Your Credentials, Please: Darryl Cooper and the Rise of the Unpermitted Mind

Earlier today, Owen Strachan—one of the last holdouts of the credentialed conservative class—publicly lamented Daryl Cooper’s recent appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show. Not because Cooper said something egregious, or presented factually inaccurate history, but because he isn’t, in Strachan’s words, a “real historian.” That’s the insult now. That’s the burn. That’s the critique: he doesn’t have the paperwork.

I responded in kind: “Cooper is not a Hitler apologist. His massive following and respect from all but the Intelligentsia Establishmentarians and Credentialists is due to his bullheaded insistence at being historically impartial.” And that’s the rub. You’re not permitted to wave him away with a dismissive “terrible historian” label just because he doesn’t coddle your personal 20th-century idol. I know it’s frustrating that the proletariat dare learn from someone without your snooty seal of approval, but the masses just don’t care about your approval anymore, and you can go pout in the corner.”

The credentialed class has grown so fragile, so insular, so allergic to open debate that the mere appearance of a well-reasoned populist like Daryl Cooper on a mainstream platform sends them into a crisis of legitimacy. And well it should. Because their legitimacy is in crisis. They built their cathedral on the premise that only the initiated, only the “real” historians, scientists, theologians, and journalists could shape the boundaries of public knowledge. But now the guards at the gate have lost the keys, and the gates themselves are coming down.

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THE CASE FOR COOPER

Strachan, like so many others in the gatekeeping priesthood, cannot fathom why people would prefer a plainspoken, detail-obsessed outsider like Cooper over the safety-vested mediocrity of the institutional academic class. But it’s not hard to understand. It’s not because Cooper tricked the public into thinking he’s a card-carrying historian. It’s because he outperforms them. His research is meticulous. His analysis is nuanced. His long-form storytelling is compelling and careful and appropriately restrained. If you’re not shackled to the Post-War Consensus or obsessed with defending Winston Churchill’s legacy as a stand-in for your own ideology, then his material is—simply—better.

That’s what drives these people mad.

This isn’t new, of course. The same tired tactic has been used for decades to silence, discredit, or preemptively dismiss anyone who challenges the curated narratives of the institutional elite. Ken Ham isn’t a “real scientist,” they say, despite having actual scientific credentials and building the largest apologetics museum on earth. Graham Hancock isn’t a “real archaeologist,” despite being vindicated in numerous claims, from the dating of Göbekli Tepe to the legitimacy of the Younger Dryas Impact Theory. Glenn Greenwald isn’t a “real journalist,” despite being the one who broke the story of the century with the Snowden leaks—and winning a Pulitzer for it. Charles Spurgeon wasn’t a “real theologian,” despite preaching to thousands without a seminary degree. A.W. Tozer wasn’t a “real scholar,” even though his writings laid the foundation for a generation of spiritual awakening.

The refrain is always the same: You’re not allowed to be right unless you’ve been given permission by the people who are wrong

.CREDENTIALS AS POWER STRUCTURE, NOT PROOF OF COMPETENCE

And this is exactly what the credentialed class fears most: that people will begin to realize that credentials are not a guarantee of wisdom—but are often a cloak for cowardice. That truth does not trickle down from ivory towers, but breaks forth from unexpected places. That scholarship, real scholarship, is not defined by whether you have a university seal on your CV—but whether you’ve labored in truth long enough to earn a hearing from the people.

Let’s speak plainly: this isn’t about protecting standards. It’s about protecting a monopoly.

Credentialism is not a shield for truth. It is a power structure. It is a caste system. It is the modern equivalent of the medieval indulgence—pay to play, pay to preach, pay to speak. And like indulgences, its days are numbered.

The men being discredited by the gatekeepers today are not marginal figures screaming into the void. They are the ones commanding the cultural conversation. They are the ones with audiences, with impact, with reach. Cooper, Hancock, Ham, Greenwald, Rogan, Assange—these men are shaping how millions understand the world. And that is precisely why the credentialists hate them. Not because they’re mistaken, but because they’re unmanageable. Not because they lack knowledge, but because they refuse to submit to the academic priesthood.

MARTYRMADE AND THE MODEL OF THE UNPERMITTED MIND

Take Cooper again. His MartyrMade podcast is one of the most comprehensive, balanced, and thoughtful explorations of modern historical events available in the public sphere. He cites his sources. He admits where the evidence runs thin. He contextualizes instead of moralizing. He avoids easy answers and explores historical causality with a level of honesty most PhDs wouldn’t dare touch without first checking how it will play in their tenure review. His January 6 series, his breakdown of Zionism’s roots, his dives into Cold War realpolitik—these aren’t clickbait or cherry-picked TikToks. They’re multi-hour deep dives stitched together from primary sources and direct citations. The only reason he isn’t considered a “real historian” is because he doesn’t ask for a hall pass before walking into the classroom.

But that’s the world we’re leaving behind: the world where “truth” had to be signed, stamped, and sworn by a council of experts before it could be spoken aloud.

You credentialists keep thinking Cooper has convinced everyone that World War II is more complicated than you’ve let us believe because he somehow tricked the masses into thinking he’s a historian. That’s not true. He’s convinced us because we’re not as stupid as you’ve made us out to be. We can read. We can research. We can analyze. And many of us have come to the same conclusions without him—which is exactly why we recognize he’s telling the truth. Not giving us truth from his own divine authority—but confirming the truth we already sensed and sought. He’s a voice for a movement, not the movement itself.

This is what burns the credentialed class. It’s not just that someone like Cooper exists. It’s that people are listening to him—and not to them.

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THE NEW HIGH CHURCH OF CONSENSUS

Owen Strachan, to his credit, has managed to leverage his credentials to gain positions in the institutional world. Seminary posts, conference gigs, publishing opportunities—he’s played the game well. But his hostility to Cooper betrays something deeper. It’s not intellectual rigor. It’s envy. It’s the bitter recognition that someone outside the system has more influence than those inside it, and that the gates they once manned so proudly no longer mean anything to those walking past them.

It is jealousy. And it’s ugly.

It’s the same sneering you hear when academics deride Alex Jones as “not a real reporter”—after he broke stories on Epstein, Bohemian Grove, and CIA dark ops before the mainstream press dared touch them. It’s the same derision poured out on the National Enquirer when it exposed John Edwards’ affair while the "real" journalists buried it. It’s the same disdain the scientific establishment directed at the likes of Tesla, Semmelweis, and even Faraday when they dared step out of line or question prevailing dogma.

And yes, I used the word dogma. Because what these credentialed cliques are guarding is not science, or history, or theology—but a religion of consensus. A high church of curated, managed, pre-digested narratives designed to reinforce the worldview of the ruling class.

That’s why they can’t handle dissent—not even informed dissent. Because the mere suggestion that the history they’ve written, the science they’ve locked down, or the theology they’ve fossilized might be wrong threatens their entire claim to authority.

This is the real crisis. The credentialed class has lost its monopoly, and they don’t know how to earn respect. So they demand it. They stamp their feet. They lecture and shame and call you uneducated, uninformed, irresponsible. And when that doesn’t work, they fall back on the last insult they have: “not a real [insert title here].”

But the insult doesn’t land anymore. Because we’re no longer impressed by your titles. We’re no longer frightened by your gatekeeping. We’re no longer beholden to your permission slips.

THE AGE OF INDEPENDENT MINDS

The people who are changing the world—the ones shaping public perception, reimagining history, reopening inquiry, reintroducing nuance—are no longer the tenured elite with letters behind their name. They’re the unpermitted minds. The disciplined amateurs. The hungry thinkers. The ones who research in basements, who cite their sources, who chase truth because it matters, not because it pays.

And the irony? These uncredentialed heretics often take truth more seriously than the institutions supposedly built to protect it. They check their footnotes. They respect complexity. They admit their limitations. Meanwhile, the credentialed class rushes out op-eds, TED talks, and panel discussions devoid of rigor, drenched in ideology, and built on a foundation of elite self-congratulation.

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