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.

Oh I agree Errol completely - I was just responding to the idea that the guidelines didn't exist.

@ErrolTheDragon

The NYT making an arbitrary distinction for PhDs in fields closely related to medicine is frankly weird. Who are they to make that distinction? Would I pass - a chemist who writes software used in pharmaceutical research? Would they include a specialist in medical ethics?

I didn't read it like that. It seemed to be more that if the subject of the degree was relevant to the article.

So, for example, if Jill Biden were speaking about an education matter then it would be appropriate to refer to her as Dr Biden but if was just some random political stuff unconnected to education then they would refer to her as Mrs Biden.

Those guidelines said Dr should be used in all references for medics and PhDs in fields 'closely related' to medicine, different guidelines for other fields. Bonkers... the lines really aren't that clear nowadays.

@badpuma, junior medical staff in the US HAVE received their MDs (doctorate of medicine) and are entitled to be called Dr.

It’s not an article. It’s an opinion written in the commentary section. Newspapers like to put in controversial/inflammatory opinions in those sections because it increases foot traffic to their websites.

In short it’s a wind up/trolling.

[quote Mominatrix]@badpuma, junior medical staff in the US HAVE received their MDs (doctorate of medicine) and are entitled to be called Dr. [/quote]
From what I've read, it's a level 7 (masters) rather than a level 8 (doctorate) qualification. But, custom and practice has allowed medics to use Dr for ages so it's plain silly to say they shouldn't.

@WillingWarlock

Really, could you link to those writers (there is no apostrophe in the word) guidelines?

Firstly yes there is, it should be writers' guidelines.
Secondly, here's what The Guardian style guide has to say. It uses Dr when the person is "practising as a doctor in the field in which they gained that qualification" which seems fair to me.

Dr
at first mention for people practising as a doctor in the field in which they gained that qualification, including medical and academic doctors and doctors of divinity (not, for example, a politician who happens to have a PhD in history, or a medical qualification); thereafter, just use surname except in leading articles

I hadn't consciously thought about it, but this was vaguely my understanding of what I would have expected from most publications. On this basis though, Jill Biden would absolutely be referred to as Dr Biden although, arguably, if she chose to stop working completely while first lady, she would then revert to Mrs?

Certainly, my father had this. Growing up his title was used for everything as it was very relevant at work (couldn't do his job without it, but not a doctor) and so all documents etc, including at school included it. Now that he's retired, he's reverted to "Mr Surname".

Trying to imagine what would happen if I was ever appointed first lady - kept my own name and absolutely LOATHE being referred to as Mrs. I'm Ms MySurname at all times. Hillary Clinton had to give up after a while. But honestly, it's a hill I'd be willing to die on. Good thing DH is never going to be president.

How many posh schools call all of their staff Dr no matter what the subject for the PhD
to justify the fees

and every University department calls those staff with a PhD "doctor"
and the senior ones "Professor"

I have an EdD (and now teach on an EdD programme) and it is slightly different to a PhD in that it is a professional doctorate. The core demographic would be mid-career teachers, usually slightly older than traditional PhD students and with a wide and diverse set of experiences. Dr Biden has a long standing career in education, and I believe is still working as a teacher and plans to continue when her husband takes over as POTUS.

I personally adopt an ‘immodest woman’ stance and use my title across all aspects of my life. I worked incredibly hard for the title and hate being defined by my unmarried status as a middle aged woman, so Dr *Victoria Lucas it is. The article was a blatant display of deep seated misogyny and sexism and I doubt it would have been written about a man.

*pseudonym used for obvious reasons

and every University department calls those staff with a PhD "doctor"
and the senior ones "Professor"

You say that like it’s a bad thing, used only to justify tuition fees.

Have you any idea how academia works?

blueblue
the fees comment relates to the first situation
not the second

I never resented calling those of my lecturers with PhD's "Doc"
and the one who did not have a Doctorate was known as Mr
and when they got "Prof" we gladly called them that

If you've got it, flaunt it, I say! A doctorate is a lot of hard work, so why hide your light under a bushel when you can be a beacon to other women and girls? That goes double for educators!

I like how Epstein has been sliced and diced on Twitter despite apparently having no account himself. No account seems an appropriate title for him...

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

If you agree with his point of view as you said in your first post, how on earth is calling you Mr. Epstein name-calling?

@ErrolTheDragon, would you like to see my diploma? It specifically says, in Latin, doctorate in medicine. But I guess that does not mean anything.

Sorry to sound snarky - perhaps uk diplomas are not the same as Those in the us (we don’t have levels of doctors).

I nearly put in my previous post that there might be regional variations - clearly should have!

To a large extent I agree with the view that people shouldn't use the title Dr. unless it is in relation to a subject they have that level of expertise in. I don't think it happens as much in the UK, but the US airwaves have been full of personalities with PhDs or even honourary doctorates in unrelated fields calling themselves Dr. and using that title to con people into thinking they have more expertise than they do. The acceptance of the Dr. title in all circumstances because someone has a qualification plays into the culture that allows this happen.

I dislike the OpEd (and think it unworthy of WSJ) because it was misogynistic and belittling of higher education at the non-elite level. And needlessly so. In fact so needlessly that it makes me wonder if the real purpose of the OpEd was different to its more obvious point.

Jill Biden uses her "Dr" title
because she works and continues to work in the field she studied for the Thesis.
It is there entirely appropriate that she reminds people that she knows her stuff.

If she insisted on being called Dr at a meeting unrelated to her field
then the editorial rules of magazines like the Economist should apply.