He hasn't been a criminal for a very long time. He more than payed his dues as well when he was unconstitutionally held in solitary confinement without bail. Reducing a man who has done so much to something so trivial as this reflects poorly on you alone.

My dad has a real PhD in aerospace that he got from one of the “brand name” schools. He doesn’t have that diploma hanging in his office. Instead, he has a framed fake PhDs from “Thunderwood College” [1] framed in his office, because he thinks it’s funny.

I think he feels like having a fancy title doesn’t fundamentally make you “more right” about something, and not having a fancy title doesn’t make you “more wrong” either, but he feels that people treat you like you’re smarter if you have a doctorate, so he never brings it up (outside of his resume and the like).

[1] https://thunderwoodcollege.com/

Unless they continued in universities or youbare reading their CV, you can't.

It is kind of like asking "how do I know someone has license to fly a plane?". You can't unless they tell you.

My partner has one and it’s something that never comes up in a social setting unless someone says “what do you do for work”.

It can also come up in a more formal social setting if the Dr. prefix is on place setting or RSVP list. Before I was married I used to always RSVP with doctor just because I hated the Ms. prefix.

It doesn't even come up then! "I'm a scientist working on X" doesn't imply to most people "I have a PhD"

Anyway, the novelty of the PhD sort of wears off after a few years.

To be honest the novelty of having a PhD is wearing off and I'm writing my thesis now.

I very rarely tell people I have a PhD - why would I?