Bonum Certa Men Certa

Inside the Minds of Microsoft's Media Operatives — Part VI — Lessons Learned on Moral Depravity

Series parts:

  1. Inside the Minds of Microsoft's Media Operatives — Part I — Bishops in Rooks
  2. Inside the Minds of Microsoft's Media Operatives — Part II — Justifying a Career as a Microsoft Mouthpiece That Destroys Lives of People With Actual Facts
  3. Inside the Minds of Microsoft's Media Operatives — Part III — Attacking Real Security, Promoting Lies and Fake 'Security'
  4. Inside the Minds of Microsoft's Media Operatives — Part IV — “Same Sort of Journalistic Bias Infecting Russia at the Moment”
  5. Inside the Minds of Microsoft's Media Operatives — Part V — In Deep Denial About One's Harm
  6. YOU ARE HERE ☞ Lessons Learned on Moral Depravity


“The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity.”

--Andre Gide



Summary: So-called 'journalists' who are in fact Microsoft spinners are a truly toxic bunch; they're allergic to truth and dangerous to truth-tellers; they're better off avoided and exposed, not informed (or shown hard evidence) because their covert allegiance means they're simply a trap rather than genuine agents of truth in reporting, thinly disguised as "objectivity" (to better parcel the lies Microsoft tells)

A previous part showed a rather lengthy attempt at justification from a so-called 'journalist' (Microsoft "asset") who is burning sources, including Microsoft whistleblowers. The "asset" or "mole" or "operative" (or whatever one calls it; the behaviour matters, not the term/label) has no remorse. This led us to a safe-to-reach conclusion that it can be rather pointless trying to enlighten such people. They're too close to Microsoft, too financially tied up, and simply unwilling to change their ways.

The last word on the matter comes from the burned whistleblower, who lost the job over the shoddy 'journalism'. Protecting sources may not be easy, but it wasn't an act of sloppiness but mean-spirited intent. It wasn't neglect but virtue-signalling to the Microsoft aristocracy. It's just the "cost" of Microsoft cover-up.

Congrats on the interview [with Microsoft's Brad Smith] and sorry I didn’t have the cycles to get back to you. I definitely would have some fun ones; oh well. Between you and me, I actually have a sincere respect for Brad Smith. I view him among the best attorneys in the country, among the likes of David Boies, and hope to have a opportunity to have a beer and a laugh with him off the record some time down the road.

Likewise on perspective. I’m not emailing you because I want to make you feel bad or think that I have the moral high ground; that would be hypocritical of me. Although it’s not a competition, even on your hypothetical worst day as an "evil Microsoft shill” or whatever (kidding) you’d be hard pressed to shade out the mountain of work I’ve done for them in 10 lifetimes 🤣. I just have genuine concerns about the state of tech journalism.

With regard to criticality and while I think it’s a fundamental of journalism, I don’t think it’s definition can be comprehensive of journalism itself; only in-part. I tend to agree with you on #1 under most circumstances and as a component of journalism though. While critique is usually reserved for experts and polemicists, there are plenty of circumstances when journalists are dealing with something asinine that runs contrary to common sense and conventional wisdom and doesn’t need the same level of dignity as it’s more rational counter-argument. So far as I understand, this is especially the case when there is potential for individual and societal harm and can see this in covering involving our environmental and financial catastrophes; all of which intersect with technology; correct me if this is inaccurate.

Case in point, if I wanted to just throw radioactive waste from Hanford into the Columbia and let nature handle it, journalists wouldn’t dignify that for a moment or need an expert for a counter-argument because they know that the outcome is most likely catastrophic. There’s no, “what about all of the good things radioactive waste does in a fresh water supply?” because you know it to be universally horrible by default. The same is true for murder, war, rape, torture, puppy kicking, pyramid schemes, leaded fuel/water, CFCs, tide pods, flat earth theories, cryptocurrency, ransomware, and…monopolies by default.

Just as no one is going to argue with me about puppy kicking being bad, no one is going to argue with me when I say that competition is the single greatest consumer protection and driver of innovation and that monopolies are bad because they impede said competition. Alternatively and if I were to tell you that I wanted to run an anti-competitive software monopoly and liquify all competition, you’d also probably advise against it. This is because we all know that monopolies are bad for society by default; not good or even neutral.

Despite substantial historical precedent and no viable economic, environmental, ethical, or evolutionary model in existence advising us to meet monopolies with anything other than critique and skepticism, we can consistently find most tech journalists doing the exact opposite of this and giving tech monopolies the benefit of the doubt instead a shrewd awakening; Microsoft or otherwise. Most won’t even call them a monopoly despite their convictions; only behemoths, giants, and other powerful euphemisms instead. Monopolies being bad is especially the case in free markets that are predicated on ample competition; different in monarchies etc.

With this in mind though I can’t really go with you on #2 at least with respect to journalism and monopolies, at least in outcome. After all, what am I left to rationally infer besides something between bias, conflict, and ignorance when veteran journalists consistently do what no credible economist would do by giving monopolies the benefit of the doubt, let alone likening my stance to that of biased-overly critical for mirroring conventional economic wisdom instead of whatever fringe hypothesis they’re operating on? Or am I behind on the times and is there some emergent economic theory that exonerates monopolies from the fundamentals of economics, history, and nature? Should I also un-read Merchants of Doubt, Manufacturing Consent, and Dark Money? Is Jane Mayer and Noam Chomsky full of shit now? I didn’t get the memo?

All joking aside, I’m genuinely left scratching my head as to how anyone, journalist or otherwise, can speak with any amount of integrity on highly technical matters pertaining to the forefront of STEM without possessing significant expertise and capacity for root cause analyses among other traits obtained from the rigors of decades of engineering that naturally escape most journalists without the same experiences. While some may see it as curse, a thin veil of unbiased objectivity is all that one can rationally expect from from such a dynamic non-experts and conflicted PR people before us. Nor can I see how placing non-experts in such positions that they cannot possibly account for fully doesn’t groom them for failure and society by proxy as an unintended consequence.

As far as fairness to journalists is concerned, I also agree with you to an extent and try to be decent but thick skin is implied with journalists and if they can give it then they have to be able to take it just the same. It’s also important to remember that one must accept the very likely risk of offending a lot of people whenever they're brokering hard truths.

In present form, I honestly don’t think that most journalists are anything distinct from a coal miner from an ethical perspective. Many journalists can name countless instances where they’ve been given no choice but to treat a paycheck like an ethics waiver like the rest of us; none of which is a worthy of shame until journalists try to package every day work for integrity.

This isn’t to say that I don’t empathize with journalists at all, I do, hence this discussion. I’m sure they’re overworked and underpaid like the rest of us too. I just can’t rationally prioritize either over net effect and outcome when it comes to societal catastrophes such as big tech at the moment for which they are a horcrux of as I see it. I realize that no one set out to be stenographers for the powerful as children but it’s hard to deny that industry makes it really easy to do just that, that many end up doing just that as a consequence (I can relate), how beneficial it is for industry, or how detrimental this dynamic has been to society.

Journalists like to project that there is this code of conduct and rigorous dedication to integrity and that just isn’t the case. Sans medical and science journalists, most journalists aren’t really obligated to follow a formal set of rules like doctors or lawyers and lack the protocols to guarantee the integrity they project. Journalists can’t be disbarred or have their non-existent licensees revoked. They employ the same 1st amendment that anyone else does and are held to the same libel/slander laws when publishing as well. And if you were to ask 100 journalists to define ethics or integrity then you’d likely get 100 conflicting answers besides “I don’t know”.

I fully realize of journalists may have the best of intentions but I also realize that the road to hell is paved with good intentions just the same. Ultimately, nothing that I’m saying would offend the likes of Noam Chomsky or Ralph Nader nor am saying anything that journalists haven’t already said about journalism themselves behind closed doors or even in books that both of us have referenced in this thread. So I’m quite comfortable with my views.

In all, the individual feelings of journalists, let alone journalists that were fine with doxxing me and didn’t care about my feelings, life’s work, or career, is of no consequence to me. If the truth kills them let them die. If it triggers them, then they need to get a doctor. And if they can’t handle the truth then they have no business being in journalism or any professional setting for that matter. Plus you seem to be handling the nature of this discussion just fine.

I digress, but I also realize that hard truths tend to pass through three stages. First they are ridiculed and/or labeled as offensive and treated like heresy, then retaliated against, and only after that will they be accepted as being self evident if the bearer remains persistent enough. I’ve already endured the ridicule. I’ve already endured retaliation to the point of reputation destruction and loss of my career. And if I’m not mistaken, I’m not really getting much of an argument back from you on the core of my arguments, from my assessment on Microsoft to the state of tech journalism, so much as I’m seeing you slowly accept and concede something about your industry that you and other journalists and intellectuals have been pondering and writing about long before me. I have nothing to lose by pushing this theses to their logical conclusions and plenty to gain if they end up holding true and being well received.

That said though and if you value my perspective and wish to incorporate it with deadlines and such then I think it’s only fair that you extend a formal offer to accomplish this.

Good chat!


Here ends this mini-series. We still have two ongoing series. As always, feel free to contact us with any information that's suppressed by the corporate media.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Slop Nihilism is Funded by Big Oil
Eventually human civilisation will destroy itself
Professor Eben Moglen Recovering From Open Heart Surgery
From his public pages (this is not secret)
There Are Red Hat (IBM) Layoffs, But Google News is Infested With Slopfarms
It contributes a lot to misinformation and it encourages plagiarism
USA Not a Place for Free Speech
In America, as in the US, the attacks seem more enhanced or advanced these days
 
Links 17/09/2025: Long COVID Study, "Exposing Pegasus", and Chatbots Exposing Sensitive Data
Links for the day
Links 17/09/2025: Secret Settlement for Internet Archive and Google’s LLM Slop Summaries Attracting Lawsuits
Links for the day
The True Cost of 'Generative Models'
Funded and promoted by the companies that profit from the waste
'Big Slop' Attacks Contemporary Information/Knowledge and Creative Works, 'Big Copyright' (Cartel) Attacks the Old
Someone at IA will hopefully "blow the whistle" on what they actually agreed
Why We Find It Difficult to Trust Rust
A comparison between C/C++ and Rust
Watching the OSI: Our Series Will Carry on Irrespective of the Chief's 'Resignation'
the OSI isn't even the real guardian of the term "Open Source"
Just What LibreOffice Needs? Another Language? (Rust)
what's all this concern about memory safety?
Many Microsoft Managers Are Leaving
"Hey hi" chaff or chaff about "hey hi" cannot eternally distract from the difficulties inside the company
Tomorrow, Microsoft's Tim Anderson's 'The Register MS' Offshoot Will Have Been Inactive for 2 Months (There's Also a Slop Problem)
We've already caught The Register MS using LLM slop for articles
Microsoft's Chief Legal Officer Leaves Microsoft After Nearly 30 Years
And not retiring
Even Windows Users Are Having Problems With "Secure Boot"
When it comes to security - Microsoft strives for the very opposite
Another Competition Crime of Microsoft, Long Facilitated and Advocated by a Bad Actor, Who is Funded by a Third Party to Commit Extortion Against People Who Have Correctly and Repeatedly Warned About It for Over 13 Year
We must always go back to the core issues
3 More Reasons to Replace Mozilla Firefox With LibreWolf
Thankfully there are de-enshittified versions of Firefox
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 16, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 16, 2025
Links 17/09/2025: Google Layoffs in "Hey Hi" (AI), Perplexity Hit With More "Hey Hi" (Plagiarism) Lawsuits
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/09/2025: Reclaiming Things in a Digital Age and Moon Phases in CGI
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Google News is Slop, Google News is Plagiarism, Google News is Dying
Google is off the rails
Links 16/09/2025: "The Censorship Alarm Is Ringing in the Wrong Direction" and ASRock Does Microsoft E.E.E. on GNU/Linux
Links for the day
Serious "Breach of Confidentiality of Personal Data" in Europe's Second-Largest Institution, the EPO
Yes, the same EPO that routinely uses "data protection" and "GDPR" as a pretext for hiding or covering up its corruption and white-collar crimes (it even uses that as an excuse for refusing to obey courts' orders)
Adrienne Rockenhaus Says Her Husband Was Arrested for Running Tor and Denied Basic Rights in the United States
the US seems to be getting "russified" in its approach towards Tor
This is What Happens When Microsoft Canonical Lets Decisions on Ubuntu be Made by a Youngster From the British Army (Where He Did Mass Surveillance)
"Is Ubuntu Compromised?"
Back Doored Windows Giving GNU/Linux a Hard Time (Under the Guise of 'Security')
Is this complication intentional? Most likely, yes
Links 16/09/2025: Science, Security, and Conflicts
Links for the day
Gemini Links 16/09/2025: Command-line Options in POSIX Shell and Introducing Acre 0.9
Links for the day
Microsoft 'Secure' Boot Versus Dual Boot With GNU/Linux
they're meant to assume everything is OK
Links 16/09/2025: While Oracle Pretends to be Rich It's Firing About 70 MySQL Workers, "Oracle's Revenge" (Faking Demand With "AI")
Links for the day
Microsoft Has Just Published a New Web Page About "Secure Boot Update Process" (Microsoft Also Admits Issues; PCs Can Stop Booting)
Why was this page issued and published only hours ago?
Microsoft Lunduke: I Spread Hate and Then I Receive Hate
Cry us a river, Microsoft Lunduke
"Use Wayland" Isn't a Bugfix for X (X11 is Still Necessary)
They tell us X is "dead" and we must all be herded into Wayland ASAP
"Disable Secure Boot and Fast Boot. Wipe and Start Over."
At least they didn't say, buy a new computer...
The Oracle Ponzi Scheme
Oracle isn't doing well, but it's nowadays fashionable to say "clown" and "hey hi" to prop up one's stock, even based on nothing at all
The New Head of OSI is an "Hey Hi" (AI) Obsessed Person
when Bryant says "AI" that doesn't mean AI
Taking Out the Battery, Opening Up Your Computer, Just Like a "Normie" Would
At this stage, any person who still says "enable Secure Boot" is misguided or persuaded by companies that sell rootkits
Slopwatch: Serial Sloppers and Slopfarms Still Infesting Google News (Fake 'Articles' About "Linux" Spreading FUD)
searching for "Linux" today yields a lot of FUD
"Governments, local authorities, schools and hospitals can lead by example by procuring only Free Software"
Crossposted from Tux Machines
Cindy Cohn Leaving the Electronic Frontier Foundation While Its Co-founder John Gilmore, Whom She Apparently Helped Oust, Will Celebrate 40 Years of the Free Software Foundation, Inc.
EFF has been busy hoarding GAFAM money, whereas the latter is where all the real activism is done
The Reach of Techrights Has Broadened
We nowadays cover a broader range of issues
"Google is Googlebombing KDE's Project Banana"
So is Google googlebombing KDE's Project Banana? You decide.
Complicating Things for No Actual Benefit, Just Added Risk and More Difficulties Adding GNU/Linux and BSDs
Watch what it's like for people who wish to use BSDs
Some Very Large IRC Networks Are Growing
IRC will turn 38 next year
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 15, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 15, 2025
Links 16/09/2025: Autumn Party, RPG Planet, and Optical ROOPHLOCH
Links for the day
Geminispace Growing at Pace of Over 10% Per Year
Contrary to what some pessimists try to claim
Linux Mint Forums Today: Disable 'Secure Boot', It Doesn't Improve Security, It's Just a Microsoft Obstacle to GNU/Linux Users
They also mention MOK
What Ruben Amorim and Stefano Maffulli Have in Common
Censors Wikipedia and Social Control Media
Microsoft Won't Cooperate in Trying to Tackle EPO Corruption (Microsoft Profits From This Corruption)
Use something like BigBlueButton, Jami, Ring, and Jitsi instead
Solved Less Than an Hour Ago: Trying to Escape Windows, 'Secure Boot' Gets in the Way
'Secure Boot' wasn't meant to even exist in the first place
Stefano Maffulli, Executive Director of the Open Source Initiative, Resigns or Gets Removed (We'll Continue Covering OSI Scandals)
A dozen mentions of "AI", not much about "Open Source"
Andy Has Just Nailed It (Regarding Complexity and Failure, a la UEFI)
The users no longer own or control what they buy
Compatibility Support Module (CSM) Versus GNU/Linux Simplicity
what Andy recently called "solutionism"
Links 15/09/2025: "Postal Traffic to US Down by Over 80%" and 'Smart' Spinozacampus Laundry Room Goes AWOL
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/09/2025: Dungeon Hustle and Deleting Oneself From the Net
Links for the day
Breach of EPO's Duty of Care or Cigna Reimbursement Issues
This is the sort of thing that motivated Luigi Mangione to assassinate a CEO
Ask Ubuntu About "Secure Boot" Violation and Laptops That Don't Boot GNU/Linux
Does anyone still believe that "Secure Boot" has anything at all to do with security?
We Are Sad to Hear the Story of Jonathan Riddell, Champion of KDE and GNU/Linux on Desktops/Laptops
I have enormous respect for Jonathan and everything he has done
Talking About the Problem vs Talking to the Problem
Wanting an audience is never a good excuse for compromising one's values and principles
Focusing on Patents
The reason we cover the EPO so much is that it's close to home
"Secure Boot Violation": The 'Joys' of Fake Security Gone Wrong
Not everyone reboots every day
Links 15/09/2025: Russia Invades Romanian Airspace, Penske Media Sues Google Over LLM Slop
Links for the day
Links 15/09/2025: Bitcoin ATMs Scam and "Conservative Cryptography" (Backdoors Fantasies)
Links for the day
EPO Imitates Microsoft: "Three Days or More Per Week" Inside the Office to Get a Desk to Work on; "the Office Breaches Its Promise Towards Staff and Acts in Breach of Its Duty of Care"
The EPO serves no actual function in Europe
Links 15/09/2025: Political Affairs, Censorship, and Copyrights
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/09/2025: Music Genres, Invisible Networks, and Akademy 2025
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 14, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, September 14, 2025