Kit Malone

Advice from someone who cares/thinks a lot about effective messaging?

Don't use the acronym. Say the words "diversity, equity, and inclusion." Slowly and with emphasis.

Every time.

Don't let them hide their opposition to these basic, common sense, and popular ideas behind an acronym.

Jan 30, 2025 at 1:48pmWeb
Show threadLiz the Urban BirderJan 30, 2025
@thekitmalone Love this simple step. In addition, I’ll want to be prepared to explain what each word means, with as little jargon as possible
Show threadAlleyoopJan 30, 2025
@thekitmalone Good idea!
Show threadErosBlog Bacchus has moved!Jan 30, 2025
@thekitmalone That reminds me of the old days. "Social justice warrior? Thank you! I wouldn't call myself a warrior exactly, but I do actually believe quite strongly in social justice, thank you for recognizing that, I feel seen."
Show threadKlaas Pieter AnnemaJan 30, 2025

@thekitmalone one thing we can agree with Musk https://gist.github.com/klaaspieter/12cd68f54bb71a3940eae5cdd4ea1764

There is something poetic about using this against him.

Acronyms Seriously Suck - Elon Musk

Acronyms Seriously Suck - Elon Musk. GitHub Gist: instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

Gist
Show threadVacuolicJan 30, 2025
@thekitmalone @angelastella i felt this way about the term 'lockdown' at the height of the pandemic. people were using the word around any public health directive at all, driving the impression of restriction rather than health, safety, and doing good for each other. it felt like agenda-driven terminology and still does.
Show threadÁngela Stella MatutinaJan 30, 2025

@SarraceniaWilds @thekitmalone

Same thing with cuarentena (common, officially it was aislamiento social preventivo y obligatorio) and encierro (sectarian, borderline crackpot) in Argentina.

Show threadVelteropⓐⓊ🪂🇪🇺🇳🇱🇬🇧🇩🇪Jan 30, 2025
@thekitmalone
Acronymious!
Show threadstandJan 30, 2025
@thekitmalone Same thing with “antifa”. Why yes, I am in fact anti-fascist.
Show threadnevJan 30, 2025
@thekitmalone i've long practiced doing this with anti-fascism instead of "antifa"
Show threadArena Cops 🇺🇦✌Jan 30, 2025

@thekitmalone Being opposed to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion implies opposition to community.
It's basically an inheritable genetic defect of the late Confederacy.

The nation can be a better community without that defect. 😎✌🇺🇸

Show threadJoshua McNeillJan 30, 2025
@thekitmalone I had the same thought. "DEI" is convenient for racists because, as an acronym, they can work to associate it with whatever they want. "Diversity", "equity", and "inclusion" are words that are hard to redefine as something sinister
Show threadRonnieJan 31, 2025
@thekitmalone
It also helps people outside of the US that are unfamiliar with the acronyms and what they refer to.
Show threadsandywb14Jan 31, 2025
@thekitmalone Great advice.
Show threadChancerubbageJan 31, 2025

@thekitmalone @CelloMomOnCars

This should be a habit with acronyms in general, unless your intent is to only preach to the choir that already knows the abbreviations. More info to all.

If you have the space to expand the acronym, do so, for context to the uninitiated.

Show threadOtterForceJan 31, 2025
@thekitmalone @dpnash At first their attempt to rebrand DEI into “discriminatory equity ideology” pissed me off. Then I realized that just means I get to ask loudly if they really think diversity, equity, and inclusion are bad things and say it explicitly. I’m good now, they can have their weird word salad acronym.
Show threadJill BreivikJan 31, 2025
@thekitmalone Thank you Kit Malone, if only because I hate acronyms. I agree that clarity is essential.
Show threadnanowizJan 31, 2025

@thekitmalone

but when it comes to describing #felon45's
nominees an appointments, its

deniers, enablers and incompetents

Show threadT2RJan 31, 2025
@thekitmalone And respond to them that if they done't support those, then they are a segregationist.
Show threadNatashaJan 31, 2025
@thekitmalone I do keep wondering what DEI is. Also ICE to me stands for ideas, concerns, expectations and is part of a consultation model. There are lots of acronyms everywhere which can mean different things in different contexts and don’t always make sense in different countries.
Show threadFrank SkorniaJan 31, 2025

@thekitmalone I've felt the same thing about "antifa".

It is always better to say "Anti-Fascist" so that it is clear that that its opponents are fascists.

Show threadMax WainwrightJan 31, 2025
@thekitmalone here i was thinking you were all talking about Meshuggah’s 95 release DESTROY ERASE IMPROVE. I was wondering when someone would spell it out
Show threadCynthia loves masksJan 31, 2025
@thekitmalone and don’t forget accessibility
Show threadLilly HunterFeb 1, 2025
@thekitmalone Yes!
Show threadI am Jack's Lost 404Feb 1, 2025
@thekitmalone
Show threadIsaac FreemanFeb 3, 2025
@thekitmalone One of the main ways to undermine and discredit sensible oversight is to reduce it to a bureaucratic box-ticking exercise, then pretend that's all it ever was. Referring to it by an acronym is a tactic for achieving this reframing.
Show threadjoseFeb 3, 2025
@thekitmalone as a non native speaker, I got very confused lately with the acronym, ty, and yes, say the full words, so their shitty stance becomes more obvious
Show threadistoffFeb 3, 2025
@thekitmalone
Words don't matter to some people.
ACA vs Obamacare
Socialism
Democracy
Republic
Fascism
Antifa
They just hijack the words for their purposes.
Show threadKit MaloneFeb 3, 2025
@istoff ok
Show thread👩‍🦯The Blind FraggleFeb 3, 2025
@purplepadma @thekitmalone Yeah, I didn't know what that meant. Acrinims can be helpful for learning long lists of things in school, or shortening social media posts when you have limited space, but they can also be used to make things meaningless.
Show threadThe Tech Lord ⊕ `Lex PendragonFeb 3, 2025

@Fragglemuppet That was a key detail of 1984's New Speak. Removing the meaning from works to control how people think.

I was working at UPS when they renamed themselves from United Parcel Systems to UPS because they didn't think of themselves as working with "parcels" anymore. (They wanted to get people to pay them to be told how to move their parcels, not to actually move them.)

I make it a point to always try to use the full meaning and to get the full meaning of most acronyms.

(Except when I make comments about a Wireless Access Point, because I'm a giggling teenager when I can say "It looks like we more WAP at this location.")

Show threadgunstickFeb 3, 2025
@thekitmalone thanks, I actually had to look up what DEI means, and yes it means diversity, equity and inclusion.
I never heard of this acronym before President Musk decided it's not needed.
Alsmost as if France would say "EFL" for égalité, fraternité, liberté. 🤦‍♂️
Show threadDan Neuman 🇨🇦Feb 3, 2025
@thekitmalone Same with Black Lives Matter. They hate saying that.
Show threadDraken BlackKnightFeb 3, 2025
@thekitmalone
If you have a brainwashed relative, play with them first. "DEI? Donald's Excruciating Incompetence?"
Show threadZhenbo LiFeb 7, 2025

@thekitmalone We should remember how they hide the details behind the word "Patriot"

Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act of 2001.