Mars One is a great step for Human therefore everybody should have a chance

Opening: I plan to prove that while completely untrained civilians wouldn't be appropriate, I will argue that the chosen applicants will be able to do the task with relatively basic training, such as two years. Rebuttals 1: They may not know now, when they first apply on the site, but the training will definitely prepare them for what is ahead. If they are not up to the task, then they would be washed out before entering the voting process. If indeed, they are not the "marketing tools" you described, and the project is truly scientific and reasonable, then I am sure that they will disqualify unfit candidates. 2: What exactly do you mean by pressure? To be shown to the public isn't pressure as much as it is fame. That may be the motive behind some of the applicants (they already upload pictures of themselves on the website). This all comes down to the state of the chosen applicants. And besides, just as all other lunar launch crews, there will be backups (that also receive training) in case a crew member "quits under pressure". As I said, this all comes down to psychology of the crew and those that break or back down can easily be replaced. 3: It is right to have one or two of the crew members that are from the military (there has to be law and order in the colony after all! ) and to take care of the piloting. But why exactly do they need to control their emotions? Throughout the flight process, they will sit in the cabin and harnesses, no action needed. And obviously they already had their mental state checked. Provided that Mars One is serious, people who have the possibility of losing it simply will not be on the crew to begin with. In this day and age, everything will likely be automatic during take off, so there aren't orders that crew members need to follow "as they we're told". And they probably will receive training on that, if it is necessary, anyway Argument: 1. Who wants to do this anyway? When you wash out all the people who aren't actually serious about leaving behind everything they've ever known behind, what's left behind probably isn't half as large as the original pool. And then you add in all the disqualifications due to mental and physical health problems, and you have few actual candidates up for the voting nonsense. To support a actual colony (which is a bogus idea in this day and age anyway), you need to have more than say, a few people. And you need specialists like teachers and doctors and farmers. Military men would hardly be of use here. In fact, this was shown in most of the space shuttle crews, many of which were ordinary scientists or aviation men who went into rigorous training, the same which will happen to the Mars One applicants. You do need professionals and skilled people, but open application to get as many people on board as the spacecraft allows us. 2. Your argument is absolutely valid. Or would be, provided that the entire selection process is based on the voting. But that is not the case. In the first two rounds, all the applicants that can't possibly get on won't even have a chance to go to the voting process. The voting is only another way to get rid of any surplus applicants, and only proper applicants will ever get there. In conclusion, the open application is a tool to only broaden the range of the right people to sustain a serious Mars colony.