Why are we talking about Calibri now?
Calibri and Times New Roman have become the center of a silly political shoving match this week. United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio made waves as he ordered U.S. embassies to switch to Times New Roman.
This move turns back the clock to before the Biden administration pushed official communication to Calibri. Rubio’s order is part of the latest anti-DEI push from the Trump administration. Online spectators are mesmerized by the relative lack of common sense on display here.
Rubio argues, “Typography shapes how official documents are perceived in terms of cohesion, professionalism and formality.”
“Although switching to Calibri was not among the department’s most illegal, immoral, radical or wasteful instances of DEI it was nonetheless cosmetic,” Rubio adds. “Switching to Calibri achieved nothing except the degradation of the department’s correspondence…”
Why are we hating on Calibri?
Sadly, this is all more anti-DEI vice signaling from the Oval Office and their devotees. In a time where President Trump’s approval rating sits around 34%, goods cost more than they did a year ago, and the ever encroaching specter of the Epstein files circle around the current administration, there have to be shows of force to keep things running on-track.
If that means going back to a written standard from almost three years ago, they’ll do it. Times New Roman actually was the State Department’s official from 2004 until its replacement in 2023. Accessibility advocates point out that sans-serif fonts are easier for a variety of readers. But, these facts don’t really matter to the people in charge, so Times New Roman is back.
A silly controversy for a silly time, but for the Republican LED legislature at all three branches of government, its culture war topics all the time. Even, when they come in bizarre shapes like this!
DEI and words
Trump made it a priority to weaken DEI in his return to the White House. One of the only campaign promises upheld by the current administration, for those keeping score at home. But, it turns out a lot of the United States citizenry is learning how crucial having an equipped workforce is for maintaining their quality of life.
The national president of the American Federation of Government Employees also addressed these anti DEI moves. Everett Kelly put out a statement after Trump’s attacks on DEI hours after being sworn in. He sees no problem with already deciding merit, and leadership taking unnecessary moves to enforce things that the American Federation government employees already takes care of. In essence another day that ends in -y over in D.C.
“The results are clear: a diverse federal workforce that looks like the nation it serves, with the lowest gender and racial pay gaps in the country. We should all be proud of that,” Kelley wrote. He also called Trump’s anti-DEI push, “a smokescreen for firing civil servants, undermining the apolitical civil service, and turning the federal government into an army of yes-men loyal only to the president, not the Constitution.”
(featured image: NBC)
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