Title anger! Grrrr me getting ranting mad.... Message #20 Posted by glynn on 26 Dec 2001, 11:17 p.m., in response to message #18 by W. Bruce Maguire II
Bruce, you are being too darn nice in your response here!!!
Please count me in as someone who CARES, LIKES and WANTS people to display their well-deserved titles and degrees. To say no one here really cares is just dead WRONG.
Dr. Meyer is part of a profession that rises above most in the art of giving. Take a look around you, sometime, Mr. Question. There's a reason for degrees-- and a reason for the titles that follow a few of them.
Medical doctors are not just well-trained. They dedicate their lives and bind their reputations upon their practice of a VOLUME of skills, each and every one of which require them to keep the highest standards, so that they don't let down the patients who Trust them, their colleagues and the profession itself, which must Have that trust. The degree system is the best way anyone came up with to show that standards have been met... but the honorific Doctor and the M.D. after his name now ARE his name, because he has permanently pledged himself to engage in Medicine, with or without adequate compensation, perks and vacations; he IS Dr. Michael Meyer, M.D., to the community at large and to you and to me.
If you, Mr. Question, are related to him, maybe you can call him "Uncle Mikey". WITH his permission, of course.
The fact that he signed with his title, constitutes what permissions you DO have; learn it, live it, love it.
It irks me... courtesy, politeness, respect and honor are no big deal to some of you. You think in this forum or in this medium or in this age, we're all equals and therefore a title is some pretension we should all drop. On the contrary, Mr. Question.
We all need to have a certain respect shown to us based on what we offer others; our input, ideas and willingness to be involved-- that respect is an important glue that keeps discussion alive. We get a break for a little while: respect shown us in advance as a willingness to have us in as partners, not ignore and/or make fun of us. To be taken seriously and engaged in more than a flip answer or flame, we have to actually put out: ideas, commentary, reason that touches a chord or makes for more than what was, Builds.
So, think what a Medical Doctor offers others generally-- then think of the intellect honed through study and experience that, when applied here or in other forums, is always considered and reflective-- then understand that Doctors, by their nature, are always active and involved in Something, sometimes including our all-important endeavors. THIS is why Doctors automatically get INITIAL respect, where you or I might have to SHOW we deserve more than just the decency of a platform. Their own training and past actions make for an instant biography you or I may not share, but would be really good for us to know about. Beyond the Initial Respect accorded by the title, the doctor's contributions to this forum receive all the same scrutiny and are judged primarily for their content-- same as us all.
Primarily, I say-- but not Entirely. Every one of us (when not hiding behind a pseudonym) is also creating a bio for him or herself. If WE show our willingness to aid, to educate, to add to and not just waste the time of the others, our names get reputations and people choose to care or not care based on the track-record we lay down post by post. THAT's when we are equal: when those around us look at a name by a response, and they recognize the intellect and give it the respect of their time FOR THAT REASON, because it's by YOU.
And one reason I think titles get such a bad play on many forums is precisely because of envy: the "egalitarians" really, deep in their hearts, hate the idea that a reputation built on intellectual integrity follows some here via titles, but maybe will always be just outside THEIR own grasp, for whatever reason.
Mr. Question, you said, "In general, the people on this board have fairly high degrees (Ph.Ds, etc), but we don't advertise it." That may be, and if so, we are sorrier for it. Physicists, Teachers, Architects, Engineers, Lawyers, Chemists-- hey, I don't have the time to go through the
WHOLE list; but their titles MEAN SOMETHING, to you, to me, and to us all, as a small introduction to the character of the person engaged in those crafts, and their area of expertise on the "outside". Why in the world should we wish not to know these things? While text-based communication is, at best, much less personal than most other forms of interaction? The actions of some here, prevailing upon the owner of this board to create a special Biographies section, is PRECISELY BECAUSE there is a THIRST to know more about who the heck we are talking to, interacting with.
Mr. Question, you asked a simple question, and I have tried to answer. Yours was in an open forum, not a private email. That gives me the opportunity to state my opinions. I have no degree. I have no "title". I am not involved in anything professionally that DESERVES a nod or a more-attentive ear because I am in it.
But *I* DO care about degrees and titles and professional honorifics. Nobody with a degree scares me out of my thoughts and opinions, not even on his "home turf"; indeed, if the titled professional is not ready to sufficiently back up his arguments against mine, it won't be MY reputation suffering. For all these reasons, Mr. Question, I am vexed that anyone WITH a deserved title wouldn't wear it like his own skin, in and out of this Forum.
Now more than ever, the professions that keep society from dropping off the edge of this troubled earth should be lauded, their positions uplifted, their voices should be greeted with listening and respectful ears.
All you professionals, cut the modesty and be who you are: dedicated men and women who are 24 hours, 7 days a week, all your life, in the position of having CHOSEN to be, and then been chosen by others, to represent us all with your PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY: in the decision of how to support that bridge; in how to save that life; in how to uphold our liberties; in how to serve and protect and defend and build and edify.
If you choose to utilize your title, yeah, there will be some with inner animosities; but maybe as they interact more with you, they'll start dealing with real persons with dignity and not impersonally to a screen message, which is why courtesy and respect sometimes seem foreign to them.
Mr. Question, just be yourself, be real, and be honest. Think for yourself, not others. Title or not, we're not here either for ego boosts nor deconstructionist deflating. We're people and our reputations and honor are a part of US.
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