Doing a short course atm. Was having a discussion around job applications and cover letters specifically.

We were told not to include any gendered terms, such as Sir/Madam, Mr/Ms, etc, because "In our modern era, you don't know whether the person you are addressing fits into those categories, even if you know their name" and "You should only ever use a first name, to avoid causing offence" (i.e. no "Mr Adams" or "Ms Smith")...

This is insane to me. I know this will obviously vary by country, but for an instructor to pass that off as some sort of "a given", or even like "You should already know that, you goddamn troglodyte" is... Pretty concerning, to me.

First it was "Use my preferred pronouns, bigot", and now it's "All gendered terms of address are offensive and outdated, bigot". In goddamn formal communications.

Madness. We really are at a cultural dead end.