It's Dr Jill Biden.
Story. End of.
If someone has earned the right to use the title of 'Doctor' either because they have worked their tail off and been through more years of study than what would usually be considered sane and written a thesis, or has become a medical doctor which itself requires more years of study than what most people would consider sane, or has had the title of 'Doctor' honorarily conferred upon them for doing amounts of service and work than what most people would consider sane, then thy have the right to be called 'Doctor'.
Story. End of.
Granted there might be a good reason why on a medical ward in a hospital that for institutional hierarchy reasons that someone who is a nurse or ancillary staff might not use the title of 'Doctor' within the context of work but that does not mean in any way that they aren't otherwise entitled to use the title.
Story. End of.
The only reason that this absolutely idiotic discussion has cropped up at all is because Donald Trump lost the election and a whole entire side of politics has decided to completely destroy every possible shred of decency and sanity in the name of their unholy god Trump. Trumpianity is surely one of the most pathetic religions that has cropped up and purely exists as a cult of personality. Of course it makes sense that it has displaced the temporary worship of the usual god whom America proudly proclaims to believe in, with that declaration of faith "In god we trust: One Dollar" because Dollar is a silent and incapable god and its shrine leaders are frequently deliberately stupid and cruel. The god Dollar fails in the face of almost every crisis; so people have changed their worship to Trumpianity which has a self-obsessed god who is equally incapable in the face of any crisis.
The god of Trumpianity lost in a general election; so its worshippers have gone full on coco-bananas wingnut.
This is the background to why the Washington Post published a hit piece questioning Dr Jill Biden's right to call herself a 'Doctor'. There is no other context which either this piece, or leader of the shrill choir Ben Shapiro, is singing this hymn with only one note.
Jill Biden had already received a B.Arts in Education in the early 1980s. She then went on to get her Masters degree and then work as both a teacher and as a policy maker; addressing both special needs children as well as looking at how education should be made more accessible.
Biden then returned to school for her doctoral degree, having the better part of 30 years of practical experience in the field; where at age 55, she received a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in educational leadership from the University of Delaware. Her dissertation, "Student Retention at the Community College: Meeting Students' Needs" was published under the name Jill Jacobs-Biden. This happened in 2007.
Working for three decades and then going back to school to do more study and write a thesis, by any measure earns you the right to be called 'Doctor'.
Story. End of.
This happened back in 2007. This was even before the 2008 Presidential Campaign which saw Joe Biden lose to Barack Obama and then after many months, be elected on the ticket as Vice President. None of that story has anything whatsoever to do with Jill Biden. Although she was conferred the rather useless title of Second Lady Of The United States, she continued to work in the field of teaching and educational policy; where she was quite rightly recognised as Dr Jill Biden.
Story. End of.
I will admit that the United States has a very strong suspicion of titles, which is due to its myth making surrounding its origin story; and so it doesn't confer titles such as 'Sir', 'Lord', 'Baron', 'Duke' etc. but it absolutely fawns all over itself in recognising titles like 'Senator', 'President', and 'General'; even after people have left the respective offices.
If it wasn't a problem back in 2007, and it wasn't a problem for the entirety of the time that Dr Jill Biden was Second Lady Of The United States, then why is it a problem now?
I will admit that I do not live in the United States and so I do not share this cultural cringe when it comes to titles and styles. Admittedly we've actively tried to pollute the title of 'Sir' because of republicanism in Australia; which wasn't helped by the Right Honorable Anthony Abbott but even that doesn't invalidate the concept of titles.
I'd like to suggest that part of this stems from a kind of insane rugged individualism which exists in the United States but I don't think that that's adequate in this situation. What I find particularly on the nose about all of this is the rank hypocrisy here; which is giving off a whiff of putrescine.
The bottom line is that whether we like it or not, we live in a giant interconnected system of mutual obligations. As a result of these mutual obligations, then you should give to all people that which is properly due to them: if you owe taxes, pay taxes; if you owe revenue, pay revenue; if you owe respect, pay respect; if you owe honour, then pay honour. Some people, whether they've been conferred it, or whether they've worked beyond what would be considered sane for it, are owed the right to be called by a title. In the case of Dr Jill Biden, she has earned the right to be called 'Doctor'.
Story. End of.
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