# Jayson Blair Exponentially Increases His Ass-Hattedness **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 25, 2003, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jayson-blair-exponentially-increases-his-ass-hattedness/177323 "2003-05-25T01:09:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GraceTX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c4cdca/32.png) [@GraceTX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GraceTX)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jayson-blair-exponentially-increases-his-ass-hattedness/177323/21 "2003-05-25T13:47:45Z")
One of the articles he stole was written by a friend of mine, Macarena Hernandez. Mac’s brother is married to my sister and Macarena has always been an exceptional student and person. She’s intelligent and dedicated to her family. She turned down a job with the New York Times to return to the valley to take care of her mom after her dad was killed in a car accident. It’d be a shame for this punk, Jayson Blair, to get a book deal or rewarded for plaigiarising her and other reporters. ---
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jayson-blair-exponentially-increases-his-ass-hattedness/177323/22 "2003-05-25T16:23:08Z")
I am stunned he played the race card. Stunned. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jayson-blair-exponentially-increases-his-ass-hattedness/177323/23 "2003-05-25T16:37:23Z")
Well, not to defend an utterly unscrupulous plagiarist or anything, but it’s not as though the “race card” wasn’t already on the table. Practically the second point hammered on in every article about the topic, after “N. Y. Times Journalist Plagiarized Articles,” was “Blair was Child of Affirmitive Action.” I believe there’s a couple threads focusing on this aspect of the brouhaha. So, yeah, why shouldn’t he turn it around to his benefit? That’s what I’d do if I were completely amoral. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jayson-blair-exponentially-increases-his-ass-hattedness/177323/24 "2003-05-25T16:45:12Z")
I’m not a pyschiatrist, but there is something seriously wrong with Jayson Blair. He gives off that creepy sociopath or personality disorder vibe. He reminds me very much of those individuals (some of whom have temporarily infested the SDMB) who pretend to have terminal illnesses or invent dying children in order to garner sympathy. Unlike other celebrity plagiarizers, he doesn’t seem to have done it for money, or because he was pressed by a deadline. It all seems to be about the strange little world inside his head. The earlier thread which datelined a Jayson Blair story from the moon was right on target. Unfortunately, I do think that if he can get his book published it will sell. Americans love a scandal. I’m just not sure he can keep it together long enough to produce something marketable. ---
**Author:** ![japatlgt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@japatlgt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/japatlgt)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jayson-blair-exponentially-increases-his-ass-hattedness/177323/25 "2003-05-25T16:57:38Z")
If the asshat fits, wear it. Can’t be surprised that someone with his ethics would consider such a stunt. Do Springerites read? ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jayson-blair-exponentially-increases-his-ass-hattedness/177323/26 "2003-05-25T18:46:20Z")
He disgusts me, truly. And I feel sorry for his family, who I have heard (from a person who knew them back when he was reputable) used to practically worship him. I wish there was an organization like the one featured in _Undercover Brother_. Blair needs to be removed. He has got to be an instrument of the Man the way he’s continually embarrassing himself and all the other black people trying to make it in this world. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jayson-blair-exponentially-increases-his-ass-hattedness/177323/27 "2003-05-25T20:37:23Z")
**j\_kat\_251** , I didn’t understand a bleeding word of your post. Would you, could you, rephrase it in something more approaching Standard English? Jayson Blair is an asshat and a double-asshat, now, for invoking the ghost of Jim Crow and disturbing the dust covering Race, now long-discredited. And the irony, oft-stated, is that Yours Truly was unaware of Our Misfavored One’s race before this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jayson-blair-exponentially-increases-his-ass-hattedness/177323/28 "2003-05-25T23:12:52Z")
This has to be the first OP which I remember Eve making which I agree with 100.000%. There may have been one on nun-beatings two a few years ago, but aside from that… 😉 Una ---
**Author:** ![medstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@medstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medstar)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jayson-blair-exponentially-increases-his-ass-hattedness/177323/29 "2003-05-25T23:15:17Z")
I’ve been following the Jayson Blair story and to a point I agree with what you all have been saying. However, there might be a few extenuating circumstances. Could it be that Mr. Blair knew that he was under intense scrutiny as a minority reporter for the times and felt that he needed to resort to such tactics to justify his prestigious career? A lot of people pin their hopes on promising members of their particular group and expect unrealistic achievements. Maybe Mr. Blair was unfortunate enough to make the mistakes that other inexperienced young journalists make, and he over-reacted. In any event, I hope he gets counseling and steps back to reconsider his future career options. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2003, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jayson-blair-exponentially-increases-his-ass-hattedness/177323/30 "2003-05-25T23:48:23Z")
**Anthracite** , I forget–was I for or against nun-beatings? ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jayson-blair-exponentially-increases-his-ass-hattedness/177323/31 "2003-05-26T03:15:58Z")
This whole Jayson Blair affair seems to bring a new outrage every day. First, there was the affirmative action angle. Blair had compiled a horrendous record of corrections and mistakes, yet kept getting promoted. > [@](#): > > In April 2002, the Blair problem was so severe that Metropolitan Editor Jonathan Landman wrote in a memo, “We have to stop Jayson from writing for the Times. Right now.” Blair was warned he was in danger of losing his job. He took a leave to try to straighten himself out. But–astoundingly–by December he was the national staff’s lead reporter on top-of-the-charts news: the sniper story. For the New York Times. [(link)](http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=3019) When it was noted that Blair is black, there were those who did not want the topic of racial preferences brought up and suggested it was racist to do so. It obviously raised questions to see someone with so little skill rise so far, so fast, but people were tiptoeing around the obvious question – was he getting special treatment because of his color? Asking that could get you slammed as a racist. Then Blair himself admitted he was the beneficiary of affirmative action. > [@](#): > > “Anyone who tells you that my race didn’t play a role in my career at the New York Times is lying to you,” he said. “Both racial preferences and racism played a role. And I would argue that they didn’t balance each other out. Racism had more of an impact.” [link.](http://media.guardian.co.uk/presspublishing/story/0,7495,961007,00.html) Okay, Blair, let’s take a look at this. “When Blair was hired, executives assumed he had graduated college, but University of Maryland officials say he has a year of coursework to complete, The Times reported. Blair, who started as an intern, was appointed to a full-time job covering police and was promoted to the national desk despite concerns about the accuracy of his work.”[(link)](http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Northeast/05/13/ny.times.investigation/) So you get a position at one of the most coveted and prestigious institutions in your field, you’re obviously not qualified, and you’re saying “racism had **more** of an impact”? Maybe Blair has one of those new-fangled definitions of racism: that racism is anything he wants it to be. I thought racism would be denying a job to someone who is qualified because of his race. Instead, you got the job, and the promotions. So just how in the hell did racism have “more” of an impact? The errors in your stories showed you had a basic problem with performing on a fundamental level of reporting: i.e. getting the facts right. It was as if they had hired a tone-deaf person to be a music instructor, or a physicist who didn’t know Newton’s laws, or a math teacher who couldn’t count. Blair, you weren’t held back because of your race – you were promoted despite your incompetence. And I now see you’re spouting off about the rage you feel as a black man. Wow, that’s real “street,” there, Jayson. Except that the facts show you had a pretty nice upbringing compared to a lot of other people in this world. “A native of Centerville, Va., he is the son of Frances Blair, a teacher, and Thomas Blair, an inspector general at the Smithsonian Institution.” [(link)](http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/142/living/_Of_course_I_knew_it_was_wrong_+.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jayson-blair-exponentially-increases-his-ass-hattedness/177323/32 "2003-05-26T04:24:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\ ***Anthracite** , I forget–was I for or against nun-beatings? \*\* I think the answer was either a “yes, with a but”, or a “no, with an if.” 😃 And of course, it depends upon whether we’re talking about nuns beating others, others beating nuns, nuns beating nuns, nuns beating naugthy little Catholic Schoolgirls with their pleated skirts and saddle shoes on pay-per-view…hmmm…you know, those Catholic Schoolgirls are so very naughty, and need plenty of bare-bottomed spankings to keep them in line…I’ll bet that would raise a lot of money too, if it was televised… ---
**Author:** ![Cosmopolitan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/94ad74/32.png) [@Cosmopolitan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cosmopolitan)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jayson-blair-exponentially-increases-his-ass-hattedness/177323/33 "2003-05-26T17:15:54Z")
I’m not at all shocked that Blair (or anyone of similar character in a similar situation) would pull this sort of shit: He figures that maybe, just _maybe_, he can turn this mess around in his favor - and even if he doesn’t, perhaps his book will still sell, making him a reviled, yet wealthy man. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jayson-blair-exponentially-increases-his-ass-hattedness/177323/34 "2003-05-26T17:36:33Z")
From what I’ve read, the entire publishing world is dropping this maggot like a live grenade. The best prediction is that he _might_ receive a 5 - 6 figure book deal. In the same sentence they also mentioned how his “window of opportunity” is exceedingly narrow. As in, let’s say, about fifteen minutes. Most of the country does not read the NYT and could give a rip about some jerkwater fuckup who ripped off more work than his ancestors’ slave owners. ---
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jayson-blair-exponentially-increases-his-ass-hattedness/177323/35 "2003-05-26T20:27:28Z")
The Washington Post has an indepth story on this piece of shit, and his amoral attitude went all the way back to college. Sociopath is probably very close to accurate. He will never accept any fault for anything he ever did. ---
**Author:** ![RexDart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@RexDart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexDart)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2003, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jayson-blair-exponentially-increases-his-ass-hattedness/177323/36 "2003-05-26T22:13:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > "Blair is already floating a book proposal about the scandal, according to _The Washington Post_. The proposed book is entitled _Burning Down My Master’s House_, an angry rant at the paper that he called “my tormentor, my other drug, my slavemaster,” the \*Post \*said. The proposal portrays Blair as a black man “who rose from the fields and got a place in the master’s house and then burned it down the only way he knew how,” according to the _Post_. Blair’s literary agent David Vigliano did not return a call for comment Saturday. > \*\* Famed historian of black slavery Eugene Genovese argues in _Roll, Jordan Roll_ that slaves stealing pies from window sills and other such hijinks are a way that the slaves asserted “agency” over their lives, and were little pieces of silent rebellion against the institution. The numerous acts of arson apparently committed by slaves fall within this same sphere of activity, in a more serious way. I don’t know to what extent Genovese is right about this (he’s a Marxist after all, it colors his analysis of any oppressed people with buzzwords like “agency”). But for this nutball Blair to compare himself to slaves in bondage rebelling against the institution of slavery is worth a giant screaming field of rolleyes. We all knew the minute we saw this guy’s face on TV that _somebody_ was going to try to play the race card, we just didn’t know it was going to end up being the nutjob himself, and in such a wacky Belafonte-esque manner. ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jayson-blair-exponentially-increases-his-ass-hattedness/177323/37 "2003-05-27T03:15:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RexDart \* > \*\*Famed historian of black slavery Eugene Genovese argues in _Roll, Jordan Roll_ that slaves stealing pies from window sills and other such hijinks are a way that the slaves asserted “agency” over their lives, and were little pieces of silent rebellion against the institution. The numerous acts of arson apparently committed by slaves fall within this same sphere of activity, in a more serious way. > > I don’t know to what extent Genovese is right about this (he’s a Marxist after all, it colors his analysis of any oppressed people with buzzwords like “agency”). But for this nutball Blair to compare himself to slaves in bondage rebelling against the institution of slavery is worth a giant screaming field of rolleyes. > > We all knew the minute we saw this guy’s face on TV that _somebody_ was going to try to play the race card, we just didn’t know it was going to end up being the nutjob himself, and in such a wacky Belafonte-esque manner. \*\* In addition, he has said that he identified with [Lee Boyd Malvo, the teen-age sniper suspect!](http://bulletin.ninemsn.com.au/bulletin/eddesk.nsf/printing/8DE65413EC8DCF5ECA256D2A007DA09C) ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2003, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jayson-blair-exponentially-increases-his-ass-hattedness/177323/38 "2003-05-27T15:24:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\ ***Anthracite** , I forget–was I for or against nun-beatings? \*\* Television: Is the caller there? Opus: Yes, I’m here, Mr. Donahue. And frankly I’m disgusted with those who oppose penguin lust. Penguin lust is _not_ immoral! It’s _not_ unnatural! It’s a beautiful fact of life! I fully support penguin lust! Television: Great. But today’s topic is “nun beating.” Opus: Good lord, man. I can’t support that. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jayson-blair-exponentially-increases-his-ass-hattedness/177323/39 "2003-05-28T12:39:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sauron \* > \*\*Television: Great. But today’s topic is “nun beating.” > > Opus: Good lord, man. I can’t support that. \*\* We have a winner in the “very obscure _Bloom County_ reference game”! You must be ancient, like myself… ---
**Author:** ![december](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2003, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jayson-blair-exponentially-increases-his-ass-hattedness/177323/40 "2003-05-28T12:43:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zenster \* > \*\*From what I’ve read, the entire publishing world is dropping this maggot like a live grenade. The best prediction is that he _might_ receive a 5 - 6 figure book deal. In the same sentence they also mentioned how his “window of opportunity” is exceedingly narrow. As in, let’s say, about fifteen minutes. Most of the country does not read the NYT and could give a rip about some jerkwater fuckup who ripped off more work than his ancestors’ slave owners. \*\* So far, no publisher has offered Blair a book contract. One pundit pointed out that publishers may be worried about libel suits. They could hardly claim that Blair was a credible witness. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jayson-blair-exponentially-increases-his-ass-hattedness/177323.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jayson-blair-exponentially-increases-his-ass-hattedness/177323.md?page=3)