Profession?
No.
A profession would have certain standards of behavior and conduct.
Every time some schmuck shows up drunk for work it makes us look bad.
Every time you show up unshaven for work it makes us look bad. (It has to do with your O2 mask not sealing properly, primarily something that Europeans are bad at).
Every time a training bond or a self sponsored type rating is brought to light we look bad.
Every time someone accepts a flying job making peanuts it makes us all look bad.
The list is long, and it is not all a new thing, it was just a lot easier to hide back in the old days. Once the airplanes started being called "the bus" it didn't help at all.
I would like to see some decorum, dignity and respect regained by the "profession'.
Sadly being a professional pilot is the last thing I want my children to grow up to be.