vorauseilender Gehorsam
February 3, 2025 8:17 PM Subscribe
CDC researchers were instructed to remove references to or mentions of a list of forbidden terms: “Gender, transgender, pregnant person, pregnant people, LGBT, transsexual, non-binary, nonbinary, assigned male at birth, assigned female at birth, biologically male, biologically female,” according to an email sent to CDC employees
If I study trauma, flagged. Keep in mind that the largest mental health provider in the country is the Veteran's Administration, but we can't study trauma now?
Why am i confident that in an office at the Pentagon containing a new and unqualified inhabitant, that question is being answered with something along the lines of, “Well, when you have a WarriorCulture (TM), there’s no such thing as trauma.”
But to the main point of the FPP: this is terrifying.
posted by armoir from antproof case at 8:52 PM on February 3 [14 favorites]
Why am i confident that in an office at the Pentagon containing a new and unqualified inhabitant, that question is being answered with something along the lines of, “Well, when you have a WarriorCulture (TM), there’s no such thing as trauma.”
But to the main point of the FPP: this is terrifying.
posted by armoir from antproof case at 8:52 PM on February 3 [14 favorites]
I'm a cisgender male. Using the term cis- implies that others are trans-. The wanna-be overlords can try all they want to erase the language, but they can't erase it if we keep using it.
posted by vverse23 at 8:53 PM on February 3 [8 favorites]
posted by vverse23 at 8:53 PM on February 3 [8 favorites]
If you stop mentioning something, it'll go away. Where have we heard this before?
"Trump on coronavirus: ‘If we stop testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any’"
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/502819-trump-on-coronavirus-if-we-stop-testing-right-now-wed-have-very-few-cases/
posted by fubar at 9:08 PM on February 3 [7 favorites]
"Trump on coronavirus: ‘If we stop testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any’"
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/502819-trump-on-coronavirus-if-we-stop-testing-right-now-wed-have-very-few-cases/
posted by fubar at 9:08 PM on February 3 [7 favorites]
Honestly, Trump could sign an executive order tomorrow granting himself jus primae noctis and it wouldn’t surprise me.
posted by Lemkin at 9:10 PM on February 3 [9 favorites]
posted by Lemkin at 9:10 PM on February 3 [9 favorites]
The wanna-be overlords can try all they want to erase the language, but they can't erase it if we keep using it.
posted by vverse23 at 20:53 on February 3
Maybe they can't erase the language but that's exactly what they are attempting.
posted by otherchaz at 9:32 PM on February 3 [6 favorites]
posted by vverse23 at 20:53 on February 3
Maybe they can't erase the language but that's exactly what they are attempting.
posted by otherchaz at 9:32 PM on February 3 [6 favorites]
This is real cartoon supervillain shit. Like, burn down the White House and replace it with a volcano lair type nonsense. Unfortunately it’s going to actually do lasting harm but for fuck’s sake. The wave of absurd evil is pushing me to silliness; the first thing that came to my mind was “ooh maybe someone will make a sequel to the slur song with this list”.
Anyway. I do like the last line of the article:
And yet, that seems to be the theme of the new administration: a few privileged individuals have been handed enormous authority, creating a backlog of decisions that may end up being fairly arbitrarily determined.
I wouldn’t call it a theme, I would call it a tactic. Heaping these few assholes with insurmountable amounts of work is a great way to give them every possible opportunity to fuck up, take shortcuts, and make increasingly worse choices. Which leads to increased breakdown of systems. Which is the point.
posted by Mizu at 9:57 PM on February 3 [11 favorites]
Anyway. I do like the last line of the article:
And yet, that seems to be the theme of the new administration: a few privileged individuals have been handed enormous authority, creating a backlog of decisions that may end up being fairly arbitrarily determined.
I wouldn’t call it a theme, I would call it a tactic. Heaping these few assholes with insurmountable amounts of work is a great way to give them every possible opportunity to fuck up, take shortcuts, and make increasingly worse choices. Which leads to increased breakdown of systems. Which is the point.
posted by Mizu at 9:57 PM on February 3 [11 favorites]
If we truly do live in the best of all possible worlds, please, nobody tell me.
<continues screaming into the void>
posted by Enturbulated at 11:19 PM on February 3 [11 favorites]
<continues screaming into the void>
posted by Enturbulated at 11:19 PM on February 3 [11 favorites]
“Well, when you have a WarriorCulture (TM), there’s no such thing as trauma.”
Sounds like someone wants an army like the one in Russia. Terrifying.
posted by uncle harold at 11:34 PM on February 3 [2 favorites]
Sounds like someone wants an army like the one in Russia. Terrifying.
posted by uncle harold at 11:34 PM on February 3 [2 favorites]
Unfortunately it's past time to revisit Klemperer's Lingua Tertii Imperii
"Whatever it is that people are determined to hide, be it only from others, or from themselves, even things they carry around unconsciously—language reveals all. That is no doubt the meaning of the aphorism Le style c’est l’homme; what a man says may be a pack of lies—but his true self is laid bare for all to see in the style of his utterances."
posted by chavenet at 1:12 AM on February 4 [14 favorites]
"Whatever it is that people are determined to hide, be it only from others, or from themselves, even things they carry around unconsciously—language reveals all. That is no doubt the meaning of the aphorism Le style c’est l’homme; what a man says may be a pack of lies—but his true self is laid bare for all to see in the style of his utterances."
posted by chavenet at 1:12 AM on February 4 [14 favorites]
It takes struggle to teach yourself to understand other people. It takes more struggle to teach other people to understand other people.
We've been benefitting from hundreds of years of patient, loving, alert explanations, given by unrecognized parents and teachers to a few young people at a time. Empathy isn't automatic, and it isn't something you can mass produce.
To keep it going, and growing, requires that same herculean, patient, unending focus on the people coming up on our watch, and those are sometimes children and sometimes not.
Every time someone says "it's not my job to explain...", if someone else doesn't take up the yoke, we lose ground for the culture of understanding.
posted by amtho at 2:15 AM on February 4 [14 favorites]
We've been benefitting from hundreds of years of patient, loving, alert explanations, given by unrecognized parents and teachers to a few young people at a time. Empathy isn't automatic, and it isn't something you can mass produce.
To keep it going, and growing, requires that same herculean, patient, unending focus on the people coming up on our watch, and those are sometimes children and sometimes not.
Every time someone says "it's not my job to explain...", if someone else doesn't take up the yoke, we lose ground for the culture of understanding.
posted by amtho at 2:15 AM on February 4 [14 favorites]
I suspect that we will see an announcement saying that the administration will be using AI to review these papers and that this will quickly spread to other areas of government, as part of Musk's "efficiency". And we can be sure that they will not allow review of the AI tool in question, or even allow outsiders to verify that this AI system exists.
Assuming the entire institution hasn't collapsed by then, I imagine that by this time next year AI will be vetting all incoming bills and filtering out everything other than "lower taxes" and "lock up brown people". Which is indistinguishable from current conservative ideology, but will be much more efficient.
posted by JohnFromGR at 2:45 AM on February 4 [7 favorites]
Assuming the entire institution hasn't collapsed by then, I imagine that by this time next year AI will be vetting all incoming bills and filtering out everything other than "lower taxes" and "lock up brown people". Which is indistinguishable from current conservative ideology, but will be much more efficient.
posted by JohnFromGR at 2:45 AM on February 4 [7 favorites]
I'm confused, I thought Trump made everyone legally female?
posted by jeffburdges at 4:16 AM on February 4 [7 favorites]
posted by jeffburdges at 4:16 AM on February 4 [7 favorites]
You are correct jeffburdges, he did say "at conception" in the EO meaning we are all now female!
posted by nofundy at 4:51 AM on February 4 [3 favorites]
posted by nofundy at 4:51 AM on February 4 [3 favorites]
It will take decades, not just years to recover from all of this. And we are just a couple of weeks in. There will be more idiocy.
posted by mumimor at 5:05 AM on February 4 [6 favorites]
posted by mumimor at 5:05 AM on February 4 [6 favorites]
I wonder if the terms "kulak, counterrevolutionary, and bourgeois" are still OK. Can we still refer to the names of designated Enemies of the People, Trotskyists, or Former People in official documents?
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 5:44 AM on February 4 [2 favorites]
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 5:44 AM on February 4 [2 favorites]
One of the new appointees was on the TV on Monday and said the phrase "struggle sessions," which I had not heard in many a-year. Who are these people?!
posted by wenestvedt at 6:07 AM on February 4 [7 favorites]
posted by wenestvedt at 6:07 AM on February 4 [7 favorites]
Honestly, the more of this dipshit language policing they do, the more quickly they undermine themselves. It's still going to be shitty, but if they just shut the fuck up about their weird language issues, they'd be able to loot the country more efficiently.
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 7:11 AM on February 4 [1 favorite]
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 7:11 AM on February 4 [1 favorite]
“Well, when you have a WarriorCulture (TM), there’s no such thing as trauma.”
Maybe a Warrior-with-bone-spurs-Culture?
Or a Pre-Wounded-Warrior Culture?
posted by Jody Tresidder at 7:15 AM on February 4 [3 favorites]
Maybe a Warrior-with-bone-spurs-Culture?
Or a Pre-Wounded-Warrior Culture?
posted by Jody Tresidder at 7:15 AM on February 4 [3 favorites]
From a program officer at the National Science Foundation, a list of keywords that can cause a grant to be pulled. I will be sharing screenshots of these keywords along with a decision tree. Please share widely. This is a crisis for academic freedom & science.
posted by lalochezia at 8:49 AM on February 4 [7 favorites]
posted by lalochezia at 8:49 AM on February 4 [7 favorites]
Minor nit, but I think the title OP wanted was "Gleichshaltung," not "vorauseilander Gehorsam."
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 8:54 AM on February 4 [2 favorites]
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 8:54 AM on February 4 [2 favorites]
Just as an FYI, for now it seems that the CDC archive is exempt, or at least the librarians are not complying.
It is getting hit pretty hard by all the other groups who are using it to validate and pull information that has been scrubbed elsewhere, but for now it seems safe.
posted by teleri025 at 9:20 AM on February 4 [3 favorites]
It is getting hit pretty hard by all the other groups who are using it to validate and pull information that has been scrubbed elsewhere, but for now it seems safe.
posted by teleri025 at 9:20 AM on February 4 [3 favorites]
Thanks I don't know German at all - was quoting from the article.
Bless anyone in the Federal government refusing to implement this shit. Collective action above individual action but... if you're pulling your pronoun from your signature line, deleting web pages, retracting papers right now, then you're one of the ones implementing the policies of this regime.
posted by latkes at 9:26 AM on February 4 [8 favorites]
Bless anyone in the Federal government refusing to implement this shit. Collective action above individual action but... if you're pulling your pronoun from your signature line, deleting web pages, retracting papers right now, then you're one of the ones implementing the policies of this regime.
posted by latkes at 9:26 AM on February 4 [8 favorites]
Just as an FYI, for now it seems that the CDC archive is exempt, or at least the librarians are not complying.
Pulling down web pages or altering them could be seen as violating orders not to obscure DEI materials until an assessment can be done by the administration. Federal employees have been asked to report any changes meant to obscure or disguise DEI language to DEIAtruth@opm.gov
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 10:07 AM on February 4 [2 favorites]
Pulling down web pages or altering them could be seen as violating orders not to obscure DEI materials until an assessment can be done by the administration. Federal employees have been asked to report any changes meant to obscure or disguise DEI language to DEIAtruth@opm.gov
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 10:07 AM on February 4 [2 favorites]
wenestvedt > "struggle sessions"
Had first heard this term in regards to a few religious groups (along the lines of evangelical fundamentalists) ... had that been all of the historical context, that would have been bad enough. But, no, Mao still casts one hell of a shadow.
posted by Enturbulated at 12:20 PM on February 4 [2 favorites]
Had first heard this term in regards to a few religious groups (along the lines of evangelical fundamentalists) ... had that been all of the historical context, that would have been bad enough. But, no, Mao still casts one hell of a shadow.
posted by Enturbulated at 12:20 PM on February 4 [2 favorites]
State Department travel safety website changes 'LGBTQI+ Travelers' to 'LGB Travelers' (Erin in the Morning)
posted by box at 12:43 PM on February 4 [3 favorites]
posted by box at 12:43 PM on February 4 [3 favorites]
Honestly, the more of this dipshit language policing they do, the more quickly they undermine themselves. It's still going to be shitty, but if they just shut the fuck up about their weird language issues, they'd be able to loot the country more efficiently.
I was going to quote "Every civilization carries the seeds of its own destruction" or something similar to say this will take the f-ers down, so I looked up the quote and here it is, sadly:
"Every civilization carries the seeds of its own destruction, and the same cycle shows in them all. The Republic is born, flourishes, decays into plutocracy, and is captured by the shoemaker whom the mercenaries and millionaires make into a king. The people invent their oppressors, and the oppressors serve the function for which they are invented."
Mark Twain. I think I will go weep now. But stay strong everyone.
posted by warriorqueen at 2:19 PM on February 4 [6 favorites]
I was going to quote "Every civilization carries the seeds of its own destruction" or something similar to say this will take the f-ers down, so I looked up the quote and here it is, sadly:
"Every civilization carries the seeds of its own destruction, and the same cycle shows in them all. The Republic is born, flourishes, decays into plutocracy, and is captured by the shoemaker whom the mercenaries and millionaires make into a king. The people invent their oppressors, and the oppressors serve the function for which they are invented."
Mark Twain. I think I will go weep now. But stay strong everyone.
posted by warriorqueen at 2:19 PM on February 4 [6 favorites]
Has anyone checked in on the corps of Free SpeechTM Op-ed Warriors who warned of the totalitarian, Orwellian undertones of college student protests? I wonder if they have any thoughts about all this?
posted by mhum at 4:55 PM on February 4 [5 favorites]
posted by mhum at 4:55 PM on February 4 [5 favorites]
One of the new appointees was on the TV on Monday and said the phrase "struggle sessions," which I had not heard in many a-year. Who are these people?!
Quite a few right-wing ideologues make a point of studying 20th century Communism, particularly the really horrorshow parts (which admittedly there are a lot of), likely because it's the only time in recent history that they weren't obviously on the wrong side of it.
Set the Cold War aside, and social conservatives have been dead wrong on every major issue that they've taken a stand on, all the way back to arguing about heliocentricism or the divine right of kings. The modern world wasn't built by social conservatives: it couldn't have been—the ideological forebears of J.D. Vance and company would have had us still tilling the land as serfs.
Pretty much the only big-picture issue they can claim with a straight face not to have been dead wrong on, is that, basically, "Communism doesn't seem to work very well in the real world and is probably best avoided." (And even there, they were probably right for the wrong reasons, but whatever.) And so they try to drag it into the conversation as frequently as possible, since it's really the only time they didn't take a big ol' "L" on an issue of historical importance.
In the long run, this doesn't exactly bode well for them. But in the long run we're also all dead, and I'm getting tired of waiting.
posted by Kadin2048 at 7:50 PM on February 4 [4 favorites]
Quite a few right-wing ideologues make a point of studying 20th century Communism, particularly the really horrorshow parts (which admittedly there are a lot of), likely because it's the only time in recent history that they weren't obviously on the wrong side of it.
Set the Cold War aside, and social conservatives have been dead wrong on every major issue that they've taken a stand on, all the way back to arguing about heliocentricism or the divine right of kings. The modern world wasn't built by social conservatives: it couldn't have been—the ideological forebears of J.D. Vance and company would have had us still tilling the land as serfs.
Pretty much the only big-picture issue they can claim with a straight face not to have been dead wrong on, is that, basically, "Communism doesn't seem to work very well in the real world and is probably best avoided." (And even there, they were probably right for the wrong reasons, but whatever.) And so they try to drag it into the conversation as frequently as possible, since it's really the only time they didn't take a big ol' "L" on an issue of historical importance.
In the long run, this doesn't exactly bode well for them. But in the long run we're also all dead, and I'm getting tired of waiting.
posted by Kadin2048 at 7:50 PM on February 4 [4 favorites]
I wonder if they have any thoughts about all this?
You probably didn't need the "about all this" part.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 4:52 AM on February 5 [1 favorite]
You probably didn't need the "about all this" part.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 4:52 AM on February 5 [1 favorite]
i don't mean to be fragile about all of this, but if i'm being honest, all the jokes about how the trump administration in an eo basically declared everyone female hit a lot different when a trans person says them as opposed to when a cis person does
like, yes, it's showcasing how un-thought-out these eos were. yes, it's technically correct. i get it. i do, i really do.
but it's not going to stop them from re-declaring me a man and then forcing me to have that marker on my passport. it's not going to stop them from throwing me into the men's prison if they decide i'm guilty of some federal crime.
so many of the people making that joke, well. if you're men, it's not going to cause you problems to have that 'M' on the passport. you won't be v-coded the same way in a men's prison.
yes, we have to laugh at every absurdity or the darkness will get us. or something. yuk it up. not gonna stop you from making those jokes.
just saying the punchline lands real differently when the person telling it is also staring down the barrel, as opposed to people who are considerably more safe in that particular respect.
posted by i used to be someone else at 6:34 PM on February 8 [4 favorites]
like, yes, it's showcasing how un-thought-out these eos were. yes, it's technically correct. i get it. i do, i really do.
but it's not going to stop them from re-declaring me a man and then forcing me to have that marker on my passport. it's not going to stop them from throwing me into the men's prison if they decide i'm guilty of some federal crime.
so many of the people making that joke, well. if you're men, it's not going to cause you problems to have that 'M' on the passport. you won't be v-coded the same way in a men's prison.
yes, we have to laugh at every absurdity or the darkness will get us. or something. yuk it up. not gonna stop you from making those jokes.
just saying the punchline lands real differently when the person telling it is also staring down the barrel, as opposed to people who are considerably more safe in that particular respect.
posted by i used to be someone else at 6:34 PM on February 8 [4 favorites]
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