But let me reiterate: you do NOT — repeat, NOT, NOT, NOT — need a doctorate to do good, thoughtful, and thoroughly solid critical writing about anime and manga.
–Tim on the amrc-l (Anime and Manga Research Circle) mailing list.
True, but you still need some training in writing. Else, your best ideas cannot be effectively transmitted. The problem is, it's completely up to the bearer of degree if to use it to advance his love for the final art or for morally bankrupt intellectual wankery, and many people chose the latter. Thus formed implicit association between scholarship and douchbaggery prompts denials like the above.