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politics·politics byMicroWave

Federal employees told to remove pronouns from email signatures by end of day

Summary

Federal employees at multiple agencies were ordered to remove pronouns from email signatures by Friday, following executive orders signed by Donald Trump to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.

Agencies including the CDC, Department of Transportation, and Department of Energy issued directives citing the new policy.

Some employees expressed frustration, with one CDC worker calling it unprecedented.

The Office of Personnel Management also instructed agencies to disable pronoun prompts in email systems, marking another step in Trump’s broader rollback of DEI initiatives.

Federal employees told to remove pronouns from email signatures by end of dayhttps://abcnews.go.com/US/federal-employees-told-remove-pronouns-email-signatures-end/story?id=118310483Open linkView original on lemmy.world
lemmy.world

Trump likely doesn’t know what an email signature is, let alone would have thought of this. This and things like it are the work of the real powers within trump’s orbit. They get this stuff done while everyone is distracted with the diarreah leaking from trump’s mouth.

71
lemmy.dbzer0.com

He doesn't know how government works, he doesn't know what tariffs do, he's just the loudmouth sock puppet doing what some other evil assholes are telling him to do

36

I'd say this is the distraction for the real damage.

Probably Elon's henchmen taking over OPM, or something else that hasn't bubbled up yet.

7
lemmy.ml

Also pretty much any noun can be used as a form of neo pronoun, so to be safe all Federal employees should only use verbs.

17

First they came for the verbs, and I said nothing because verbing weirds language.

Next they arrival for the nouns, and I speech nothing because I no verbs.

18
fedia.io

I think everyone here knew Trump would be doing a lot of stupid evil shit during his second term, but is anyone else surprised at the sheer magnitude of stupidity coming from the white house these past ten days?

52
lemmy.world

It's a gish gallop of petty insecurity, coming out so fast and furious that it takes people off guard.

Two years from now, when Trump doesn't have any more low-hanging fruit to pick at, this will seem quaint. But by then, we're going to see the real damage these opening days inflicted on civil society. It won't be "lolz, haha, guess we'll be using a lot of proper nouns going forward" and a lot more "fuck, another airline accident that you can only learn about on Rednote and the forums of Pornhub, because every major journalist has been doing wall-to-wall coverage of the Trial of the Transgender Eleven caught providing underground abortion drugs to serially raped immigrant middle schoolers held in the prison camps of the hurricane blasted ruins of Miami."

34
lemmy.world

'Gish gallop' is the perfect descriptor for this onslaught of every hour insanity we're going through.

9
lemmy.world

Bannon called it flooding the zone with shit. Some keep on saying "flooding the zone" is a donvict strategy, but he got it from Bannon, most likely.

8

Also: Karl Rove famously had his quote, which is basically the same thing - basically putting on a pedestal those that take bold actions and lie constantly in the process:

"That's not the way the world really works anymore," he continued. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors ... and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."

Bannon saying to "flood the zone with shit" is far shorter, but basically the same thing.

8

Ah... I feel like in times past I would have read that hypothetical and laughed at how ridiculous it is.

2
lemmy.world

Fuck no. Project 2025 was about making the shitshow far more efficient this time around.

They had PLANS. They published them. Now that donvict is in there, they plan on getting as much rammed through as possible. It's doubtful stuff like this matters very much other than as ragebait for their stupid base. The REAL agenda is the kind of looting and pillaging Felon plans on carrying out with his purchase of donvict....

20

there's one advantage to Project 2025 being published. It catalogs the stuff for this year to undo, once (if ever) republicans get booted.

2

But it's not stupidity. I mean, I agree, it's all stupid (as in: there are more important issues), but they're not stupid. They planned all this. It's exactly what they wanted and it's definitely not 'stupid' - It's insidious and malicious and cruel, but not stupid. This sounds like a dumb, tiny thing to do, I mean, it's just about words in an e-mail signature, right? It's not that big a deal? But a lot of things they're doing are -in a vacuum- not that big a deal. However, if you add it all up, it's all part of the wider persecution entire groups of people are falling victim to. In this case it's just another way to silence a minority and their allies.

Plus, don't forget: they'll use anyone who doesn't comply with the 'stupid' little stuff as an excuse for punishments and retaliation and even worse legislation.

Not stupid. Not ignorant. Not dumb. Incredibly fucking evil. And we should treat it like that. Don't minimize any of it, however insignificant it may seem. Put in context this is another drop in what will become a fucking ocean of suffering.

Edit: grammar.

13
lemmy.ca

You mean to tell me the US government doesn't have a system that controls employee signatures? Are they running Windows NT still????

-Luci (She/Her)

48
flashpandareply
lemmy.world

Federal employee here. We have to make our own email signatures. I have not been told to remove pronouns by an official channel, but I have already removed pronouns and switched to having Ms. infront of my name, cause it has the same effect and the administration is too stupid to know that.

60
slrpnk.net

You heard it here first, folks. Pronouns are out, prenouns are in.

Edit: although this is not inclusive for our non-binary friends. Open to suggestions on that one.

46
lemmy.world

Mx maybe? Follows the same format but allows for it to be non gendering. Idk I have a feeling it might be incorrect or there maybe a issue with it having a x because of chromosomes.

16

although this is not inclusive for our non-binary friends. Open to suggestions on that one.

I'm by no means an expert here, but I think that's what "Mx" is used for.

11
midwest.social

peoplebeproblems like this. peoplebeproblems recommend having everyone start referring to eachother in the full third person. Thank troybot, peoplebeproblems hope this catches on.

7
lemmy.ca

CileTheSane wants to know where Luigi is when CileTheSane needs him.

1
sopuli.xyz

How does that convey the same effect?

What if you are non binary?

3
jordanlundreply
lemmy.world

One of my favorite sci fi authors simplified it to just "M."

Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms. can just be boiled down to "M.".

If I actually cared, that's probably what I'd pick.

5

Oh, no. No, no no. It's much worse than that.

Hell if they were still on NT we'd be safer.

7
Brkdncrreply
lemmy.world

Pronouns should be used at the discretion of the individual. They should be able to choose who receives them, how it’s relayed, and what the pronouns will be. They should be able to change them whenever they want.

Putting this into a database such as active directory isn’t simple when it has requirements that I’ve stated.

It’s sometimes easier to just let the individual maintain their own signature.

6

We use a third party tool and a custom schema. Users can use a simple agent to update pronouns or make other adjustments like display their direct line. Works great, AD is still the source of truth.

2
soEZreply
lemmy.world

Lol, we on Citrix cant even set a signature anymore cuz outlook is screwed up

2

Not sure about your issue, but for the borked Office login we are experiencing, there isn't.

1
lemmy.world

Anything to distract from the plane crash they caused and plans to indefinitely hold citizens and people who missed a court date in an expanded Cuban military black site the public never wanted built on the first place

35
lemmy.ca

How the fuck am I supposed to know if I should treat someone poorly if I can't tell if they're a female because they've got a unisex name like Rory or Casey or Robin?

/s

31
lemmy.world

BlameThePeacock used the word “I”, which is a pronoun.

As is “which”.

8

Oh shit, you're right!

Well fuck, I didn't like this job anyways, I'll see myself out now...

10

Trump is working to lower egg prices by reducing demand for them, which is why he's now trying to kill or deport a significant fraction of the American population.

6

Eggs are basically free as soon as they get rid of these egg stealing tranny's. At least i assume that's the problem

2

Maybe they'll finally pick something important to work on tomorrow. Probably not, but maybe. We still have other issues right? I heard a couple of planes fell out of the sky and eggs are $10 and the ice caps are gonna melt.

24

The federal agency I work with does put them next to your name if you have them registered. Curious how long that lasts.

5

The party of Freezed Peach! Can't you just smell the freedom?

Also, I'm sure it's THIS that will give us cheap groceries.

15
andros_rexreply
lemmy.world

他 is “he.” Iirc it was the only pronoun until the 20th century, but now there is 她 for “she” and 它 for “it.” They are all pronounced the same though, so your joke works when pronounced out loud.

3

We have gender neutral terms too. "They/them". English or no English, Trump would force you to pick one.

1
lemmy.world

AOC removed her pronouns from her bio months ago, not a bad example if the Dems have an ounce of pretense of winning another election . The 99% of voters don't care about that.

In any case, the permanent stun proceeds. Take that as you will

-1
GaMEChldreply
lemmy.world

Actually you bring up an interesting point. No one generally has an issue with 'I'. I suppose that's because no one has gone batshit enough to try and convince people they don't exist. What's the opposite of I?

-1
GaMEChldreply
lemmy.world

No. I am that I am. The opposite of I is non existence. You are not the opposite of me.

1
GaMEChldreply
lemmy.world

Why? By what reasoning?

Let's say it's the two of us. Between the two of us, we can use 'I' and 'you' and they might be opposites in that the opposite of 'I' is 'not me'. But if we added a third person, then we got 'I' 'you' 'him' and now both 'you' and 'him' are both 'not me'. So what logic makes 'you' the opposite of 'I'?

1
lemmy.ca

Look. I know we want to dunk on this continuing train wreck that is TWELVE DAYS IN and has wrecked so much.

But - and here I'm paraphrasing my friend who is a psyche, does deal with people most highlighted by signaled pronouns and is also affected directly - "Stating the pronouns causes 'othering', is NOT helpful, and only exists to make white normies feel good". Like, it had no benefit outside of social media fake Internet points.

I'm not a shrink. I'm not affected. I am trying to see where I can care. On this one, it's really challenging, and my friend says that's because it's junk.

So, good, if the dirt bags feel like they're sticking it to the libs while removing something designed just for influencers. Doesn't affect me or my friend or people like .. them. (Wow I hate to say 'them' there when I want to say 'him or her' but it's 'them', like they're not us and we're not them. The othering is high on this one)

-12

Way to completely miss the point.
Should mandating what people put in their email signatures be one of the duties of the president, in a free democracy?
What message does this send to trans and non-binary people, and what message does this send to the bigots hating them? What happens if it isn't done "by end of day", which is a completely ridiculous time limit?

2

Yeah that's all great, but someone named Pat got upset with me for referring to her as "they". Sorry Pat, I never met you in person and so don't know you're preferred pronouns unless you tell me.

All controversy about pronouns is stupid no matter who it is that's making a fuss about it. Tell me your pronouns or don't, and be an adult about it either way.

1

My place of work has a pretty high rate of pronoun signaling and I've found it immensely useful. Not just for the usual androgynous names line Pat or Elliott, but also I work with people all around the world, how would you refer to Jung Bae? Judging by the number of foreign people who have never seen my name, I imagine it goes both ways. And, yes, I also work with a number of nonbinary and trans people so of course it helps there too.

Some people refer to everybody, even those they know, as they/them and I honestly kinda like it. Been considering taking that habit on myself.

1