"Take two aspirins and drink lots of liquid."
Call me uninformed, but for years when I heard Jill Biden referred to as "Dr Jill Biden", I thought she was a practicing physician. It wasn't until the Democratic convention that I learned that she was actually a former teacher with a PhD. Truth be told, there has been lots of misleading information surrounding the Biden family, but I will stay with this specific topic.
It seems that the Jacobins at Northwestern University are all upset that a former NW English teacher has written an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal advising Jill to drop the Dr title because it is misleading.
Here is what the Daily Northwestern has to say about all this:
“Northwestern is firmly committed to equity, diversity and inclusion, and strongly disagrees with Mr. Epstein’s misogynistic views,” the University wrote.
Is there a university in the Land that doesn't use this by-line? But I digress.
Personally, calling someone with a PhD "Dr" is appropriate in a university setting or when that person is being addressed in their capacity as an academic. To use it as an everyday title the way Jill Biden has been using it does strike me as a bit presumptuous.
And unlike Whoopi Goldberg, I never presumed that Jill Biden was an "amazing" doctor who should be surgeon general.
6 comments:
Presumptuous to use a title that you've earned because the rubes don't understand the meaning of, or history of, the word?
Are you referring to the word, "Dr" or "presumptuous?
If it's "Dr", I understand the meaning and history of it. I only have a master's degree (which I got at age 48), and I taught 20 years on college campuses, so I think I get it.
Your commentary suggests otherwise.
But you have not clarified which word we are talking about-Dr or presumptuous.
I'm talking about the word "doctor", the use of which didn't start with medical doctors.
She's a doctor, just like Martin Luther King, Jr. was a doctor. Those are titles that are earned, and they both earned them. It doesn't matter what you think or what I think or how the public perceives this word.
And yes, suggesting that this makes her qualified to be surgeon general is silly. However, it's no more silly than pretty much all of Trump's appointments where he picked cronies instead of experts. Rick Perry couldn't even string together three coherent sentences about energy, and Dr. Ben Carson knew diddly squat about housing and urban development. And let's not forget grifter extraordinaire Betsy DeVos. (Let me be clear though - Trump's ridiculous choices wouldn't make Jill Biden as surgeon general any less silly.)
The bottom line is that the op-ed was sexist, especially because he refers to a grown woman as "kiddo". Unless he has a history of taking a hard-stand against calling anyone who isn't a medical doctor "doctor", that's a reasonable conclusion. (And what a weird thing to be taking a hard stand on in the first place.)
If Dr is the word in question, I am well familiar with it though, as stated, I only possess a master's degree. One of my adversaries at UC Irvine, who, of course, has a PhD, likes to point that out when he tells me I was unqualified to teach at UCI. But some of the dumbest people I have ever encountered have PhDs.
As for the other topics you bring up, I don't care to debate the qualifications of those people, just to say that Biden is bringing back the old Obama All-Stars.
I don't care to continue the debate about J Biden's Dr title. My intent was to point out the stupid, fascist=type over reaction of the people at the university.
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