215,509 Axact names: what can be done with them

I've always been intrigued by the psychology at play here. The same type of situation arises when it comes to the "ordination" business.

Those people could have accepted a refund. Surely they could have found a shifty printer (or done it themselves today with the technology available) who would be willing to re-create their fraudulent diploma. It could occupy the same place on their wall. Maybe they could even get it printed up in Latin! The diploma they print would be no more or less legitimate than the one they received from LaSalle. Their refusal tells me that many of the people with these degrees aren't trying to deceive others. They genuinely feel that they earned the degree. And maybe someone who was a cop for 30 years does deserve that A.S. in CJ. Of course, TESU would probably be a better path.

But people get just as nutty about online ordinations. Some people start with a ULC ordination before upgrading to the First Internet Church of the Web and then begin a never ending quest for a "legitimate" or "legal" ordination that will fill that gap they feel. People spend big bucks on packages to provide documents to the NYC Clerk or to their local officials to register as a marriage officiant only to never preside over a single wedding. And, of course, it might be easier (and cheaper in some states) to just form a non-profit corporation and ordain yourself. It would be every bit as legal as the ULC or FICOTW ordination and wouldn't draw nearly as many sideways stares.

But people seek that validation from a third party even if the third party has no real business providing it.

 

Thanks for the idea, Neuhaus! A paying job in my declining years, at last! It's been a long time since I wrote anything like "admisisse ad gradum Doctoris Philosophiae."

I think the last time was over forty years ago, in a bar... :smile:

J.