I regularly take on some of those loons in academica who are historians in areas I do research in. I usually get a whinny, irrelevant, appeal to authority in response from them.
For example, John Moiser, an English professor at Loyola who wrote this book:
I sent him a multi-page review / analysis of this shitty book and how wrong it is on almost everything. His response was he has a Ph D and I don't. That's typical of those in academia. When confronted by facts or someone who is knowledgeable but not an academic themselves, they fall back on their credentials rather than try and debate.
That's become the norm for the Left on campuses today.