Attacking the next first lady of the USA - Dr Jill Biden

[nickymanchester]

A recent post on twitter highlighted that some random dude writing in the Wall Street Journal decided to attack the wife of Joe Biden (The WSJ is the US equivalent of The Financial Times):-

twitter.com/AndrewSolender/status/1337804907177512962

This is a real paragraph – written by Joseph Epstein – that was published in the Wall Street Journal:-

Is There a Doctor in the White House? Not if You Need an M.D.

Jill Biden should think about dropping the honorific, which feels fraudulent, even comic.

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. Your degree is, I believe, an Ed.D., a doctor of education, earned at the University of Delaware through a dissertation with the unpromising title "Student Retention at the Community College Level: Meeting Students' Needs." A wise man once said that no one should call himslef "Dr." unless he had delivered a child. Think about it, Dr. Jill, and forthwith drop the doc.

I was just felt literally gobsmacked by that sort of condescension in a newspaper with the reputation of the Wall Street Journal.

It turns out that I wasn't the only person that thought that either. There were many people who responded just how you would expect, for example:-

twitter.com/jrpsaki/status/1337929492363407370

You are not alone if today is the first day you googled “Joseph Epstein” because you were curious who popped out of a 1950’s time warp to write the below for the WSJ

twitter.com/Chasten/status/1337776851423551489

The author could’ve used fewer words to just say “ya know in my day we didn’t have to respect women.”

twitter.com/DouglasEmhoff/status/1337848812610568193

Dr. Biden earned her degrees through hard work and pure grit. She is an inspiration to me, to her students, and to Americans across this country. This story would never have been written about a man.

But I think the best response came from the twitter account of Merriam-Webster (they are the US equivalent of the OED - the Oxford English Dictionary). Without making any reference to the Wall Street Journal article at all they simply put this out a few hours later:-

twitter.com/MerriamWebster/status/1337841415116763138

The word 'doctor' comes from the Latin word for "teacher."

The History of 'Doctor' - Just who qualifies as a doctor anyway?

Not surprisingly, people picked up on this quite quickly, for example:-

When Merriam Webster trolls WSJ....

When the dictionary has the shadiest subtweets on the web.

The pure devastation you must feel when the dictionary itself steps up to destroy your credibility..

While this may appear just a storm in a teacup, it is really quite staggering that attitudes like this can still be printed in opinion pieces in serious newspapers.

@NotBadConsidering you make good points. It's exactly like the Soviets removing people's entries from the National Encyclopaedia when they fell from favour. Terrifying and pathetic at the same time.

I am also tbh with the greatest respect OP surprised to see the title "First Lady" used here in the feminism topic. I find that really dubious. It's a made-up appellation (with no constitutional basis) given to certain women to say "Well done, look who YOU married." I find that more reteograde than anything Epstein wrote.

No one should call himself a journalist unless he does his research... NOBODY should call themselves Dr as an honourific UNLESS they have a Ph.D. If they ARE a doctor (without a Ph.D., they should use Mr/Mrs/Ms.)

I’m not in the UK and medical doctors can only use the Dr. title here if they have a PhD. Otherwise they are just the equivalent of Mr or Mrs/Ms/Miss

I didn’t know that Northwestern did that! Horrid considering they have a well regarded journalism department and definitely know that US media outlets typically don’t use the Dr courtesy title unless they are a doctor! It’s absolutely not a controversial stance in the US!

Washington Post, for one, doesn’t use it unless the person is an actual doctor. Here’s a quote from the article I linked earlier:

mainstream news outlets generally refuse to attribute the “Dr.” prefix to anyone who is not a medical doctor

But sure, go ahead and smear me for having a different opinion.

Using irony to make a rhetorical point is common on MN. PP doesn't really think you are JE.

@donquixotedelamancha

But sure, go ahead and smear me for having a different opinion.

Using irony to make a rhetorical point is common on MN. PP doesn't really think you are JE.

I get it. But they never addressed the point of my post and instead engaged in pointless name calling. It’s tiresome.

So can I check I've understood this correctly?

In the US people who have completed doctorates are not entitled to be called 'Dr' by the media, but junior medical staff who have not completed doctorates are commonly referred to as Dr, so it's effectively an honorific which only applies to medical staff?

That seems very strange from a UK perspective.

Yes especially when surgeons in the UK are referred to as Mr/Ms!!

History does strange things to our systems.

Dr Jill earned her title. End of.

He hasn’t taught at Northwestern University since 2003 yet they felt the need to release two public statements condemning him - not just the article, but him - and scrubbing his name from their alumni records?

It's bizarre that they've decided now to do this. That article is very mild compared to his other views on women; he's strongly anti-feminist, referring to lesbians as ,'dykes' and 'pit-bulls'.

He was editor of The American Scholar for many years and was famous for a strongly biased editorial line.

This is from his most famous article:

I HAVE SAID I THINK HOMOSEXUALS CURSED, and I am afraid I mean this quite literally

I do think homosexuality an anathema, and hence homosexuals cursed......the importance, for me...of my defining a homosexual as someone who has physical homosexual relations, for it leaves room for my admiration for the man who is pulled toward homosexuality and resists

nothing [my four sons] could ever do would make me sadder than if any of them were to become homosexual. For then I should know them condemned to a state of permanent niggerdom among men

I would wish homosexuality off the face of the earth

mudcub.com/homophobia/homo_hetero.htm

Link included to show quotes are in context. I can't see you would want to read the 'article' except to reassure yourself he would never have achieved a PhD, no matter how much standards have declined.

Far better to dissect how wrong-headed he is and address the historical failing of having employed an idiot.

Far better to dissect how wrong-headed he is and address the historical failing of having employed an idiot. that would be far too reasonable, and require someone to do a bit of thinking

I am actually Dr Europilgrim but only use the title Dr at work where it is relevant. However, stupid opinions like the one in this article make me want to insist on it at all times!

Debbie Cameron, @ word spinster on Twitter, is a linguistics professor and has written one of her excellent erudite, entertaining blog posts on the difference in the way men and women with titles are treated differently.

Meanwhile, it is nothing short of murderous to use the wrong title of a Transwomen.

Pleaser excuse Non-erudite use of ‘difference / differently’ in the same sentence 🙄

A genuine piece on the times and places that it might or might not be appropriate to use your title could easily have been achieved without being so mean spirited and patronising to Dr Biden. Clearly that was beyond Epstein’s capabilities as a writer and boring small man (love that Wiki entry ) what a tool. What were the WSJ thinking, publishing that?

I think this is one of those cases where the article says more about the writer, and none of it good, than it does about Dr Biden.

Vets and dentists can be called Dr in the uk too.... no human babies delivered there either

@justilou1

No one should call himself a journalist unless he does his research... NOBODY should call themselves Dr as an honourific UNLESS they have a Ph.D. If they ARE a doctor (without a Ph.D., they should use Mr/Mrs/Ms.)

I am a journalist and it is definitely our house style for my publication to not use Dr except for medical doctors. I am appalled by Epstein and think Jill Biden has every right to use Dr. But not using the title is definitely a thing in journalism style guides. It varies of course. One publication I work for, style is full name followed by just surname on all other mentions, another is full name followed by Ms Surname or Mr surname, it just depends.

@Canwecancel2020

Vets and dentists can be called Dr in the uk too.... no human babies delivered there either

That's still not the norm here, whereas it is in the US... for dentists, I don't know about veterinarians ... 'vets' there would have a military rank. Two languages, somewhat different customs.

If someone has a doctorate I would expect them to be addressed as Doctor, style guides regardless. Surgeons are called Mr because they were originally not medically qualified, now it’s a mark of esteem to forego the Dr title.
Are Oxford graduates still able to claim a doctorate without actually completing one? My mother was very miffed when my brother said he wasn’t going to bother with his (he graduated in the seventies). It that the origin of medical Drs being Drs generally - were medical degrees originally only Oxbridge qualifications (I expect someone will tell me Edinburgh was awarding them centuries earlier)?
Anyway, that person is a nasty piece of work. Maybe the WSJ just published it to show him up.

How horribly misogynistic. He could have just expressed ideas about when dr should / shouldn’t be used in an entirely non offensive way. I do feel that using Dr for a phd should be restricted to areas where it’s relevant, eg at an academic conference. that’s what I’d do anyway (if I had had the brains, determination etc to do a phd). Lots of titles seem very outdated - miss? Sir? ... all silly.

First Lady is the silliest title of all though!

House style of publications doesn't dictate use elsewhere, but apparently the style of the WSJ is to use Dr for PhDs and physicians. Whether there is any distinction made between EdD and PhDs in the US I don't know - some of the 'xD' degrees such as JD are classified as masters (7)rather than doctoral level, but as far as I can see EdD is doctoral level (8)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor(title)#Unitedd_States

I think that if Jill Biden wishes to use the title 'Dr' that is her choice.

@Sittinbythesea like you I dislike the idea of First Lady (or even First Gentleman). Judge a person by who they are, not who they are married to.

Are Oxford graduates still able to claim a doctorate without actually completing one?

Afaik it's MAs they can claim, not doctorates.

It that the origin of medical Drs being Drs generally - were medical degrees originally only Oxbridge qualifications (I expect someone will tell me Edinburgh was awarding them centuries earlier)?

Bologna and Paris, actually. they were originally licenses to teach theology, law and medicine.

Oh yes, it’s MAs. What was I thinking.
Of course the Europeans got there first. My brain has been addled by Brexit.