Don’t Knock the Doc

By SAM URETSKY

It was a tempest in a teapot, or maybe in a teacup. It was small and silly, which describes so much of political discourse these days, while serious matters on the order of global warming, voter suppression, health care policy, and education are pushed aside. It will go down in history alongside President Obama’s failure to wear an American flag lapel pin (“My attitude is that I’m less concerned about what you’re wearing on your lapel than what’s in your heart. You show your patriotism by how you treat your fellow Americans, especially those who serve. You show your patriotism by being true to our values and ideals. That’s what we have to lead with is our values and our ideals”) or his wearing a tan suit (“… on Aug. 28, 2014, when President Barack Obama showed up for a White House news conference dressed in beige, the light-colored suit became a matter of national import. Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.) fumed that the suit pointed to a ‘lack of seriousness’ on the president’s part, cable news shows held roundtable discussions, fashion critics and image consultants weighed in ...”)

The Wall Street Journal is an excellent source of news – of opinion, not so much. On Dec. 11, it carried an op-ed by Joseph Epstein, formerly the editor of American Scholar, with the title, “Is There a Doctor in the White House? Not if You Need an M.D.” It begins, “Madame First Lady—Mrs. Biden — Jill — kiddo: a bit of advice on what may seem like a small but I think is a not unimportant matter. Any chance you might drop the ‘Dr.’ before your name? ‘Dr. Jill Biden’ sounds and feels fraudulent, not to say a touch comic.”

Mr. Epstein wrote, “A wise man once said that no one should call himself ‘Dr.’ unless he has delivered a child.’ which seems to imply that the honorific should apply to school bus drivers even more than MDs.

It was almost gratifying to see the amount of outrage the op-ed engendered – more, it seemed, than separating immigrant families at the Mexican border, allowing oil drilling in the Arctic, or saying about COVID-19 “We have it totally under control ...” The Washington Post published an op-ed by Monica Hesse headed, “The Wall Street Journal column about Jill Biden is worse than you thought,” and Michelle Obama also wrote an excellent defense of Dr. Biden. On Dec. 19, C-SPAN devoted a portion of its call-in show Washington Journal to a discussion of Mr. Epstein’s essay and Dr. Biden’s degree. Paul Gigot, editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal, wrote that the op-ed “… triggered a flood of media and Twitter criticism, including demands that I retract the piece, apologize personally to Mrs. Biden, ban Mr. Epstein for all time, and resign and think upon my sins. The complaints began as a trickle, but became a torrent after the Biden media team elevated Mr. Epstein’s work in what was clearly a political strategy.”

Times change, and so does language. Mr. Epstein jokes about the misuse of the doctoral title, which is fair enough, although in the UK a physician (derived from physic, meaning laxatives) is commonly called “Doctor,” while a surgeon uses the title Mister, which derives from Master, meaning, according to the Oxford Dictionary “A skilled practitioner of a particular art or activity.”

Michelle Obama wrote, “For eight years, I saw Dr. Jill Biden do what a lot of professional women do — successfully manage more than one responsibility at a time, from her teaching duties to her official obligations in the White House to her roles as a mother, wife, and friend. And right now, we’re all seeing what also happens to so many professional women, whether their titles are Dr., Ms., Mrs., or even First Lady: All too often, our accomplishments are met with skepticism, even derision. We’re doubted by those who choose the weakness of ridicule over the strength of respect. And yet somehow, their words can stick—after decades of work, we’re forced to prove ourselves all over again.” Dr. Biden’s academic achievements, both as a student and a teacher deserve respect, and if she takes pride in her doctorate, she deserves all the honor the title confers.

It’s of possible interest that if you wish to refer to yourself as Judge, Senator or Colonel, without being or having been a Judge, Senator, or Colonel, as long as you don’t try to jail someone, vote in Congress or command a regiment, the United States Constitution gives you the right to do so (the Stolen Valor Act was found to be an unconstitutional abridgment of free speech). But if you have a PhD, EdD or any other earned degree that ends in D, and call yourself “Doctor” you can be satirized in the Wall Street Journal. That’s politics.

Sam Uretsky is a pharmacist, which in most small towns would earn him the honorific “Doc,” but he lives in Louisville, Ky., and, despite his pharmacy doctorate, he does not normally use the title. Email sdu01@outlook.com.

From The Progressive Populist, February 1, 2021

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