I think Sokal inadvertently provided the first in a wave of critiques of academic publishing - not necessarily just of this specific "fashion" on the left. We now know from numerous studies that even in scientific journals publishing standards aren't as rigorous/objective as we'd like.
tl;dr Alan Sokal, US based physics professor, convinced _Social Text_ , a postmodern-focused academic journal, to publish a fraudulent article in 1995. When appraised, the editors noted that they urged him to let them edit it, as they considered it poorly written. Sokal argued their acquiescence, without consulting another physicist, meant they were asleep at the wheel, despite the discomfort.