this post was submitted on 01 Feb 2025
287 points (95.6% liked)

News

24288 readers
4970 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
  • The Center Square: Federal employees reportedly told to remove pronouns from email signatures.
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Poem_for_your_sprog@lemmy.world 13 points 10 hours ago (1 children)
  • Name is Alex/Jordan/Leslie
  • Not allowed to clarify gender
[–] Pacattack57@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

Wouldn’t the world be better off if no one knew each others gender? If you’re a cis man and find yourself attracted to another man? Congrats you’re gay now.

[–] Shardikprime@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago

Oh no what a shame

[–] nul42@lemmy.ca 3 points 7 hours ago

nul42 would stop using pronouns completely and just use genderless nouns or proper names instead.

[–] GraniteM@lemmy.world 13 points 12 hours ago (3 children)

How does this hold up against a first amendment test?

[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 3 points 7 hours ago

When "What Trump wants goes" is all the Supreme Meme Court cares about

[–] __nobodynowhere@sh.itjust.works 2 points 8 hours ago

It'll never have to

[–] westyvw@lemm.ee 3 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

Well like any other employee, you can say whatever you like, but you might get fired for it.

I don't see how the first ammendment applies here.

That said, I think this is a stupid and mean spirited order. It is by design trying to continue the exodus of federal employees while also the tyrannical denial of being able to identify people however they find appropriate for themselves.

[–] JustARaccoon@lemmy.world 9 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Well it's not a private entity hiring them, it's the actual govt. Usually the defense is that those are private companies and they can do what they want but that doesn't apply here

[–] westyvw@lemm.ee 0 points 9 hours ago

Yes it does apply here. Why would you think it would be different?

There are always policies in government, just like anywhere else you have people working. Freedom of speech is not an excuse to break those policies.

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 6 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Because their employer is the US Government. The very entity the 1st Amendment protects us from.

[–] westyvw@lemm.ee 1 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

Not how this works at all. Do you really believe that an employee can just do or say anything while on the job just because they work for the US government?

Lets take Email for example, because that is what we are talking about here. There are policies about structuring emails. An agency can say: Your name goes at the bottom of every email, followed by your position, and then the Logo of the Agency. If you choose to sign your emails with someone else's name, from "This is such bullshit department" and a logo you made up, you WILL get disciplined.

Your freedom of speech ends at the door. Outside of work feel free, not at work.

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 3 points 8 hours ago

Most of that isn't political speech. You absolutely still have the right to political speech as a government employee. Even the military was forced to let soldiers have political speech. The dividing line is where it looks like the speech is from the government instead of from you. Personal pronouns are hardly going to be from the government.

In your assertion the government could simply remove the rights of civil servants by issuing a policy. And that's just not how rights work.

[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 1 points 7 hours ago

Use of pronouns outlawed. Now they have to say “that person” or call them by their name.

[–] superminerJG@lemmy.world 15 points 13 hours ago (2 children)
  • I → (the) speaker/writer
  • you → (the) listener/reader, pl. (the) audience
  • they → that person, pl. those people

The writer believes that such an idea is quite stupid. In fact, the writer believes that the audience will find this language extremely obtuse. These methods will only cause more pain to the federal employees in question.

[–] tiefling@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

Don't forget pronouns like who, mine, and ours. In fact, here's a list of >100

Someone should write a script that completely replaces these with BS standins

[–] __nobodynowhere@sh.itjust.works 2 points 8 hours ago

I think we need a tool that automatically rewrites text to remove all pronouns, but I'm not even sure that is possible.

[–] socialmedia@lemmy.world 24 points 1 day ago (1 children)

So is it alright to just assume trump is female? The email signature no longer states her preferred pronouns, so I think this is what she wants?

[–] Timecircleline@sh.itjust.works 10 points 19 hours ago

She did sign that executive order designating everyone as female, too.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 50 points 1 day ago (7 children)

This is just begging for malicious compliance.

You want to eliminate an entire part of speech? Then good luck trying to understand what the fuck my email is trying to say.

[–] OneWomanCreamTeam@sh.itjust.works 6 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

In the article it specifies you to remove pronouns from your email signature. Definitely less fertile ground for malicious compliance, but it's still doable.

[–] tiefling@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (1 children)

End every email body with "For your response, I am referred to using (feminine/masculine/any/whatever) pronouns"

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 2 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

Replace it with "[Insert Pronouns Here]". Make sure to have your desk already cleaned out though.

[–] Nalivai@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago

You

FUCKING PRONOUNCE turns red and screams

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] SpikesOtherDog@ani.social 51 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Think it is important for people to remove all pronouns from documents. Without, people will be more free to interpret what these messages mean to. This type of malicious compliance will only go so far, sadly.

[–] turbowafflz@lemmy.world 40 points 1 day ago (9 children)

Comment used it, these, and this. Please remove offensive pronouns, children may be present and children must not learn the english language

load more comments (9 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›