AUTHOR’S NOTE: I’m now into the second of two books that cover the experiments of parapsychologist Dr. Dean Radin in the field of paranormal activity. The impression I’m getting is that many scholars, theoreticians, educators and practitioners of conventional physics and psychology exhibit the noxious symptoms of mental flatulence when they try to justify why they can’t acknowledge the existence of phenomena that don’t conform to their cherished empirical worldview, even when confronted with (Radin’s own) convincing laboratory proof of their legitimacy.

You might well ask where I get off criticizing academics when I don’t have an advanced degree myself. All I can point to is that I possess a Mensa-level intellect, a low tolerance for BS and a life-long disdain for small-mindedness that typifies my philosophical outlook. I sharpened my critical chops during 30+ years of involvement in high-stakes technological and legal wrangling and 50+ years of poking at the soft underbelly of the rigid shell that protects mainstream knowledge from apostates like me, primarily in the form of esoteric study and practice. Even in this bastion of iconoclasm, these pursuits have taken me directly into the path of stubborn resistance when it comes to “thinking outside the box.”

Academic credibility is in disrepair in the United States because universities have lost sight of their fundamental mission to educate and not just hype a social agenda. This is not only mental flatulence, it is cerebral constipation leading to cognitive paralysis in their students. Dr. Radin skewers this mindset with immaculate precision while remaining neutral (although puzzled) when cataloguing the foibles of his peers, whose unfortunate attitude extends even to those know-it-all types who presume to “gatekeep” on social-media platforms that are supposedly dedicated to higher modes of consciousness.

I’m not a fan of people in general (or at least their public persona) because the human condition in the 21^st Century is more about the non-contact sport of social networking than it is about enriching self-development. Radical professors hold a special place in my rogue’s gallery of self-important gasbags, right next to politicians of all stripes, professional athletes and the Hollywood elite. Most of these people should just shut up and go find something useful to do that doesn’t irritate the rest of us. The world would be a better place if we all stopped talking and listened once in a while before jumping into the conversation with our next brilliant witticism.

I’m being facetious, of course, but maybe the President will issue an Executive Order that makes it mandatory for the worst offenders (see above) to wear one of those canine training collars when in public that gives them an electric shock if they yap too much (just as long as they don’t become addicted to the tingle and emerge worse than ever, which would saddle us with a Godzilla-like horde of hyper-aggressive online influencers . . . oh wait, hasn’t that already happened?).

I will once again trot out my anecdote about musician Tom Rapp of Pearls Before Swine because it seems perfectly applicable to the current educational mess. In the early ’70s I was in a Connecticut club where they were playing, and the audience was quite vocal in its appreciation. Rapp complimented us on our lively engagement, saying “You guys are great! Last night the crowd was so dull I could put my ear up to their mouths and hear the ocean.”

I haven’t been inside an institution of higher learning in decades except for cultural events, but from what I’ve seen and heard in public forums it isn’t pretty (the University of California’s recently-reported debacle involving “test-blind” college admissions is a case in point; 20% of first-year students can’t handle basic calculus compared to 0.5% six years ago). Maybe someone with the credentials will put together an Aristotelian posse of metaphysical vigilantes and go marauding up and down the Halls of Academia, issuing demerits for bad behavior and dispatching the ringleaders to permanent detention.