Microsoft Word has taken on the role of PC police by introducing a new feature that suggests politically correct alternatives to certain “triggering” words or phrases.
The UK’s Daily Mail reports Microsoft included a “new function in the latest version of its Word software” that ensures users are opting for inclusive and politically correct terminology:
Traditionally, Microsoft Word has offered tools to its 250million users such as checking software for spelling, punctuation and grammar.
But now, the tech giant has added an additional feature which reads through a user’s work and examines whether the language used may offend an individual.
The function produces a purple line beneath words and phrases that are deemed inappropriate as they pertain to age bias, cultural bias, ethnic slurs, gender bias, gender neutrality, sexual orientation, racial bias, and socioeconomic biases.
When Word finds the troublesome language, it will offer acceptable alternatives. The Daily Mail said, for example, the feature will offer “mail carrier” or “postal worker” as an alternative to “postman.”
The U.S. Sun notes that the feature makes for some “hilarious and baffling results.”
For example, typing “Mrs. Thatcher” invites a comment from Word that the use of “Mrs.” implies “gender bias,” with a recommendation to opt for the less offensive “Ms. Thatcher.”
Users who type Neil Armstrong’s famous moon-landing quote are told that “humanity” or “humankind” is a better alternative to “mankind.” Too bad Neil Armstrong didn’t have Microsoft Word on Apollo 11 in 1969 when it could have come in handy!
Other notably bizarre suggestions include replacing “maid” with “house cleaner,” “headmaster” to “principal,” “master” with “expert,” “manpower” with “workforce,” etc.
The “woke” feature has been included in Microsoft’s latest version of Office 365, available by subscription only, the Sun noted. It does not come with the standalone version of Office 2019 or earlier versions, the Daily Mail added.
And while some may scoff at this tool, at least one person on the Left is applauding it.
Digital strategist John Bull took to Twitter to hail the new feature, claiming it will help users to “start overcoming [their] subconscious biases,” Yahoo!News reported.
Anticipating criticism of the new feature, Microsoft released a statement assuring users that they can turn the woke function off if they’d prefer.
“Microsoft understands that not every Editor suggestion may be suitable for all users and all scenarios. That’s why we let users be in control of their final output. Editor is a completely optional tool that users can turn on or turn off at any point. Editor does not make any autocorrections,” the statement reads.
“The user has control over which suggestions they choose to use, if any,” it continues. “They will be able to turn on and off each one of them individually.”
The function allows you to choose which bias checker you would like to remove, and which you would like to keep.
As noted by the Daily Mail, the new feature comes after a poll found Microsoft to be ranked as one of the most trusted Big Tech companies in the United States. Microsoft Windows, the Daily Mail reported, “is the most widely used computer operating system in the world, accounting for almost 70 percent of the market across desktop, tablets, and consoles in December 2021.”
Clearly, Microsoft is using this powerful position to help rid the world of what some consider “discriminatory” language.
This is certainly not the first time the company’s leadership found itself on a noble path to abolish evil from the Earth.
Last year, for example, Microsoft’s billionaire founder Bill Gates donated $1 million to Equitable Math to defeat racism in math.
A statement on Equitable Math’s website read, “White supremacy culture shows up in math classrooms when the focus is on getting the ‘right’ answer.”
“Upholding the idea that there are always right and wrong answers perpetuates objectivity as well as fear of open conflict,” the site claimed.
Microsoft also made headlines last November for a video presentation that went viral in which senior executives with the company introduced themselves by listing their race and preferred gender pronouns.
Meanwhile, the company seems to have allowed its woke agenda to distract it from its actual purpose as a tech company. The Y2K bug that users feared in 2000 has reappeared as a glitch for some Microsoft Exchangers when the calendar turned over to 2022, impacting Microsoft’s malware scanning software — an issue that has yet to be corrected by the company’s engineers.
