“A Freeper kept insisting to me that Bill Nye is a scientist. There’s the problem in a nutshell.”
IMO a scientist is someone who is trained in the scientific method and uses it to answer questions. If you dont use the scientific method you are not a scientist, even if you have advanced degrees from prestigious universities. If you use the method you are a scientist even if you never attended school. I dont know if BN is a scientist or not.
People like to define "scientist" in such a way as to include themselves and their special interest group while excluding others.