i avoid using the term ‘doctor’ or ‘mr professor’ while addressing the elite especially the academicians, other than medical doctors, not out of disrespect for them, or because of their certificates, but for all this number of holders of this title which is exposed to humiliation and abuse at the hands of many, often with the consent and blessing of officials. it annoys me, and my words here may annoy friends and acquaintances, on the insistence of some to append their humble messages on the means of social media or write a humble article under his name preceded by phd. this is not done by most of the world’s leading politicians and academics who hold the highest and most important certificates such as kissinger, bertrand russell, ahmad zewail, condoleezza rice, and tens of thousands more. therefore, the title professor would be beautiful if we addressed others, as it cannot be acquired by force by some by repeating it in their articles, and on their own visit cards, and ask others to address them. however, there is no objection to use the academic title when writing a professional essay on the core of the person’s specialty. putting the title dr before the name on a short twitter message or at the end of an article about the status of the zoo from a mathematics professor, for example, is, in my opinion, a characteristic of the societies of humble understanding! the reluctance of the minister of education and minister of higher education, stemming from the reluctance of the government, to address the issue of holders of false certificates, on the pretext that the disclosure of the names of the holders will result in too many big scandals, and will affect a lot of ‘symbols’ and senior officials, who earlier have issued our laws and still do, taught our children, organized our institutions, managed our religious centers and spearhead the opposition, to expose its campaign is incomprehensible and unacceptable. some of them ridiculed the well-known cleric and preacher after it was discovered he holds a false doctorate, but the man had at least the courage to admit it, and this is what thousands of fake university graduates and holders of fake doctoral degrees did not do. they were even so rude to the extent they established an association to defend their ‘rights’ and to put pressure on the government to recognize what they carry – a bunch of trivial papers called phd degrees. kuwait may be the only country in the world that has such an association. this reminds me of a joke about a thief whose back was broken while trying to steal from a house after the window gave way because it was not fixed well. the thief filed a complaint with qarqouch (known as a tyrant ruler) against the owner of the house who was sentenced to death by hanging. the owner of the house put the blame on the carpenter, so the ruler demanded the execution of the carpenter. the carpenter defended himself by saying he was looking at a beautiful woman when he hammered the nails into the window, and maybe he forgot a nail or more. the ruler then demanded to hang the beautiful woman, but she placed the blame on someone who adorned her in a public bath. the rules demanded to execute the owner of the bath, who did not find an excuse to save his life, and the soldiers returned to the ruler and said he is too tall and could not be hanged. the ruler then demanded bringing a short owner of another bath to execute him. and here we are afraid that the time will come when those who try to disclose the holders of false certificates hold accountability under the pretext that their work led to defamation and abuse of reputation of others.

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