It’s been more than a month now since the story broke out; in fact, it’s been almost two. Whilst it’s been reported by a small number of mainstream publications, with a neutral tone at best, this major discovery related to the standards (or lack thereof) certain academic fields employ has been overlooked or even criticised by left-leaning publications.

To top it up, Peter Boghossian has been cowardly targeted at his workplace, Portland State University, through a personal attack in the university’s journal, where a letter warning students against him made the first page. It was half-signed by a number of professors who listed their titles below the letter, yet not their names.

The limited media coverage is littered with the sour deploring of the so-called dishonesty the authors of said papers displayed, “wasting people’s time” and “engaging in a flawed academic pursuit”.

Hardly anyone comments on the absurdity of the papers making it through the reviewing and publishing process in the first place. Hardly anyone wonders what else might’ve seeped through, to be publicised as legitimate, with this lack of common sense dominating these fields.

The left is not above criticism

Needless to say, right-wing commentators jumped at the chance to cover the story, in one of their (perhaps only) legitimate directions of discrediting the left, namely through its pushing of “grievance studies” as accurate and useful.

Judging by the left’s coverage or lack thereof, leftists must have seen it as “one for the other side”, worth a quick no-service burial.

That is really disappointing in terms of their credibility, as it’s exactly what the right does when something  needs brushed under the carpet (at this moment, for instance, the US supporting Saudi Arabia despite the atrocities it has been committing in Yemen, murdering a US-based journalist and routinely murdering its own people). Of course these issues differ in terms of importance, but still – the same partisan mentality which leads to a lack of trust in these outlets.

This has nothing to do with proper policies the left usually advocates for in support of those who are disadvantaged or to attain more fairness in any given society. They should be able to discuss this freely without that discussion compromising any other issues.

The frivolous gets priority

Remember when a high school graduate ended up on BBC for wearing a culturally appropriated dress last year? That story left room for both approaches; whether or not it was justified for thousands to take offence to her one-time dress.

This is, presumably, too important to cover, as it basically discredits the Grievance Studies approached in this experiment. Both approaches probably seemed to be too much of a stretch to expect, since any honest person with two working neurons left would come to the conclusion that those journals – and therefore the academics curating them – release no more than drivel.

Left-leaning liberals attacked for not toeing the line

The authors of these papers describe themselves as left-leaning liberals, therefore disavowing some agenda to serve the right (whilst it’s mainly the right picking up the story and commenting on it).

That is incredibly culty and shows the intransigence of those supporting the left in general; they can’t accept criticism from their own side.