badcattitude: claudinian cracks and the moment of doom

submitted by penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable from boriquagato.substack.com

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[–]3andfro 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

Another followup from eugyppius about the fall of Claudine Gay: https://www.eugyppius.com/p/on-academic-standards-fair-play-and?utm_source

Paragraph 2 references thoughts here from u/kingsmeg and u/chakokat. He raises the issue but explains why he disagrees.

[–]kingsmegLiberté, égalité, fraternité 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Respectfully disagree. Everyone at Harvard knew she wasn't a serious scholar and that she was a diversity hire, and they overlooked the fact that she wasn't a serious scholar because it was more valuable to them to have a black gay trans whatever person as head of Harvard, than to have a serious scholar.

Not until the Washington Free Beacon uncovered much more serious evidence of plagiarism after 11 December did Gay’s position become untenable.

These facts didn't reveal themselves. Someone with money and access paid a staff of researchers to not only comb through her corpus of work (all 12 papers or whatever), but to analyze those paragraph by paragraph by running them through searches to see what they could turn up. No one at Harvard was doing that, and without the Zionist lobby flying monkey attack, these would likely never have turned up.

This reminds me of Eliot Spitzer taking a fall because he paid expensive call girls. He just happened to be going after Wall St. banksters when that happened. And everyone took it as a warning that you don't go after Wall St. banksters because they're connected, they have resources, and they'll find a way to take you out even if they have to make shit up. In Gay's case it seems they didn't have to fabricate anything, but everyone in that circle understands that they would have if they hadn't found genuine plagiarism in her work. So no, it wasn't the plagiarism that took her down, anymore than it was paying hookers that took down Eliot Spitzer; they were both taken out by powerful interests that wanted to make an example of them.

[–]3andfro 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I haven't formed an opinion about her beyond concluding that on academic merit, she didn't deserve the position she occupied before it was bestowed on her.

Interesting reminder of the Spitzer saga.

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

And I'm with him on this. He clinches the argument here:

The Harvard Corporation professed support for Gay’s presidency on 12 December, brushing aside the early plagiarism accusations as mere “instances of inadequate citation” that represented “no violation of Harvard’s standards for research misconduct.”... Not until the Washington Free Beacon uncovered much more serious evidence of plagiarism after 11 December did Gay’s position become untenable. It’s absolutely true that the antisemitism fracas prompted closer scrutiny of Gay’s work, but it’s equally true that she would’ve survived if she were a minimally competent scholar. Even had 5 December never happened, I find it very hard to believe that Gay could’ve remained in office following the Free Beacon revelations.

ETA:

To me, it's similar to Capone getting convicted on tax evasion rather than violating Prohibition. I think the allegations that these universities promote anti-semitism is standard zionist propaganda and has no validity. Unfortunately, it succeeded, indirectly in Gay's case. I know one of the other university presidents stepped down but don't know why, I'm guessing because dissenting from approved narrative has become so hazardous to people's livelihoods and well-being, what with the fascist Arbiters of Accepted Truth so well-funded.

[–]CaelianPost No Toasties 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

Capone getting convicted on tax evasion rather than violating Prohibition.

And, of course, all those murders.

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable[S] 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Yeah, those too!

[–]kingsmegLiberté, égalité, fraternité 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

...it only works as one unified whole. barrack obama knew this. it’s why he urged the defense of ms gay. but this one was too much, too far, too fast. there was no putting it back into the bottle.

erm... I hate to be the one to say this, but maybe it was teh joos who were displeased with her failure to expel any and all students who were insufficiently pro-genocide?

I mean it's obviously no great loss for Harvard. Maybe Pocahontas is looking for a new gig?

[–]chakokat 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I hate to be the one to say this, but maybe it was teh joos who were displeased with her failure to expel any and all students who were insufficiently pro-genocide?

This was my thought too. Plagiarism is something that can be ignored until you cross the wrong people. Then nothing can save you, not being a woman, not being black. Don’t piss off teh joos.

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable[S] 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Actually, that can't be ruled out given the resolution or whatever that Congress just passed equating criticism of Israel with antisemitism.

If you've got 'em by the ballskies, their heartskies and mindskies will follow. - Chuck Kolsinski (h/t u/Caelian, playing on quote by Chuck Colson)

...because their wallets are attached to their ballskies.

[–]3andfro 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Companion piece from eugyppius, with excerpt to entice further reading:

There is a lot of butthurt in the American press right now. Gay’s appointment, once hailed as a “victory for diversity,” has become instead the occasion of a “victory” for “Dr. Gay’s critics … in the escalating ideological battle over American higher education.” Reporters for the Associated Press in particular deplore the fact that nefarious actors on the right are wielding a new “conservative weapon against colleges.” This weapon, they inform us, is “the threat of unearthing plagiarism.”

https://www.eugyppius.com/p/after-claudine-gays-resignation-associated?utm_source

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable[S] 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

“the threat of unearthing plagiarism.”

Saw a comment, probably on the badcattitude post, about "what if this professor was white?", to which the commeter said, "great, let's root out all plagiarizers." I mean, it's not like we've given Joe Biden a pass for all his plagiarism over the years.

[–]3andfro 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Take a look at the last paragraph in the eugyppius piece.

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable[S] 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yep.

Irene Mulvey is a total idiot. Professors should produce research that can withstand scrutiny, especially scrutiny from their critics. That is the whole point of publishing in the first place. I can’t imagine how the requirement to cite one’s sources completely and honestly might “chill the climate for academic freedom.” Perhaps Mulvey means to say that misconduct like Gay’s is so widespread that scrutiny has the potential to take down dozens or even hundreds of academics and university presidents. If that’s the case, maybe they should stop plagiarising.

The concerns about things being weaponized for a political agenda is legit but they've probably got more blood on their hands than anyone. Something something glass houses something something stones. It always comes back to bite you in the ass.

[–]penelopepnortneyBecome ungovernable[S] 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Excerpt:

now, call me mr cynical paws, but how is "holding authors to quite rudimentary standards for honesty and honor" characterizable as "destroying higher education"?

just what were you hoping to teach these students?

the soft bigotry of folks like david roberts claiming that “black scholarship” will be smeared/destroyed by “strightforward standards in place for 100’s of years” looks more and more like what it is: actual racism pretending to be anti-racist.

does this even convince anyone anymore or it is just a form of fully recursive virtue signaling to preach to the choir while proving to all outside it just how little diversity “team diversity” actually permits among its ideas and ideologues?

this woman was a complete, end to end fraud. but now they must defend her. and the denials just add fuel to the “wow, you guys are so stunningly dishonest” fires because the facts keep leaking out and you no longer monopolize the story.

woke is going broke and there is no putting this post modern humpty dumpty back together again. once the criticism starts and lands and the fissures open, the whole palace is going to come crashing down.

i know many are hesitant to believe this because of the stridence of the DEI devotees but this game is already over, they just don't know it yet.