism alive.
If you are already a paid subscriber, make sure to join the conversation in our subscribers-only chat below.
