Lookee what I found: Help wanted at the DI

The Discovery Institute is advertising a job opening at Conservative Jobs.com (where else?). Here is the link in case you really want to see it: ConservativeJobs.com. A few things had me laughing. First of all I wondered if this is a replacement for Casey, Anika, or one of the other various mouthpieces. It sure would be funny if Casey was leaving. I mean has he ever had a real job before he became a pseudo-science front man? The Wikipedia entry for the CSC only lists him as 'staff'. Hmmm, never noticed that it only lists 2 staff members, Casey and Robert Crowther. Shouldn't the staff be larger? No matter, I guess that's why the job ad.

Well anyway, very prominently on the screen are the categories of:

• Required Skills
• Desirable Skills
• Required Certifications

And guess what the DI had listed here:

• Required Skills: None
• Desirable Skills: None
• Required Certifications: None

So to become a Discovery Institute editor, writer, and media relations specialist for the Institute’s Center for Science and Culture (CSC) requires no skills and no certifications. It does require a Bachelor's and 2 years of experience -- but experience at doing what?

I have to say that the ad does have a list of qualifications involving what you would expect, but seeing those areas listed as 'None' cracked me up. I mean you would not expect the real quals listed in the small print.

The other part I had to laugh about is that the job is to 'promote the work of Discovery Institute scientists and scholars' -- so where is the job ad for scientists and scholars? They certainly cannot be talking about their current crop of fellows and senior fellows. The whole world has been waiting for science and scholarly works from them and so far they have disappointed because their idea of science and scholarship seems to only mean philosophical marketing materials and the casting of unsupported aspersions on Darwin and biologists as a whole. Oh let us not forget the re-writing of history like Stephen C. Meyers take on the Sternberg Peer Review controversy. Well it looks re-written to me if you compare the description from Wikipedia and the one in Meyer's latest anti-epic, "Signature in the Cell"

Well back to the ad. The final part that I had to laugh about was 'a commitment to the program and principles of Discovery Institute and its Center for Science and Culture'. So the required section should have included drinking the kool-aid first before you can be hired. No real surprise there. Another interesting part is looking for someone who is knowledgeable of intelligent design and evolution. Do they really want someone who actually knows anything about evolution?

It does raise one last interesting question. Suppose I got this job and then after starting the job refused to commit to the program and principles of the DI and its CSC. Would that be grounds for firing me? And if so, could I then sue for discrimination? The thought that comes to mind are the cases of Nathanial Abraham, David Coppedge, Guillermo Gonzalez, and even the DI's own defense of Richard Sternberg during his self-inflicted peer-review controversy. Wouldn't they support my lawsuit? Something tells me no, but it would sure be fun to find out. Guess I'll keep my day job!