Removing Titles Does Not Make You More "Equal"

Equality is one of the most widespread and long-lived ideals, especially among modern intellectuals.*

*This sometimes extends to avoidance of titles that distinguish either varying achievements or the varying personal relationships among individuals. Calling a stranger named William Smith “Bill”  — instead of Mr. Smith, Dr. Smith, Colonel Smith or whatever his title might be — is just one of these increasingly common practices which verbally banish differences.  This can extend to children calling adults, including their teachers or even parents, by their first names.  But a mother is not just another woman named Mary or Elizabeth.  Her relationship to the child is one unlike any other that the child is likely to encounter in a lifetime.  Moreover, a given individual will have many different names, denoting widely varying relationships with others.  William Smith, for example, may be Uncle Bill to his siblings’ children, “Billy” as a small child, “honey” to his wife, “coach” to a Little League team and so on.  These are often relationships that people on both ends of a relationship may need to keep in mind, in order to remind themselves that they are not just abstract people in an abstract world but people with limited roles or particular responsibilities vis-a-vis particular others.


Thomas Sowell, Intellectuals and Society, p.133