I cannot be the only one who has tofrequently double-check headlines not only to make sure that they aren’t misinformation, but to ensure that the headline is not something from The Babylon Bee (something the satire site has had to address by releasing a second site, “Not the Bee: What A Time to Be Alive.”) I’mpretty sure, however, that the Biden Administration has topped The Bee with this beauty: “State Department Offers Counseling To Misgendered Employees Triggered By Email Pronoun Debacle.”
Apparently, according to the Washington Free Beacon, a system-wide email glitch at the State Department temporarily (and randomly) assigned pronouns to staff members, with emails including “She/her/hers” or “He/Him/His” in the “from” line of the email.” The glitch resulted from an attempt by the State Department to change the system to allow for the declaration of “preferred pronouns,” but instead assigned incorrect pronouns to various employees.
“I want to stress that the intent behind making this feature available is to make our systems more inclusive and provide employees with options – not to make decisions for them,” Kelly E. Fletcher, the State Department’s chief information officer, wrote in the email. “I recognize that this error had the opposite effect, and again, I am very sorry. [The State Department] is testing a new feature that will provide users with the option to include their preferred pronouns in their Global Address list file. During the test, the feature inadvertently went live, and a large number of employees had randomly assigned pronouns added to their profiles.”
In response, as per an internal email, the State Department will now offer free counseling to “any employee who feels hurt or upset as a result of this unfortunate mistake,” with Secretary of State Antony Blinken stating solemnly that: “I deeply regret the confusion and distress this mistake caused our workforce.”
While this may seem like the panicked over-reaction of a woke State Department – do adult government officials really need therapy over a technological glitch? – the offer of “professional counseling” was, in fact, necessary. One source told the Free Beacon that: “This is distracting from the work that we are actually supposed to be doing. A lot of people here have been triggered today.”
