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Titles et al

 World has always had titles.

From identifying genders like Mr. Mrs. and so on it has now exploded to include more diversity.

Then there are the ones that are awarded.  By a reigning monarch or supreme leader (which itself is a narcissistic expression) on their subject(s).

Like OBE or CBE (order of or commander of the British Empire) et al.  British Empire now is a very insignificant part of its former self when these titles carried more heft.

India has jewels to signify the high water mark in a particular domain such as Bharat Ratna (the jewel of India).

Learned folk in some professions tend to display and want people to address them as such.  Doctors and dentists come to mind.  No matter how much of a clunker they may be in said profession.  Doctor Smith said so and so..and predicted the weather (there is actually a dude on the weather channel who likes to be called Doctor).

All countries and organizational structures tend to use that as a motivator and self fulfilling mechanism with awards for bravery, outstanding achievement of some kind.  The American military machine does it with colored hearts, stars and such.

Then came the self anointed kind of titling..

Seinfeld made popular the goofiness of the Maestro - a conductor for the band at a charitable organization.  Since then of course social media has proliferated and I recently ran into (not kidding) the following..

Happiness coach (indeed in the pursuit of something);

Out of the box thinker (really?);

I always wonder how far out of the box we are going to take this pursuit of self adulation and titling before we realize we are going down the tube soon.




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