theist uniforms

[phantom power]

Heh. "clown costumes."

So in the Dawkins/Coyne interview, I'm noticing that Coyne has the magic collar on (I suppose if he'd been raised in an Islamic culture, he'd have a beard and black robes; if Buddhist, he'd be shaved bald and wearing orange; same difference), and Dawkins is dressed like any academic, nothing particularly distinctive. It bugged me. There is a status game being played here, and clerics demand it and get it, while scientists shrug off the superficialities and don't try to push it. If you just ignore the words they're saying (trust me, Coyne's words aren't at all enlightening) and look at the image, the message is that Coyne has special status, while Dawkins is simply one of the hoi polloi.

I don't quite know what to do about it. We're certainly not going to propose a uniform for scientists, which would be just as pompous as priests making sure to announce their delusions visually even while they're standing around the luggage carousel. I guess I'm just going to have to put it on my to-do list of things to accomplish while we're destroying religion: diminish the credibility of the clerical uniform. We're just going to have to start regarding it in the same way we view clown costumes, I think.

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/12/mark_your_calendars_minnesotan.php

[Deep13]

1. We should start wearing Star Trek uniforms for interviews.

:D

[laconicsax]

3. I don't think PZ would look good in this

[awoke_in_2003]

6. No, he wouldn't...

but Nichelle always made the uniform look good :)

[immoderate]

2. How about a white lab coat, or a doctor's white smock?

--IMM

[awoke_in_2003]

7. Funny, when I read...

"dressed like an academic", I envisions him wearing clothes at least 15 years out of date and slightly disheveled

[TechBear_Seattle]

8. A tweed jacket with courderoy patches at the elbows n/t

[laconicsax]

4. Don't child molesters use clown costumes to lure children?

If so, then how is it different from a clerical uniform?

[Deep13]

5. Ooh, snap! nt