The case of honorifics in politics

Anyone who has ever watched daytime television on the big network channels knows who Dr. Oz is. He’s the celebrity doctor who was first introduced to the American public by Oprah Winfrey. She also introduced the famous celebrity therapist, Dr. Phil, by the way. Well, as you must all know that Dr. Oz has now decided to run for the Pennsylvania senate. All’s good, right? I mean who doesn’t like Dr. Oz? Well, a recent news story is that Dr. Oz is somewhat irked by the fact that now he’s running for a senate seat, the media outlets have dropped the title, ‘Dr.’, from his name. He said in an interview that he felt like they were trying to ‘cancel’ him, which might be seen as making a subtle reference to his Dr. Oz show. The media explained that, as with all candidates with doctorate and medical titles, they would refer to Dr. Oz as Mehmet Oz, Candidate for Senate.

People from all sorts of backgrounds run for office all over the world. There’ve been actors, sportsmen, lawyers and past doctors. Therefore, some have formal degrees whereas there are some who have none at all. The former Prime Minister of the UK, John Major, never went to university. At the time he was running everyone knew that he was not formally educated but he won nonetheless. Then there have many others who are highly educated too. There are indeed physicians in the US senate and many MPs across the UK are qualified and practising doctors.

And here’s the thing. None of these senators and MPs are given their title when the media is referring to them. The only way we know that they are doctors and PhDs is when you do some research on the individual in question. If you think about it, if there is a mix of candidates with varied educational backgrounds, the only way to put them all on an equal footing and make the race fair is to drop their title. I am surprised that the good doctor is upset about this.

Surely he must know that no one in US politics who has a doctorate or a medical degree is actually referred to as ‘Dr.’ I had no idea, for example, that the Republican Senator, Rand Paul, was a physician. Nor did I know that Margaret Thatcher had a degree in Chemistry until she was being interviewed at her home in the early 90s.

I guess, if you think about it, in certain political roles, someone’s educational background is irrelevant, unless they were running for a role in the Health Department or the Attorney General’s office when the degree and experience determine their eligibility for office.

That being said I’m also thinking about what Dr. Oz must be thinking in the back of his mind, especially when he said they were trying to ‘cancel’ me. When he said this, I don’t think he was referring to himself as the candidate for the Pennsylvania senate. I think he was referring to himself as the host of ‘The Dr. Oz Show’. Maybe he’s thinking ahead. Not everyone who runs for office wins. Many have tried and failed. No one should think of themselves as Donald Trump, the celebrity businessman, who tried and won the highest office in the land. Not everyone is Donald Trump. So maybe Dr. Oz is thinking about what might happen to his show if he didn’t win the race. Would the show still be the same if he was now being referred to as Mehmet Oz instead of Dr. Oz? Would Mehmet Oz be ingrained in his fans’ minds and Dr. Oz be forgotten? After all, he’s been a practising surgeon.

You know, in everyday jobs, you sometimes have to consider a trade-off. Often a title doesn’t always match the salary and vice versa. Sometimes it’s either a good job title or good money. If a job title is everything to you, then you might choose that. If not, you might take a lower title because, in exchange, you got a good salary. Therefore, if Dr. Oz were to win, he’d be forever a senator regardless of whether or not he left office later on, which brings me to one final and interesting point about honorifics in American politics as compared to the UK. It seems that America is the only country in the world, that I can see, where someone’s political title stays with them even  after they leave office or retire; in other words, for life. For example, Donald Trump will always be referred to as President as will all the others.

The same with senators and congressman. In contrast, in the UK, once a politician leaves, he no longer has that title. So the former PM, David Cameron, cannot refer to himself as Prime Minister, nor does anyone in the media refer to him as such. The same goes for MPs. Once they leave parliament, the letters MP are no longer placed after their names. I always found that interesting.