"I don't agree with the far-right's push to terrorize academia into silence, but they do make good points about citation standards and footnoting" has the ring of "Of course I don't support the GOP's attempt to end American democracy, but they have good ideas about the tax code" to it.
That's a caricature, Dan. Rufo used Gay to bait Harvard (and the academy) into looking like hypocrites, and it worked, because they couldn't grasp what defending a double-standard looked like outside the bubble. The right answer (she steps down) took too long and the damage is done.
Me? Gay defended the right position poorly in front of that congressional goon squad and then got hounded from office as goons like Rufo went through her CV with a fine-toothed comb. Lending them any support advances their overall project, a political officer in every department.
I dunno, I just see more asymmetry, no solution to broader academic misconduct issues, and a huge fillip to bad-faith attacks on institutions as the real outcome here. And I hate that I know the name of a president of Harvard.
It's got a Monty Python's Spanish Inquisition feel. "Okay so tearing limb from limb on the rack was crass, but they do raise a few good points about heresy donchya think."
Every time one of the pundits use “it’s been said” or “people say” or “there’s a feeling out there” there should be absolute, stringent insistence that they properly cite their sources.
