A few comments on the Arday story

*  Twitter/X has been absolutely covered in its general feed with content about this story, in a way that makes you think "I know that this is now dominated by Right wing content, but this still looks like Musk made a call and required that the algorithm promote this story as much as possible."

*  As lots of people have said, significant parts of academic sociology (and the humanities more generally) have for decades (ever since identity politics and analysis became a thing) devolved into pretty vacuous and arcane complaint twaddle with little in the way of substance or remedy to social ills.   And as someone who has several times pointed to the (to be generous) dubious value of the work of Professor Sandy O'Sullivan and her Macquarie University compatriots, I sympathise entirely.

By the way, from my dim memories of it from some, ugh, 48 years ago, the introductory sociology subject that I did as a small part of my degree was actually pretty solid and interesting.  It's not an inherently valueless subject; it is just what academia has decided to do with it.   Basically, if this scandal results in Universities (and the bodies that fund academics) taking a harder look at what is being produced by who in their Humanities schools, it's not a bad result.

* I am somewhat puzzled as to how long it is taking for journalism to turn up comments from family or fellow students (or therapists) who knew Arday when he was young and allegedly unable to talk or read.  As one would think that if his claims were not exaggerated, there would be people willing to confirm it's true.   It is making it look more likely that there is no one who wants to defend the background story.

*  The New York Times has published some "Takeaways" from his (just published?) memoir, and man, I can just imagine the embarrassment of the person or persons who decided to fund it.  I like this little bit:

When he decided to go to college, his girlfriend “wrote out the entire application for me — including my personal statement.” At St. Mary’s University in London, he scored just 9 percent on his first exam. He worked hard, raising his grades so quickly that a professor at the school accused him of cheating.

“When you succeed against pretty much insurmountable odds, it weirdly makes people question your credibility,” he writes.  

 Actually, when you make claims that sound wildly implausible and an exaggeration that even Donald Trump would hesitate to claim, that's when people question your credibility.