The aftermath of the Jason Arday debacle could be interesting. Progressives seem to be even more vocal than usual but not profoundly surprised at such a conspicuous failure of DEI. The ideology stands firm. Of course there may be a new resolve to foresee what DEI clearly does not allow them to foresee – not overtly.
More generally, modern progressives cannot or will not navigate their way out of ideological debacles or even ideological insanity. A time is upon us when a progressive Establishment cannot navigate the state by avoiding even the most obvious debacles which happen to be missing from their ideological radar. The debacles duly arrive, Jason Arday is one of them.
The general progressive Establishment answer is not to upgrade the radar, but to dump the mounting consequences of ideological failure onto the backs of those who do what needs doing and keep the show on the road.
It isn't going to work.
10 comments:
"More generally, modern progressives cannot or will not navigate their way out of ideological debacles or even ideological insanity"
In one, AKH.
James - thanks, there are times when it's too insane to analyse, it's just insane.
A religious or ideological mindset cannot even *see* a debacle. There is no room for it in their worldview. So I suspect we shall see a number of progressives metaphorically putting their fingers in their ears and going "la la la" to avoid recognition of their failure..
My jaundiced view is that the progressives will soon argue that Arday was 'the wrong kind of oppressed victim'. Perhaps they will argue that he was captured by institutional 'whiteness'?.
DJ - yes, the inability to see these things resembles taboo subjects in what was once 'polite society'. It must be excruciatingly dull having to avoid the raised eyebrow or stony silence all the time. Some must have known about Arday but perhaps it was social death to say anything.
Still, he was caught before he could be awarded a knighthood. That saved us from dire jokes about an Arday Knight.
I'll reckon the crooked sap will have reason to grumble if at least half-a-dozen heads don't roll at Cambridge.
dearieme - yes, heads should roll. It seems as if there were people at Cambridge who knew about the plagiarism and probably more than that.
I have interviewed dozens of people for jobs and during examination for associations. I know my game and can spot a bullshitter within minutes.
There is only 1 way that he was given that position and it wasn't due to his being competent.
The scandal for Cambridge is that they have been found out. That is the reason for the deflection and name calling
Mike - yes, the scandal is being found out, Cambridge interviewers must at least have had their suspicions. They may even have spotted him as a bullshitter, but as bullshitters themselves they didn't check to see how serious it was.
I’m reminded (yet again) of the Twitter used who publicly condemned the Queen for a ‘staggeringly racist’ photograph which included. ‘Blackamoor statue’ in the background - the implication being that this was an ‘intentional’ slight to the Duchess of Sussex.
When the object was revealed to be a candelabrum featuring three weeping ‘Graeco-Roman women’ carved in black marble (pure Regency kitsch), the author deleted the tweet but also declared, “My outrage if it were true still stands”.
In much the same way, those who expressed support for Arday are likely to insist that the fact his claims have been discredited is of secondary importance to their indignation at the ‘vile campaign to undermine his credibility’ (Robert Chapman: they/them).
Macheath - staggeringly weird! There is something amiss with people who cannot be wrong under any circumstances. They often seem to be much too positive, putting conclusions before observation, even after a confounding observation in the case you quote.
It feels like a limited ability to see beyond themselves, a more severe version of something most of us understand.
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