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When an organization focuses on DEI, it jettisons whatever its mission used to be in favor of imposing its ideology. That’s what has happened to innumerable corporations and now to the MS Society which is no longer fighting to eliminate multiple sclerosis, but instead fighting to eliminate women by forcing everyone to broadcast their pronouns. The pronoun plague is not about making the tiny percentage of mentally ill men who believe they’re women feel included, but to single out and punish people who aren’t going along with the program.
At the MS Society, Fran Itkoff, a 90-year-old volunteer, didn’t understand the whole pronoun business and her difficulty understanding was treated as a hate crime.
Fran Itkoff, the 90-year-old leader of the Lakewood/Long Beach Self-Help Group, was told her organization would no longer be affiliated with the National MS Society after her “failure to abide by our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion guidelines.”
Itkoff, who has won multiple awards for her and her husband’s work with the organization, became confused one day after she saw several people sign their emails and letters with their names along with their chosen pronouns.
“I was confused, I didn’t know what it was, what it meant,” Itkoff told the social media account Libs of TikTok. “I’ve seen it on a couple of letters that had come in after the person’s name they had the pronouns, but I didn’t know what that meant.”
As Itkoff noticed the pronouns more often, she asked one of the society’s representatives what it meant.
The nonagenarian, however, did not get a clear answer.
“Finally I was talking to her and thought I would ask ‘what does it mean’ and let her tell me,” Itkoff said. “She said that it meant ‘they were all-inclusive,’ which didn’t make sense to me.”
Itkoff was confused about how the “she/her” pronouns could be labeled as “all-inclusive” if it was referring to females and not males.
A few days after the conversation, on a Friday at 4:58 p.m. Itkoff received her “pink slip.”
“At the end of the day, end of the week, I got an email from her saying ‘they were sorry, but they had to ask me to step down as a volunteer for the MS society,” Itkoff claimed.
“The verbiage she said was you didn’t abide by their diversity, equity and inclusion, so they had to ask her to step down and she can’t be a part of the MS society as a volunteer.” Itkoff’s daughter Elle Hamilton said.
Hamilton pointed out the irony in the statement as they were excluding a “90-year-old disabled woman who volunteered for over 60 years.”
It’s not really irony because the MS Society is no longer dedicated to fighting MS, it’s dedicated to DEI.
Someone on Reddit posted that, “my aunt in LB had MS for years. She passed a few years back. Fran had been the point of contact ever since I can remember (in my mid 30s now). She would regularly send out newsletters and event / meeting invites for the society. It was honestly pretty cute – Looks like she just printed the newsletters and such off her home computer and mailed them out. Obvious labor of love…
I definitely believe everyone deserves to live their truth and be happy in their own skin but I wonder if cancelling 90 year old disabled volunteers is really worth it. I know I’m biased here but Idk – just seems overkill.
In its statement on the purging of a 90-year-old volunteer, the MS Society states
“As an organization, we firmly believe that we best serve and support those living with MS by creating a space that welcomes all… Fran Itkoff, was asked to step away from her role because of statements that were viewed as not aligning with our policy of inclusion.”
The actual reality is that the MS Society is focused on DEI, the I stands for Inclusion, and, in typical woke fashion, it claims that it can best help those with MS by adopting DEI. Likewise woke military brass claim that they can best win wars by adopting DEI and churches claim that they can best practice religion through DEI.
What all of that really means is that these are woke cults that have only one true mission… politics.
The MS Society states that, “diversity, equity and inclusion are core to who we are as an organization.”
That means its mission is no longer core, only DEI is.
If you doubt that, look at the capsule bio for CEO Cynthia Zagieboylo.
Cyndi ensures we live our Cultural Values to inspire confidence so that people engage with the Society and take action. We demonstrate our commitment to ensure diversity, equity and inclusion in everything we do. We are a financially stable organization, able to make long term plans and we align resources to achieve sustainable, scalable impact. We measure our impact, and we innovate for maximum progress.
Apart from all the corpspeak gibberish, DEI is there right at the beginning.
And then the Chief Engagement Officer.
Lisa ensures we are an inclusive organization with a welcoming community presence, robust volunteer engagement and strong governance. We attract a diverse workforce with a mission-focused, outcomes-oriented culture.
MS is hardly even mentioned. DEI is front and center.
The MS Society has succumbed to something even worse than multiple sclerosis. DEI.
The good news is there’s a cure, but it will require extensive organizational surgery.
Ugly Sid says
A half century ago there was a popular sentiment that confinement histories within state mental hospitals constituted a stigma upon former patients that impaired their reintegration within the general population.
Untreated mental illness is now celebrated and encouraged. Screw the general population.
Jeff Bargholz says
Good point. Sexual dysphoria is an obvious mental illness yet we’re all supposed to “celebrate” it and bow down to it. The leftists and trannies they viciously represent account for a tiny fraction of the population yet they’re forcing the overwhelming majority to go along with it. And plenty of traitors who are actually disgusted with this enforce it.
Algorithmic Analyst says
I don’t know what they mean either. Best to say as little as possible, and observe what language is acceptable in the community. Like saying “Happy Holidays” instead of “Christmas” 🙂
Microaggressions, another sore point. I have no idea what they are, except that anything can be called a microaggression. Have to observe what the local Karens are doing, and avoid getting caught by them. Especially if they use their phones to take pictures of transgressors.
CowboyUp says
There was a bad shortage of real aggressions, so leftist bipocs (which means everyone but yt) and “allies” (yt leftists) had to invent microaggressions to stay oppressed, insulted, offended, angry, and excuse their own real aggressions. Microagressions are anything leftists can think of, and these are the kind of people that see nooses everywhere.
Just think of all the microaggressions everywhere. Someone turns their back on you, that’s a microaggression. Someone turns to face you, microaggression. Someone doesn’t notice you, why that’s a microaggression too. See how easy it is?
A sticker on your laptop supporting the police is an microaggression to bipocs, so they can accost you, curse you, and yell at you to leave the student center until you do. A white kid with dreads can get chased, and assaulted at school by a pack of bipoc and “allies” for a cultural appropriation microaggression. That’s where it ends up, violence.
Algorithmic Analyst says
Thanks Cowboy!!!
Jeff Bargholz says
Have you had a Karen take your photo? That’s insane. I have no idea how I’d react if that were to happen to me.
Algorithmic Analyst says
I saw one the other day taking multiple pictures of a vehicle that was illegally parked. That scared me, thinking she might take one of me. It’s funny, I was friendly to her the first time we crossed paths. She must have taken that as a microaggression, now she deliberately goes out of her way to avoid me, She must have some kind of inner hostility that I wasn’t aware of, so I avoid her as much as possible.
Chaya says
In some geographic areas not everyone celebrates `Christmas. I personally do not find being greeted with someone else’s holiday offensive as its typically meant well. I don’t mind the “happy holidays’ greeting. . Either should be happily acceptable and not a flag waving issue. The USA was not designed as a theocracy with one faith nor should a faith be taboo. Free speech was great once upon a time. You could say “Merry Christmas” or Thanks, its not my holiday”
Nicolas Carras says
Soon the gulag…
Stephen Brophy says
“The good news is there’s a secure, but it will require extensive organizational surgery”
Huh?
CowboyUp says
My first thought, but nix the “se” in secure and you have “cure,” which fits with the sentence.
Bernie says
There’s a cure. Typo.
Jeff Bargholz says
Obviously, for those of us who don’t nit-pick and look for things to complain about.
Jeff Bargholz says
Excise the CEO and every other human turd in the MS Society who enforce DEI at the expense of 90 year old volunteers and everyone else in their power. It harms the Society itself, too.
David Mu says
Indeed, there is ‘extensive organizational surgery’ measures needed, but I don’t believe there can be much hope in job re-training, but instead with being made un-employed and services no longer needed for the DEI crowd.
Thanks Daniel for the report. I heard of this case, but not much of the details. I think I understand fully now the situation.
World@70 says
Unfortunately there are people who take pleasure in destroying good things. Likely there was some group who viewed this woman’s 60 years of volunteerism as less important than conforming to DEI’s pronoun crap, therefore, she must go. DEI wins… (by elimination).
CowboyUp says
For their next trick, the MS Society will require those it helps to be DEI compliant as well, if it isn’t already.
I don’t know what they actually do for MS victims, or where their money comes from, but they’re flush, spending $126 million a year, 36% of it on research. There are more people on the board with financial backgrounds than medical backgrounds. That would account for how well they’re doing financially, and why dei is a higher priority than MS. If a cure is found for MS, it probably won’t be them that finds it.
I wonder what cyndi and lisa would think of my preferred pronoun, “Master?” The bios read like they were written by bad ai, lol. How many power words and action phrases can you cram into a paragraph? And notice only three out of thirteen of their “leadership team” are men, and only one black person is on the “team.” Tsk, tsk…
Jeff Bargholz says
“Master.” That’s a good one. If anybody ever asks me what my preferred pronoun is, that’s what I’ll say. Nobody has ever asked, though.
Algorithmic Analyst says
“Esquire” sounds good, and nobody knows what it means 🙂
Angel Jacob says
The radical left orgs are using this as an excuse to remove whoever they feel like is a conservative.
Jeff Bargholz says
Yes, or not sufficiently “woke.”
Richard Johnston says
My custom=made t-shirts just came in. The have DEI on top with Divide, Exclude, Intimidate underneath.
Today’s poll: which is better, those t-shirts or the custom-made bumper sticker on my car that states “Colleges Murder Viewpoint Diversity” ?
For those who really enjoy a challenge, add in a third option, the note on my office door that states “The only police you should resist are the Thought Police.”
SPURWING PLOVER says
Disgraceful the M.S. Society goes DEI and P.C.
Chris Shugart says
Oh, how times have changed. Back in the sixties one of the catchphrases of the left wing activists was “question authority.” Nowadays that kind of talk will get you labeled a “threat to democracy.” There can be no doubt that “question authority” has been replaced with “shut up and do what you’re told.” You will be absorbed. Resistance is futile.
SPURWING PLOVER says
Rime to Question the Authority Questioners and the top Question’s Who Taught you this stuff who pays your bills and where do you Live?
Greg says
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27).
Kasandra says
Ms. Itkoff is better off without the MS Society. The reverse, however, in not true.
Chaya says
I ignore all work DEI emails and meetings and the people sending them. But then again I’m mean and stubborn. That this 90 year old volunteer was asked to leave seems discriminatory and illegal to me. Chances are she’d never find a lawyer brave enough, nor a judge not corrupt and given her history of volunteering, as described here, she probably doesn’t have a mean bone in her body.
But I do. And this makes me so angry for her!