Roxanne Pallett was doing the rounds this week on IG, and maybe it was due to the BS links, but like you say people can do more with their lives and hopefully go on to achieve good things and not always be a grifter.
Jason Arday #2
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Yeah, when people talk about how terrible it is that this story got so much attention, they're ignoring the fact that Jason Arday himself was about to publish a huge autobiography in several countries. HE WANTED all this publicity. He just didn't want it to be critical. And when you get paid £1m+ to write an autobiography for an international audience and you choose to lie all the way through, you can't also ban people from saying anything bad about it.
Tldr: he wasn't a private citizen subjected to a media pile on, he was actively trying to get famous.
I’m already sick to the back teeth of people popping up Instagram saying everyone should be ashamed of themselves for hounding him and that it was all racially motivated! No doubt there are some racists who jumped on the bandwagon picking holes in his stories. But I do believe for the majority it was the fact that his back story was riddled with lies and exaggerations and not just necessarily targeted because of his skin colour. It was Cambridge who made it about race from the get go by declaring him the youngest black professor. This case of positive discrimination by Cambridge has hugely backfired affecting their reputation. Putting a fantasist like arday on pedestal (didn’t the woman who hired him say ‘you’re the best in the world at what you do’) was so damaging. It was all tokenism.
is it all on Cambridge though?
A lot of it is, but I think the imminent publication of the Autobiography (and the American release) has a large part to play as well,
A lot of it is, but I think the imminent publication of the Autobiography (and the American release) has a large part to play as well,
I hope this doesn't upset you all, but having read the family statement, why didn't they help more? Of all the people - and I speak generally - your family would know instantly about the lies, exaggerations and general untruths you'd have been doing - not once or twice but over a sustained period of years? If the word enabler is too strong, do you think JA's wife left because she'd had enough. I know I would have done, with two small children.
Edit to add: also, when someone dies, the worst thing is the eulogies and sometimes deflecting guilt. It'll never be the families fault, and once someone dies, you also get shut down for ' speaking ill of the dead'.
That is not the same as wanting to ask, nor is it racism, disablism or any other ist or ism to try and get to the truth
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Wishing all you ninnies a happy weekend, might step away until Monday. 
I hate to say this, but I'm bleeping sick of the media's emphasis on him being young. He... really isn't. He's young for a professor, which, ok that's a job you need years of experience for. But that doesn't mean he is fresh faced and naive, which caused him to make a silly mistake. 37 is already very adult, and 41 is basically middle aged. Women are torn to shreds for being old hags at younger ages.
A lot of the media is reporting this "youngest black professor" thing as if it makes him literally a young inexperienced person. He was by far old enough to know better. Heck, that's 20 years into working life for most people.
Well what a way to end a short life that was built on lies.
such a shame for his family and children. Bizarre fantasy land that he created , but people that build a career based on lies and fabrication must be held to account when their found out..
if we shied away from these characters for fear they will kill themselevs , we’ll the world is there oysters ..
the journalists were doing their jobs!! Unlike the Cambridge lot!! Who just saw a black man in academia and creamed their pants …
remember it was journalists not the authorities who uncovered the peadophiles in the Catholic Church! The Boston times revealed the peadophiles in their religious frocks ruining boys lives ..
The loss of JA life began when he started claiming he was Mute as a child and ran marathons on broken legs…
he died of shame literally , at his own lies.
Cambridge Dons need to look hard at themselves now
such a shame for his family and children. Bizarre fantasy land that he created , but people that build a career based on lies and fabrication must be held to account when their found out..
if we shied away from these characters for fear they will kill themselevs , we’ll the world is there oysters ..
the journalists were doing their jobs!! Unlike the Cambridge lot!! Who just saw a black man in academia and creamed their pants …
remember it was journalists not the authorities who uncovered the peadophiles in the Catholic Church! The Boston times revealed the peadophiles in their religious frocks ruining boys lives ..
The loss of JA life began when he started claiming he was Mute as a child and ran marathons on broken legs…
he died of shame literally , at his own lies.
Cambridge Dons need to look hard at themselves now
Okay so does the family believe what they're saying? Has he been lying to them too?
I don't mean to be callous, but "sustained abuse for more than three years" ?
He's not even on social media, which is where a lot of so-called "abuse campaigns" happen.
On Mumsnet, you've got at least one foot in the grave by 37, apparently!
Cant remember how old Prince Harry and Markle are (40 something) but they keep being referred to as young as well. They ain't. 41 is old enough to know better about lies and fantasies in the workplace.
It will be interesting if his ex-wife does an interview at some point when the dust has settled to set the record straight, either way. For the sake of the children.
They might well have said that - I think you're right. Someone had the idea, though. I really doubt it was Arday and I'd like to know who.
thank you - nice to see you too. Real life has very much got in the way this year, but this story was just too Jack-like - I knew you would all get it.
A few years ago I was seeing a guy whose ex had written a biographical book that (in telling a larger story) went into a decent amount of depth on their relationship, and for legal reasons he had to sign off and agree with everything she’d written about him/their relationship in there as did another ex she’d written about.
Based on that, I am assuming (perhaps incorrectly, so I guess I’m asking - I know there are publishing fraus here) that Giff will have had to read and agree to all that Jason had written/said about her in his book before it could be published?
Based on that, I am assuming (perhaps incorrectly, so I guess I’m asking - I know there are publishing fraus here) that Giff will have had to read and agree to all that Jason had written/said about her in his book before it could be published?
This whole thing is just so sad. I was angry at Glasgow and Cambridge Universities for building up a poster boy who wasn't up to the job, at the expense of students and other, talented, academics of colour/disability. I was angry at Arday for being a grifter and for setting the police on a journalist who was just looking into items that should have been on the public record.
But now I am just sad. Horribly sad, like one of the Grimm brother's darker fairytales has just come to life, only with no heroes and no moral.
But now I am just sad. Horribly sad, like one of the Grimm brother's darker fairytales has just come to life, only with no heroes and no moral.
Cambridge University hates anything that tarnishes their image. Hugely wealthy, while dozens of other universities are teetering on the verge of bankruptcy, it has the resources to shut up dissenting voices. But I doubt if we will ever find out who paid Carter-Ruck.
Generally speaking, named living people don't need to sign off on their mentions in an autobiography.
Without knowing about your friend's ex's book, it's possible the details about their relationship might open the author up to defamation suits or something of the kind. So whatever they signed was probably "we're okay with the book, and we promise we won't sue".
Could FOI Cambridge?
I just heard the news. What a horribly depressing end to this story. Despite us taking the piss out of him (still completely deserved), I doubt anyone on these threads would have wished him harm. Wanting accountability and wanting someone to suffer are separate things. Feeling that suicide is your only way out is an awful state to be in. Truly the worst thing for his family, too.
I also think his scandal might have been less media circus-y had he not sought out the spotlight. He wanted fame, or at least public acknowledgement of his brilliance. This isn't really a case of someone quietly minding their own business then being thrust into the headlines. He had a book deal.
ETA: another reason it got so much media attention was because it involves Cambridge and the media likes to publish Oxbridge news.
Has she? That's shocking. I really like Mary Beard but what's she thinking?! Jason Arday's death should increase the pressure on Cambridge and everyone who enabled his lies. It's true that Jason bears some accountability because he fabricated his backstory, but he should never have been given the platform in the first place. His fall from grace was so big precisely because the people around him enabled his rise through academia & ignored credible accusations of plagiarism.
I also think his scandal might have been less media circus-y had he not sought out the spotlight. He wanted fame, or at least public acknowledgement of his brilliance. This isn't really a case of someone quietly minding their own business then being thrust into the headlines. He had a book deal.
I agree with your post, but there are definitely cases where a perpetrator of abuse (not saying he fits into this category) will kill themselves, e.g. right before a trial. And yeah, I'm sure a lot of that's because they're scared of going to prison, but it also robs their victim/s the chance of a fair trial/getting justice, and for some people that's intentional - a final act of control. Not saying that's the case here, though. I'm sure he was completely overwhelmed at being caught in so many lies.
ETA: another reason it got so much media attention was because it involves Cambridge and the media likes to publish Oxbridge news.
It’s not funded by public money, it’s business
Oh Mary Beard. Sometimes I like her and sometimes she's just downright wrong. Remember her defending the male Oxfam charity workers in Haiti who used underage sex workers? 'They were in a terrible place and who knows how any of us would react under those circumstances?'
Sometimes people doing the wrong thing have to be held accountable
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