this post was submitted on 10 Dec 2025
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Secretary of State Rubio has concluded that Calibri is a woke font. US diplomats must revert to Times New Roman in official communications.

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[–] Blackfeathr@lemmy.world 113 points 2 days ago (2 children)

So they're doing this because Biden changed it to Calibri in 2023, and because it improves accessibility to those who have dyslexia and other difficulties reading serif fonts, which is considered under the umbrella of DEI.

A combination of pettiness and cruelty.

[–] adespoton@lemmy.ca 24 points 2 days ago (1 children)

And ignorance. Don’t forget ignorance.

[–] tomi000@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

I wouldnt say this is ignorance anymore. Theyre all fully aware of how unnecesarily cruel this is and its exactly why theyre doing it.

[–] the_crotch@sh.itjust.works 11 points 2 days ago

I'm sure Rubio doesn't give a shit one way or the other. This is pandering to petty and cruel people, because WOKE BAD gets votes.

[–] otacon239@lemmy.world 60 points 2 days ago (4 children)

Jfc. I’m so over this timeline. If Calibri is woke, does that make Comic Sans an enemy of the state? Like what the fuck are we even doing anymore?

[–] manxu@piefed.social 16 points 2 days ago (1 children)

As everyone knows, "Sans" is just short for "Satan's!" /s

[–] radix@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

Comic Sans, Papyrus, and Brush Script. Better known as the Axis of Evil.

[–] Witchfire@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago

Papyrus just got denied its citizenship ceremony and Wingdings keeps getting called a sexual predator by literal pedophiles

[–] CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world 1 points 16 hours ago

Calibri is such a nice readable font too.

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 32 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Authoritarian fuckwits making sweeping ultimatums to change typefaces for spurious, racist, and political reasons?

Believe it or not, this has happened before. Perhaps most famously... yes, guess who!

[–] e8d79@discuss.tchncs.de 15 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Funnily enough, the decree banning the use of Schwabacher Judenlettern ("Jew-letters of Schwabach") went out using a Nazi party letter head that was printed in a Fraktur typeface.

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[–] AntiBullyRanger@ani.social 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Came here to make the same exact joke:
Antiqua unlocked.

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

it's more because hitler hated it

Nonetheless, Fraktur typefaces were particularly heavily used during the early years of the Nazi era, when they were initially represented as true German script. In fact, the press was scolded for its frequent use of "Roman characters" under "Jewish influence", and German émigrés were urged to use only "German script".[7] However, Hitler's distaste for Fraktur saw it officially discontinued in 1941 in a Schrifterlass ("edict on script") signed by Martin Bormann, which asserted that it was falsely called "Gothic" and actually consisted of Schwabacher "Jewish letters".[8]

[–] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 1 points 23 hours ago

It's fun to read that Hitler might've understood modernism, even though Nazis banned Bauhaus:

Your alleged Gothic internalization does not fit well in this age of steel and iron, glass and concrete, of womanly beauty and manly strength, of head raised high and intention defiant.

This is from a speech in 1934.

[–] glimse@lemmy.world 26 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I remember briefly thinking Times New Roman looked serious and professional. Around the time of my first book report

[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That's because it was literally designed for a newspaper

[–] glimse@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Yeah and it was before I learned who owned the newspapers

[–] Carmakazi@piefed.social 23 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Didn't Nazi Germany ban a typefont for silly ideological reasons?

[–] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

Fraktur is rather a ‘calligraphic hand’, i.e. the manner of drawing the letters, which can be implemented by different specific fonts.

Anyway, Hitler just personally disliked Fraktur, and already gave a speech against it in 1934:

Your alleged Gothic internalization does not fit well in this age of steel and iron, glass and concrete, of womanly beauty and manly strength, of head raised high and intention defiant [...] In a hundred years, our language will be the European language. The nations of the east, the north and the west will, to communicate with us, learn our language. The prerequisite for this: The script called Gothic is replaced by the script we have called Latin so far.

Then in 1941 Fraktur was finally banned, with the pretext that it was actually not Fraktur but Schwabacher, a different blackletter style, which allegedly was Jewish.

Moreover, it was banned so hard that cursive scripts Kurrent and Sütterlin were also forbidden — and as a consequence, people educated after 1941 often couldn't read handwritten letters and notes of their ancestors.

[–] DickFiasco@sh.itjust.works 18 points 2 days ago

Please be The Onion, please be The Onion

Damn.

[–] Fedizen@lemmy.world 16 points 2 days ago (1 children)

These idiots will do anything they can to make this world dumber.

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

Honestly you've distilled the truth more perfectly here than maybe anyone else has.

[–] chellewalker@lemmy.ca 13 points 2 days ago (1 children)

And now Times New Roman has been ruined for me... what the hell is wrong with this timeline?

[–] obvs@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

What isn't wrong with this timeline?

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago

No change is too small to waste the time of high level officials to revert out of spite

[–] SuiXi3D@fedia.io 8 points 2 days ago

So now fonts are political. Please, someone wipe this timeline and start over.

[–] jj4211@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago

Mr. Rubio’s order cited the origins of serif typefaces in Roman antiquity.

So, it's best because it has "Roman" in the name. And if they like "Roman" salutes, clearly they want "Roman" fonts too.

[–] Diddlydee@feddit.uk 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Calibri Light is my go to. Fuck you, Rubio.

[–] xx3rawr@sh.itjust.works 2 points 22 hours ago

I always hated Calibri in larger sizes (headers, titles) but Calibri Light saved it for me

[–] deathbird@mander.xyz 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

These people are really having strong feelings about serifs. Like a font isn't just a practical, technical, or functional consideration, it's an emotional one for them.

That's fucking pathetic.

[–] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 4 points 1 day ago

their teachers told them in middle school to use times new roman. they never questioned why because they were raised to not do that ever under any circumstances

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 4 points 2 days ago
[–] adespoton@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I was certain Comic Sans was going to be involved somehow.

[–] athairmor@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Comic Sans is the Stephen Miller of typefaces. It’s behind the scenes getting all of the competent typefaces banned because designers mocked and bullied it out use in respectable publications.

Only far-write typewringers would accept it. Now, it’s getting revenge.

[–] adespoton@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago

Tehyc amfe orth edixselisc, bu tid idontp toresetb eucaesI wsnan otd ixselci.

Seriously though, what’s next… banning left handed scissors as woke?

[–] deathbird@mander.xyz 1 points 22 hours ago

Sorry, almost forgot:

FONTS DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS.