Friday, March 19, 2010

Career Advice From Uber Skeptoids

Oh for crying out loud: Requirements to be a UFO investigator by way of the JREF.

Not at all unexpected but head bashingly annoying all the same. Here's what the OP wrote:
My 12 year old nephew wants to be a UFO investigator, he asked me what qualifications he needs
I told him

1, you need the ability to believe in something with no supporting evidence
2, you need the ability to ignore facts and evidence to the contrary while inventing a reason for doing so
3, you need the ability to not be a critical thinker
4, you need a tin foil hat
5. you need to have zero credibility from your peers

There are many comments, well, all comments, that follow which are the usual batch of pathological debunking/jokey crap, but this one really got me for its typical and cheap fall back onto classism:
All you need to be a UFO Investigator are:


- A single-wide trailer.
- Electrical service.
- A fridge full of beer.
- An internet connection.
- A five-year old computer.
- A ten-year old CRT monitor.


It's that third one that eliminates him from the profession -- you need to be 21 in most (all?) states. 6th-grade grammar and spelling skills are useful as well, but not necessary.



2 comments:

Red Pill Junkie said...

And what are the requirements to become a 'professional skeptic'?

I used to think you needed to have experience as a stage magician, but nowadays everyone can jump the skeptic wagon :)

Anonymous said...

Oh yes! There's always been that classism that rears its ugly head amongst debunkers.

It makes me wonder if they're projecting and that a good portion of them aren't exactly living the upper-middle class dream themselves.