[stylist] Using titles to refer to people

Thu Apr 2 18:10:55 UTC 2009

Barbara:

I am not questioning whether they deserve respect.  They do.  Let me be
clear that I am on the same boat with you all in our respect and reverence
for those fine men.  Okay?  We all respect them and we all agree they
deserve respect.

Now, it's just that I found the liberal use of the title to cheapen their
prestige.  Iit is okay if you are impressed by the title and it's great if
you feel it in fact increases their prestige.  But I don't feel that way.  

The real reason I am bringing this up is that I do NOT want people outside
of the blind community to see all of those Dr.s all over the place and
snicker to themselves, thinking, Oh, they really do rub that title in, eh?
Well, I understand, because they are poor blind people and they need
anything to make them feel better. Ha ha.  They're amateurs, those NFB guys,
trying to dress up to be big shots with their Dr. sparkiling next to their
names!

If the title was used sparingly, okay.  But it is not.  It is all over the
place, as it used to be in the old NAACP papers, the old feminist movement,
the old Little Paper Family of the Deaf community, all from long ago.  No
other community uses it anymore.  

Disagree with this perspective all you want.  But don't question my high
respect and esteem for those men.  I am with you in wanting them look as
good as possible; I'm with you for making sure NFB is credible and
professional and respected.  I'm with you.  I just have a different take on
how it may or may not work.

John

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Barbara Hammel
Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 8:12 AM
To: NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] Using titles to refer to people

They are human just like the rest of us and make mistakes.  Owing to the 
fact that they are and have been the presidents of the NFB should be enough 
to deserve our respect.  Do you hear everyone every time refer to our 
country's presidents as "President ...."?
Barbara

If wisdom's ways you wisely seek, five things observe with care:  of whom 
you speak, to whom you speak, and how and when and where.

--------------------------------------------------
From: "John Lee Clark" <johnlee at clarktouch.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 12:04 AM
To: "'NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [stylist] Using titles to refer to people

> Not you, too, Justin?
>
> Okay, I'll try not to be too shocked here.  But really.  But I mean.  I am
> so sad, and so sorry, but I am really incredulous here.
>
> Is it a low self-esteem thing?  Iis there such desperate need for anything
> to burnish your image?  Is there no confidence in the real, actual power 
> of
> your accomplishments in and of themselves?  Iis there no appreciation for
> the virtue of understatement, or the oblique reference?
>
> It has been my great pleasure and privilege to know over fifty people with
> Ph.Ds.  None, and I repeat, none of them use Dr. next to their names and
> only use Ph.D sparingly.  Take Harlan Lane, who is the James Elliott
> Distinguished Professor of History at Northeastern University, who earned
> his Ph.D from Sorbonne, no less, and wrote bestselling books published by
> Knopf--he absolutely never uses Dr.  Or take Carol Padden, the chair of 
> the
> Communications Department at the University of California at San Diego,
> author of two books, with her husband, Tom Humphries, professor of
> linguistics and fellow at the Salk Institute, published by Harvard
> Univeristy Press--no Dr. for either of them.  Or take Brenda Jo 
> Brueggemann,
> chair of the Deaf Studies department at Ohio State University--she has two
> Ph.Ds but never goes by Dr.  Or take Bob Harris, the CEO of the Deaf
> community's biggest Deaf-related store, Harris Communications, who has a
> Ph.D in psychology--no Dr.  Or take Benjamin J. Soukup, the CEO of CSD,
> former president of NAD, current chairman of the board of trustees of
> Gallaudet, who doesn't have ANY degrees that he earned from college, not
> even a BA degree, but he has a long list of honorary doctorates--nice
> honors, he says, but he never calls himself Dr.  Or take Jane Frenandes,
> Ph.D in literature, former provost at Gallaudet, now provost at the
> University of North Carolina at Asheville--no Dr.  Or take the well-known
> Deaf comedian, Bob Daniels, Ph.D in comparative literature from
> Princeton--no Dr.  Or take my very close friend, Sean Virnig, Ph.D in
> educational administration, now head of the school for the Deaf here--Ph.D
> on his business card for work, but that's it.
>
> Or take those who are hearing, not Deaf like the above--Mary Kirk, Ph.D in
> education, professor at Metro State University--never Dr.  Or take Dona
> Mathews, Ph.D in psychology, CEO of a counseling firm here--no Dr.  Or 
> take
> Bill Williams, Ph.D in Renaissance Studies, gallery owner--no Dr.  Or take
> Pia Taavila, Ph.D in English, poet--no Dr.  Or take Mike Dykstra, Ph.D in
> marine biology, government biologist and teaches at UNC Chapel Hill--never
> Dr.  Or take Oliver Sacks, the bestselling author of many books, Ph.D in
> neurology, well, sometimes he's called Dr. because he is so distinguished
> and so, so famous, but it is very rarely used in print and absolutely 
> never
> in his own books.  Or take Teresa B. Smith, Ph.D in social 
> sciences--you'll
> never catch her using the title Dr.
>
> Only M.D.s are regularly called Dr. in print.  The other kinds of doctors,
> no.  Sometimes Ph.D, but NOT Dr.
>
> Dr. but not a M.D. is a propped-up fake.
>
> Why prop up Jernigan or Mauer while they are already great as is?  The
> propping up only makes it look like they need propping up.
>
> John
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Justin Williams
> Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2009 9:07 PM
> To: 'NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List'
> Subject: Re: [stylist] Using titles to refer to people
>
> I think that if you have earned that allusive and prestidgous title, then
> you have the right to use it whenever you so desire.  As a matter of fact,
> you should.  Hell, if I had it, I would be putting Dr. Williams on
> everything.  Boy Dr. Williams has a nice ring to it.  Maybe I just go and
> get me one of them there PHds.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Angela fowler
> Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2009 9:46 PM
> To: 'NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List'
> Subject: [stylist] Using titles to refer to people
>
> Most people who have PHDs are referred to as Doctor. I think you're 
> reading
> way too much into it.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of John Lee Clark
> Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2009 1:02 PM
> To: 'NFBnet Writer's Division Mailing List'
> Subject: Re: [stylist] Heroes of the blind community
>
> Hey, all:
>
> I notice NFB's tendency to take pains to refer to people with doctorates 
> as
> Dr.  Am I to read into this a kind of inferiority complex and if you have 
> a
> doctorate you make sure it is known and touted?
>
> If so, Ii recommend scrapping this altogether.  You may think it builds
> credibility, but the fact you mention Dr. at all suggests it is SPECIAL 
> for
> a blind person.  But it shouldn't be considered special, but only a matter
> of course--of course you've got a whole colony of blind doctors!  Even if
> you don't have that many, it's good to be nonchalant about it.
>
> But I can sympathize.  The Deaf community used to make a big deal of the
> title Dr. but that was back in the 1930s.  Nowadays, Deaf Ph.Ds are common
> as dirt.
>
> But I make this suggestion only from the perspective of language
> manipulation.  Understatements are better than overstatements.
>
> John
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of LoriStay at aol.com
> Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2009 8:16 AM
> To: stylist at nfbnet.org
> Subject: Re: [stylist] Heroes of the blind community
>
> Start with the leaders:   Louis Braille, Dr. Jacobus tenBroek, Dr. Kenneth
> Jernigan, and many other leaders from NFB.
> Lori
> In a message dated 3/31/09 11:59:04 PM, jbron at optonline.net writes:
>
>
>>
>> >> Who are the biggest legendary figures or heroes of the blind 
>> >> community?
>> >>
>>
>
>
>
>
> **************
> Feeling the pinch at the grocery store?  Make dinner for $10 or less.
> (http://food.aol.com/frugal-feasts?ncid=emlcntusfood00000001)
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