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Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

reuters.com

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Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

#631

Post by throwaway8582 »

chinathrow wrote: post #419

> U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday ordered diplomats to return to using Times New Roman font in official communications, calling his predecessor Antony Blinken's decision to adopt Calibri a "wasteful" diversity move, according to an internal department cable seen by Reuters. What a waste of government time and spending.

> What a waste of government time and spending

Was the switch to Calibri in 2023 also a waste of time and money, or are font switches only bad when the Trump administration does them?

Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

#632

Post by dragonwriter »

Swenrekcah wrote: post #629
stronglikedan wrote: post #611

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What an odd take. Every administration does this sort of petty stuff. nothing new under the sun.

This is demonstrably false. Previous administrations have not. It used to be normal to do things like keeping cabinet members appointed by their opponents or not put up a mocking picture of your predecessor in the white house.

> It used to be normal to do things like keeping cabinet members appointed by their opponents

This particular thing was not all that common between Presidents who succeed normally by election. I think the most recent was Robert Gates serving as SecDef across the Bush II/Obama transition, before that there were five kept across the Reagan/Bush I transition, and no more in the post-WWII period.

(It’s true that the pettiness level in this Administration is unprecedented, but this is not a valid example.)

Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

#633

Post by ryoshoe »

throwaway8582 wrote: post #631
chinathrow wrote: post #419

> U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday ordered diplomats to return to using Times New Roman font in official communications, calling his predecessor Antony Blinken's decision to adopt Calibri a "wasteful" diversity move, according to an internal department cable seen by Reuters. What a waste of government time and spending.

> What a waste of government time and spending Was the switch to Calibri in 2023 also a waste of time and money, or are font switches only bad when the Trump administration does them?

If the belief is that switching a font is wasteful, why is the solution is to switch fonts again?

Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

#635

Post by dylan604 »

throw__away7391 wrote: post #616
hopelite wrote: post #574

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you have that kind of reaction, that it’s absurd, when Blinken ordered the use of Calibri after ~20 years of consistent use of Times New Roman? It is objectively more concerning and “absurd”, regardless of “team”, that Blinken arbitrarily introduced fragmentation by adding an additional font to official government communications when a convention had been established across government to use Times New Roman.

You seem weirdly worked up over this. Blinken made no public statements on this until he was asked about it. He did not come out and say for example, "For too long, the vision impaired community have been discriminated against by the systemic bias via the use of Times New Roman. Today we are taking action to change this and restore the dignity of those this font has long oppressed", but Rubio just did exactly this. F…

The only other place I’m familiar with people making grandiose announcements about their font selection, other than a font company announcement, is here on HN.

Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

#636

Post by Swenrekcah »

dragonwriter wrote: post #632
Swenrekcah wrote: post #629

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is demonstrably false. Previous administrations have not. It used to be normal to do things like keeping cabinet members appointed by their opponents or not put up a mocking picture of your predecessor in the white house.

> It used to be normal to do things like keeping cabinet members appointed by their opponents This particular thing was not all that common between Presidents who succeed normally by election. I think the most recent was Robert Gates serving as SecDef across the Bush II/Obama transition, before that there were five kept across the Reagan/Bush I transition, and no more in the post-WWII period. (It’s true that the pett…

True, I didn’t mean it was routine but it was somewhat normal. I just wanted to show the incredible range of professional behaviour that has disappeared.

Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

#637

Post by ndsipa_pomu »

buellerbueller wrote: post #605
oneeyedpigeon wrote: post #502

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I prefer "ideology signalling" so that it's neutral and we can use it to apply to both sides.

"Virtue signaling" still works because the actor indeed believes they are being virtuous.

Since when is it a virtue to needlessly make things harder for some people?

Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

#638

Post by ondra »

hopelite wrote: post #595
Propelloni wrote: post #539

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it is about professionalism, why mention DEIA at all? It's just virtue-signalling. Reuters realized that and pointed it out.

[flagged]

> It was Blinken that arbitrarily introduced

The _second paragraph_ of TFA gives a reason for the introduction. Please explain how you came to the conclusion that the change was arbitrary.

Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

#639

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

mgkimsal wrote: post #621
stronglikedan wrote: post #611

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What an odd take. Every administration does this sort of petty stuff. nothing new under the sun.

Petty as in 'small and does not really matter' or petty as in 'vindictive'. All administrations do many small things that may not ultimately have much impact, but often those may be for benign reasons. Understanding the reasoning behind the decisions would help in determining what kind of 'petty' this is.

Both.

It's so utterly juvenile and unprofessional. The kind of thing a petulant twelve year-old does for attention.

Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

#640

Post by beepbooptheory »

mghackerlady wrote: post #627
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #554

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bet they want to get rid of Calibri because it was designed by a Dutch person. There's only two things I hate in this world, people who are intolerant of other people's cultures... and the Dutch. (disclaimer: I am Dutch).

I've always heard this joke with the french instead of the dutch

This is a line from Michael Cain in Austin Powers: Goldmember (2002).
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