Someone pointed out a social media post that featured a Dr. “so and so” that was making some interesting claims about food and health. A couple of those claims were in reference to vegetables and the person who contacted me was curious what I thought.
On the first read, I found myself in disagreement with the content. But I like to believe that I keep an open mind and that my initial instincts could, quite possibly, be wrong. So, I took a little bit of time to pull out some references and try to determine if the claims being presented could, in some frame of reference, be true or at least true-ish. Unfortunately, when all was said and done, the best I could say about it was that the content was very misleading - if not completely incorrect.
I gave it the benefit of the doubt, in part, because there was some alphabet soup involved. This person identified as a doctor, implying that they were in the medical profession. And I initially took that at face value - giving something my own expertise was telling was wrong more time than it was probably worth.
I guess there are times when soup isn’t good for you.
Alphabet soup, a dangerous food
I think the first time I was aware of alphabet soup was when I became intensely interested in baseball and baseball statistics. Acronyms like “RBI,” “AB,” and “ERA” became part of my vocabulary as I crossed into the subculture that embraced the special language of baseball. At that time, you knew you were pretty competent in baseball’s alphabet soup if you knew how to calculate WHIP and OPS and you could accurately and effectively connect them with the results of the game.
Like many young people who are not distracted by so many additional cares of the world, I could pour myself into the soup and marinate until the acronyms were second nature to me. I could make a decent argument that WHIP and P/IP were decent indicators of a pitcher’s success in the near future (* I’ll fill you in on these at the end if you are curious).
And I would completely leave anyone who was not conversant in this alphabet soup confused and frustrated.
Then there are those times when we (the “royal” and all-inclusive “we”) allow ourselves to get lazy and refer to an acronym or term with the assumption that everyone is going to understand and appreciate what we mean. I fear this is part of the reason that DEI was so easily subverted into having a negative connotation it does not deserve. If you don’t speak the words Diversity, Equity and Inclusion out loud, it is far easier to ignore what they mean. When you let three letters tumble out of your mouth, you are inviting misinterpretations on the grandest scale.
Now, I will grant that this argument is not perfect. I’ve watched while other terms have been flipped around. I suppose I will sadly admit that any label is a candidate for misuse and misappropriation. But I still firmly believe that a significant number of people would have a harder time willingly and willfully misunderstanding if we made the effort to consistently and clearly state what we mean instead of substituting a variable name in its place.
Oh, sorry. Did I just lose you? You’re not someone who has written computer programs? I guess that means you might not have understood “substituting a variable name in its place.”
The “variable name” reference is just another example of how I can fail to communicate. It’s another case where I leave you feeling like you aren’t included and that, maybe, you’re too stupid to understand what I am saying. I can assure you that this is not true. If I didn’t think you could understand I wouldn’t bother writing and sharing. Similarly, if I didn’t intend to make myself clear, I’d just mumble these words to myself for my own amusement or put them in a diary that I would keep under lock and key.
If I want to get the most value out of my communications efforts, I need to work harder at finding ways to include YOU (and you… and you and.. well, you get the idea).
In fact, I think we ALL need to work harder to choose what we say so we can bring our audience along with us when we speak or write.
Using alphabet soup to deceive
And this brings me back to the other sort of alphabet soup that gets us into trouble.
I am wondering how many people who read this blog know that I could, quite correctly, list myself as Dr. Robert J Faux. I am guessing there is a subset of people who did not know this.
If I cut my hair, shaved, and put on a white lab coat, is it possible that I could make people who do not know me think I am in the medical profession? I wouldn’t be lying, exactly. I am a doctor. A doctor of Computer Science and Adult Education. Perhaps I just like wearing white lab coats? It would be your fault if you assumed that I was a medical professional, wouldn’t it?
But, if I started posting videos, writing articles and producing social media content that told you to eat a pound of broccoli five times a day to cure diabetes, I fear I will have gone a few hundred miles too far.
This brings me back to the Dr. “so and so” I referenced at the beginning. It turns out this person was not a medical professional. They were using their title (a PhD in another subject) to make people think that their misinformation had credibility. Soon thereafter, I noticed another post from Dr. “whose a whatsit” that made ridiculous claims about sugar. In that case the person had an EdD (education) and was also not qualified to be making any strong claims on medical ailments.
Which brings me back to my own small and insignificant world.
I earned my PhD. I worked hard for it. I have a right to use the alphabet soup that I earned. I can be Dr. Faux and it is not a lie. I can attribute something to Rob Faux, PhD and it is correct.
But just because it is correct doesn’t mean I should cease to make judgements about when and where I should be using it. When I was speaking to a class earlier today, I could have insisted on pushing my credentials. But my topic was agroecology. Small-scale, diversified farming and our food system was on the docket. Not education or computer science.
If I give a presentation about postal history, another topic for which I have a certain level of expertise, I could use my doctorate to lend prestige to my name. In fact, I know several people who like to do just that. But I elect not to because my degree has very little to do with the subject area and is, in my mind, irrelevant.
The doctorate is certainly part of me, it doesn’t add to my credentials on the farming topics I was focused on today. So, while I made mention of my degrees to make a point, I wasn’t Rob Faux, PhD. I was Farmer Rob, Steward of the Genuine Faux Farm.
And that was one time when I knew that alphabet soup wouldn’t mean anything to anyone. So I was forced to use all of the words.
I hope you all have a wonderful remainder of your day.
Doctor/Farmer Rob, SGFF, PhD, ABCDEFG
Bonus Material
A promise is a promise. Feel free to skip is you don’t want to do the nerdy baseball thing.
Most people who enjoy baseball even a just little bit will probably recognize that RBI is Runs Batted In, AB is At Bats and ERA is Earned Run Average. They may not be able to explain exactly what they represent or how they are calculated, but they are familiar enough that a relative beginner would feel completely left out of the conversation.
But, when you start using things like WHIP and OPS in conversation, you’re starting to get a bit silly about baseball (I consider that a good thing, personally). Unfortunately, it’s also a good way to turn someone away if you don’t recognize they’re not part of the club.
WHIP is actually just Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched. It is quite simply a measurement to see how effective a pitcher is. Their job is to get outs, not allow people to get on base with walks or hits. So, a higher WHIP is bad, lower is good. P/IP stands for Pitches thrown per Inning Pitched. If this number is higher, the pitcher has a harder time getting outs quickly, which is typically not completely ideal.
OPS is normally used as a batting statistic. OPS stands for On base percentage Plus Slugging percentage. On-base percentage simply gives us a ratio to see how often a batter successfully gets on base (doesn’t make an out). Slugging is a measurement of how often batters get doubles, triples and home runs.
And now you know - sort of.
I think the acronyms do get way overdone, and in the case of DEI, I believe the meaning of the words is purposefully meant to be diminished by our current set of detractors, who prefer to be wholly INequitable and very much EXclusive.
As with baseball, it seems every field of study accumulates acronyms, which often are complete nonsense to those outside that field. It is easy to get swallowed up in the jargon.
I think I forgot to remember you are a Ph.D., Rob! My own feeling that achieving that level of scholarship signifies more than just expertise in your subject area. While I agree that claiming to be a medical doctor is far different when you are Ph.D. in another field of study, I DO believe that what you learned and applied on your way that degree has deep implications. I would wager that both your work on the farm and your postal history interests benefit from the mental discipline it took to achieve being Doctor Rob.
I told my many interns, that one of the most important parts of education isn't learning the facts, it is learning how to learn. I feel that transcends the specific subject matter that the degree is obtained in. AGAIN - don't claim to be something you aren't, but don't dismiss what you have learned about learning!
I will keep Doctor Rob in my mind with the respect that deserves (same for you Glenn!). I was in and around academia long enough to understand that becoming a Ph.D., if done fairly and honestly, is very much worthy of respect. AND, we can indeed still all be in this together - as indeed we all are (I say as I watch a Common Grackle out my window, who is also very much in this with us).
God for you, Rob, for being in lots of situations where your degree does not make any difference and thus need not be referenced. Shows you get out and about.
(My students, probably based upon my less-than-impressive performance, sometimes wondered what they should call me. My response was, "My choice is Glenn, because we are all in this together, part of a learning/teaching team. However, when you're introducing me to your parents, or whoever helps pay your tuition, and you think they'd feel better about their investment if you were being taught by a Ph.D. then by all means refer to me as Dr. Nelson; it's your choice.")