Reader Comment 08-18-09 More on ‘Dr. Joe’

Sometimes I am surprised at what ‘issues’ get the most reader response. Tuesday night John left a post about the ‘Dr Joe’ issue. John wrote:

“If you made an error in referring to Joe Weiss as Dr. Weiss you are in good company. His name plaque read, "Dr. Weiss" when he testified before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Here's the photo to prove it... http://www.controlglobal.com/multimedia/2009/WeissTestifies0903.html”

Looking back at my records I did not get a chance to watch Joe’s testimony before the Senate Committee so I did not get my information there. In fact, I cannot find any where in my records that includes any reference to ‘Dr. Weiss’. So when I referred to ‘Dr. Weiss’ in my posting last week, it was entirely an assumption on my part that Joe had received an PhD at some point in his illustrious career. Now, I am not a person that is overly impressed with a ‘piled higher and deeper’ certificate from an institution of higher learning. In too many instances as a practical matter it is not much more than a ‘you were there’ badge. But there are many people that do worship at that church and they get highly offended when the honorifics are not used or used inappropriately. I am reminded of the Professor at the Frie Universitie in West Berlin with two PhDs who insisted that his students refer to him as ‘Herr Doktor Doktor’. In any case, I just want to make sure that everyone understands that the misuse of the honorific was entirely my fault and was not the result of a misrepresentation on the part of Joe Weiss or anyone associated with him. While my readers are free to continue posting comments on the subject, this will be my last word….