Cultural war against the police. This Tuesday, the State Department issued a circular ordering a return to Times New Roman, deeming the implementation of the Calibri font under former Joe Biden official Antony Blinken a “woke waste.”
In the circular published by the New York Times, Rubio said the return to Times New Roman “restores decorum and professionalism to the department’s written records.” According to the order, Calibri is “informal” compared to serif fonts such as Times New Roman and “does not correspond” to the ministry’s official letterhead.
In early January 2023, Blinken’s department switched to Calibri, a modern sans serif font, saying it was a more accessible font for people with disabilities because it did not have decorative angular characters and was the default font in Microsoft products.
The cable, dated Dec. 9, was sent to all U.S. diplomatic missions and calls the typography informal compared to serif fonts.
Serif fonts have small decorative lines (serifs or serifs) at the ends of letter strokes, giving them a classic, traditional look (like Times New Roman), unlike sans serif fonts, so they look cleaner, modern, and simpler (like Calibri, Arial, or Helvetica).
Serifs tend to make it easier to read on paper, as they are meant to guide the eye, while sans serifs are preferred for digital displays, applications, and signage, as they are better readable at smaller sizes and are easier to read for people with certain visual impairments.
“To restore decorum and professionalism to the Department’s writing and abolish yet another unnecessary DEIA (diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility) program, the Department is once again using Times New Roman as its official font,” the cable states.
“This formatting policy is consistent with the President’s directive, ‘One Voice for America’s Foreign Relations,’ which emphasizes the Department’s responsibility to present a unified, professional voice in all communications,” it added.
The fight against what is considered woke, including diversity policies, has been under attack from the Trump administration from day one, to the point of eliminating federal programs and pushing for them to disappear in the private sector: they claim they discriminate against whites and men and go against meritocracy.
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