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... the UCLA students who published a fraudulent study of housing vacancies, got caught ... and also didn't care. Kept lying about it.
And of course, the professors themselves -- University of Utah, UBC Vancouver, UCLA, etc.
Probably the incentive to lie is a mixture of ...
... a) the general lack of accountability in the academy. Some of this stuff is truly egregious, but there's no actual mechanism to penalize dishonest scholarship, other than other scholars. And b) a quest for notoriety.
The latter is worth something in the academy, because ...
... what you want are big grants and full classes, and being notorious -- even if you're a notorious liar -- helps with those goals (see "a" above).
What's not clear, though, is outside the institutional incentives, what these cranks hope to actually achieve.
They're not ...
... organizing a vanguard to overthrow capitalism. They're not proposing viable solutions to our housing, transport, and climate crises. They're not even educating students!
It seems that the role of these cranks in society is to act as a form of Odyssean sirens ...
... screaming unhinged gobbledegook in ears of wary travelers seeking to understand the world.
Our job is to plug our ears with beeswax, and not succumb to the siren song of the left-NIMBY, who celebrates poverty, displacement, xenophobia, and climate collapse.
Travel safely.
Addendum: There is actually quite a lot of great housing research coming out of the academy — and much of it debunks left-NIMBY tropes!
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Im a YIMBY from Vancouver and I missed the scandal. Can you provide more details?
A guy from UBC lied about a study of zoning reform in NYC, the study author showed up in his mentions to point out he was lying, his response was 
, he preferred the lie to her actual research findings
, he preferred the lie to her actual research findingsWhere did this phenomenon come from and who is behind it? How is the information coding of young people for such actions taking place? A new investigation by independent journalists from .
Leftism starts with "what do I want people to do?"
Then, "what do I need to tell them to get them to do it?"
Whatever the thing is, that's the truth to them. Doesn't matter if it has anything to do with reality. I've watched it happen IRL.
I have a 100% success rate of NIMBYs blocking me for asking this one question:
"Name a city that brought down housing prices by implementing the policies you prefer."
The Academy is broken, but those in charge don’t see it, or prefer it that way. Intellectual curiosity is a thing of the past, and now they produce nothing but that which supports their perveted views in every area. If we’re relying on the Academy we’re doomed.
Where did this phenomenon come from and who is behind it? How is the information coding of young people for such actions taking place? A new investigation by independent journalists from .
The study itself hinted at causality without even attempting to establish it. Why are you mad at the kid with 180 followers?
The thing about these people is that they don't care about being right, or advancing any policy or even about the capital-R revolution. They're misfits who want to hide out in academia for a living and don't want responsibility for any real policy.
I'm sure that half of them would admit their "research" is bullshit if they'd had a few drinks, but bullshitting in the ivory tower isn't an uncomfortable way to live if you can do it
The thing you need to know about leftists is how much they lie and how shameless they are about it.
Where did this phenomenon come from and who is behind it? How is the information coding of young people for such actions taking place? A new investigation by independent journalists from .