RE: What I talk about when I talk about… philosophy
I avoid calling myself a philosopher as a (perhaps foolish) tactic. I imagine that if I present an argument as a philosopher, it may distract those in a position of authority or those who look to authority from the argument before them. They may instead focus on my qualifications for calling myself a philosopher and what my credentials are, which from the perspective of a submission to authority, I have none to speak of. This makes it a simple matter to dismiss the need to consider the argument at all, as other philosophers with a different idea of what makes a philosopher might dismiss me as a fake and a fraud, and my arguments along with it. The baby and the bathwater.
Of course, I realize in the academic realm (of which I'm sure you've dealt with far more frustration than I) it would be just as damning to say you aren't a philosopher, as they may feel that only real philosophers are worth hearing out. That, and academics seem to be inclined to not utilize philosophy as a system of exploration, rather a regurgitation of the history of philosophy. Repackaging the recorded thoughts of bolder thinkers gone before.
I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on it.
I absolutely agree on your pointed view on how academics consider philosophy and philosophers. And you're also right that I have dealt and still deal with the frustration of the inability to grasp the difference you point out: basically between being and referring. I'm very much interested in those who are who they say they are, and find them wonderful to talk to. Credentials, but more accurately it would be to say that the present educational system, fails to acknowledge that being cannot be labelled. In my forthcoming book I actually talk about this in a chapter, this need to repackaging thought as you call it. It is one of the reasons I'm disappointed in academic philosophy, and trying to stay on the verge of it at best.
Those who need the authority of a title to make a point, should not have such authority.