Invincible Donovan University

3 November 2007 · 3 Comments

Thanks to Black Sun for alerting me to this example of wingnuttery on my doorstep.

From the AP (via MSNBC):

EDINBURGH, Scotland – Donovan, famous for â€™60s pop hits such as â€œHurdy Gurdy Manâ€ and â€œMellow Yellow,â€ has announced plans to open the Invincible Donovan University, where students will adhere to the principles of transcendental meditation [TM].

…

Donovan discovered transcendental meditation while visiting India and guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1968.

â€œThe Maharishi told me during that 1968 visit that I should build a university in Edinburgh. I went to my room and drew a beautiful dome-shaped place of learning,â€ he said Friday.

â€œI didnâ€™t know what to do because I couldnâ€™t do this on my own. But then I met David Lynch, who told me about the positive effects of TM in education. Although itâ€™s taken me 35 years, I will do what the Maharishi told me to do.â€

…

The duo said they will now contact Scottish authorities to have the institution accredited.

â€œFor a country the size of Scotland it would take only 250 students meditating to protect Scotland from its enemies and to bring peace, to stop violence and drug abuse,â€ Lynch said. â€œThat is just a byproduct (sic) of the students meditating together.â€

Obviously, this isn’t going to happen. As Black Sun points out, there are very likely over 250 people already engaged in TM in Scotland, and they’re utterly useless at making any headway whatsoever into the violence and drug problems already currently in evidence, far less “protecting” a population of about 3 million. These claims are complete hogwash and should be laughed at or, at the very worst, ignored.

So, what to do?

Well, we could let them spend their millions and build their university, let them plough through the red tape—wasting their money—trying to get accreditation, let them spend tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds in advertising trying to attract paying students. And then, when their 250-strong army of TMers completely fails to protect Scotland and rid it of violence (unless they somehow manage to get Buckfast banned in Glasgow) and drug abuse we should remove their accreditation (if they get it), point, laugh, and say “we told you so, you fucking eejits¹”.

Or, simply, we could just point, laugh, and tell the pair of them to “fuck right off” and get a clue. This is my preferred option: it costs the tax-payer less and wastes less people’s time.

Sadly, I know that there are enough credulous people here to ultimately make it worth Donovan and Lynch’s respective (financial) whiles, and I would love to see them fail (I have no problem with Schadenfreude when it comes to delusional ideas and those who seek to take advantage of others through them). I’m afraid though that any “course” accreditation will be from some other new-age fantasy-factory. The only hope I see is that the “university” appellation will be turned down by the appropriate organisation—I know that these things don’t come easily.

Come on, Scotland, stand up to these (and the other) evidence-ignoring wingnuts!