Comment on Tributes paid to Jason Arday after ex-Cambridge professor found dead

Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

• ohulancutash@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  His memoirs are being published this week, and he has been a public figure for nearly 15 years. He isn’t exactly a private citizen.

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  • Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    I suspect 99% of people have never heard of him outside of academia.

    At the end of the day he was just a university professor. He didn’t deserve what he got.

    Rapists get better protection from the media.

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    • ohulancutash@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      I think theres more nuance. For nearly two decades he actively courted press attention, constructing a striking self-mythology that almost dared disbelief.

      He was happy enough with that until last year when investigative journalists actually began questioning his methods and claims, at which point he engaged the services of notorious SLAPP law firm Carter-Ruck to intimidate them into silence.

      At a time when there are concerns of AI-hallucinated studies and deep cutbacks in the university sector, his downfall amid accusations of fabricated evidence and plagiarism was newsworthy. He didn’t deserve that end, but scrutiny was merited.

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      • Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        I’ll defer to your knowledge on the matter, as one of the 99% who had no real idea he existed I’m not going to pretend I know more about what was happening.

        But as a lay-person, I believe the matter deserved investigation and scrutiny from the University and exam boards. Not a trial by media

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