What gives Social 'Science' Academia power?

The Hindu Nationalists have political power these days, but they haven't been able to win the cultural/academic war. The following thread is a blueprint for how to actually discredit academic culture.

So first, consider the problem. Where do academics get their power from? Not from the government, well not anymore. Not from journals, those are run by the acads. themselves. Not from universities, the most famous are retd. Not from book sales for they hardly sell. Then?

They get power from each other! They get power from their network which builds reputation among the acolytes. They review each other, make each other legendary. So if you have to break an academic culture, you have to attack the network, not individuals or institutions.

Thus young Hindu troll, I hope you have understood the problem. That is the first task. You have to dismantle a network of reputations boosting each other. If you go wrong, the whole network will come after you. So careful. Now let us get down to action.

1. Stop trying to prove academics wrong. It is a waste of time. Yes, you need facts, I will come to it later, but not like that. In order to prove someone right or wrong, there has to be a higher judge or moral authority. But here there is none. Academics are amoral.

2. What would happen if you actually tried to prove them wrong when they are wrong? They will ridicule you. Not just now, but they'll keep repeating the story. So here, young troll, is their most powerful weapon: ridicule. Next point.

3. So how do you ridicule an academic? Well you cant do it alone, for remember he has his network, which will laugh at his jokes and not yours. Can you point to his hippocracy? No. He is proud of it. Can you point to factual errors? No 'cause he'll just ridicule you more. So?

4. You ridicule his teachers. Every academic has a weak spot. And that is, his 'pir'. The snob emulating whom he became a snob. Now you may ask, who on earth was Romila Thapar's teacher? Well, young troll, if you have to ask, you aren't made for this job. Become a researcher.

5. So let us say, I want to ridicule a great social 'scientist', say Rakhi, and I find out that her teacher was Mahesh Bhatt. And let us say, Bhatt's teacher was KRK. Aim at Bhatt and KRK together. Rakhi must defend Bhatt and Bhatt must defend KRK to cover up.

6. Now the attack: Never ever make a factual, impersonal attack on an academic. Academics are immune to facts. Insert an awkward personal matter. Yes, young troll, more research. But the personal matter comes last.

7. Begin with the academics early work. All are sensitive about their early work. And they have made more mistakes. I wont give examples. Try to find their Mphil thesis or even college articles. There must be something embarrassing about it. Remember ridicule.

8. So early work + personal angle + teacher's early work + teacher's personal angle and you have the academic tottering psychologically. At this moment, hit him with the actual factual errors of his work. As a sidenote. "Oh and you know, he isn't even a good writer".

9. Attack their writing style (careful, you must have some too). Call them boring and outdated and irrelevant. Dated. That's the word. Hits all of them. But remember, young troll, all in a package. In 30 days, it should all hit home. Teacher, teacher's teacher, and so on.

10. Now the whole network will come to their defense. They will call you names, call you liars. No trolls, you aren't liars. You are just learning from the KGB. Learn well. The moment the network comes to defend, start with the others. Their teachers, and so on.

11. I am reminded of something I once read of Bin Laden's associate. Out of all the fanaticism, and the one upmanship of fanaticism, there was this one crucial guy who didn't give a damn. He drank, womanized, but he was crucial and no one minded. Have such agents on your side.

12. This sounds hard. It is hard. Culture wars are hard. I wont say they are harder than real wars. But they are longer. Between ten and two hundred years. Remember Marx? He is still around.