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.
this post was submitted on 01 Feb 2025
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Comment used it, these, and this. Please remove offensive pronouns, children may be present and children must not learn the english language
children must not learn the english language
Reminds me of...
The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible. It was intended that when Newspeak had been adopted once and for all and Oldspeak forgotten, a heretical thought—that is, a thought diverging from the principles of Ingsoc—should be literally unthinkable, at least so far as thought is dependent on words. Its vocabulary was so constructed as to give exact and often very subtle expression to every meaning that a Party member could properly wish to express, while excluding all other meanings and also the possibility of arriving at them by indirect methods. This was done partly by the invention of new words, but chiefly by eliminating undesirable words and by stripping such words as remained of unorthodox meanings, and so far as possible of all secondary meanings whatever. To give a single example. The word free still existed in Newspeak, but it could only be used in such statements as “This dog is free from lice” or “This field is free from weeds.” It could not be used in its old sense of “politically free” or “intellectually free” since political and intellectual freedom no longer existed even as concepts, and were therefore of necessity nameless. Quite apart from the suppression of definitely heretical words, reduction of vocabulary was regarded as an end in itself, and no word that could be dispensed with was allowed to survive. Newspeak was designed not to extend but to diminish the range of thought, and this purpose was indirectly assisted by cutting the choice of words down to a minimum.
I've said it before, I remember reading this novel as a teen and finding the parts about language to be boring and far-fetched.
Looking back, it was probably one of the most important things that Orwell discussed. That shit is incredibly powerful, and it fundamentally shapes how we think and view the world without us even realizing it.
I remember reading Thomas Paine in high school and most of the students couldn't even understand it. That stuff was printed for the average bloke 200 years ago. The stuff that helped light the American populace to take up arms and overthrow tyrannical rule isn't even comprehendible to our poorly educated populace now. Being a genius isn't required to foment revolution, but common language is, literally and figuratively.
If you haven't learned vocabulary, your brain struggles to conceive, identify and of course use it in course of thought. One of the reasons right wing news and cable so often misuses and deliberately butchers important words like traitor, fascist, etc. is they want to strip them of their very important meaning so they aren't notable when used.
21% of adult Americans are considered to have low English literacy. Two thirds of these people were born in the US. This basically means they can read the words in a paragraph, but not understand the meaning of the paragraph. A further 4% are functionally illiterate.
This is disgusting.
Fuck "No Child Left Behind". Kids shouldn't pass elementary school without being able to deduce the meaning of a paragraph unless they have a mental disability. I don't care if they have to repeat 5th grade three times. And of course any non passing student should be offered tutoring for free long before they get to the point of being held back.
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I had my son read this book. He was partway through and began exclaiming how much it paralleled today.
Hugely pedantic here, but only “it” is a pronoun there (specifically an anticipatory subject, a kind of expletive pronoun), the others are adjectives.
They should replace all pronouns with [redacted].
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.
Does the reader want to eliminate an entire part of speech? Then good luck trying to understand what the fuck the writer’s email is trying to say.
Could be fun. I bet ChatGPT could automate it.
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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.
End every email body with "For your response, I am referred to using (feminine/masculine/any/whatever) pronouns"
Replace it with "[Insert Pronouns Here]". Make sure to have your desk already cleaned out though.
You
FUCKING PRONOUNCE turns red and screams
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?
She did sign that executive order designating everyone as female, too.
- 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.
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
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I guess Trump doesn't want to be referred to as He/Him
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-appears-accidentally-declared-every-174749266.html
Hmmm, I see...
my new bio: (masculine neutral/masculine possessive)
my new bio: (masculine neutral/masculine possessive)
Isn’t it nominative/objective?
I don’t see “he/his” or “they/their,” I see “he/him” and “they/them.”
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- Name is Alex/Jordan/Leslie
- Not allowed to clarify gender
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.
Hope you're not named Elle.
Trump's idol **inrich ***mler would be offended too!
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It says email signatures.
And good; it's ridiculous, virtue-signalling bullshit and you've got to let it go.
It’s useful for people with unisex names like Taylor, Chris, or Jordan, especially in email, where you may not have any face-to-face contact.
Or for people with names from cultures not associated with English naming standards such as Chinese or Indian cultures working in western companies or governments.
Pop quiz anti-pronouners! 星辰 Xīng Chén, girl or boy? 美莉 Měi Lì, girl or boy?? Would you like to buy a pronoun now?
The first is male, the second is female, but I study Chinese so that's not very fair of me.
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You fuckers need to let your vice-signaling go. Funny how "freedom" to ignore pronouns quickly gives way to banning them. The only freedom you guys seem to care about is the freedom to be ignorant pieces of shit.
Yeah, turns out reality is more nuanced than that.
And good; it’s ridiculous, virtue-signalling bullshit and you’ve got to let it go.
You're expressing a VERY strong negative reaction on words in an email signature. Why are you so threatened by what someone puts in their email signature? How does it challenge or change what you are that you've put so much thought into it to get this angry about it?
Because it's very, very silly identity politics and the majority of people agree. You've got to let it go and focus on important things, like the insane and ever-increasing wealth inequality.
Identity politics for email signatures? There was no federal policy around email signatures like this until folks like you decided to make it politics forcing removal.
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nul42 would stop using pronouns completely and just use genderless nouns or proper names instead.
emails
\sigh
shemails?
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