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

Gemini Links 26/05/2026: A Year of Composting, Fedora Bricks Itself and Infuriates Users With Slop and Wayland (Not What Users Want, What IBM Wants), Crawlers on Geminispace a Nuisance
Links for the day
Good Thing When Home Appliances Are Ancient Antiques
dealing with the alarm has cost only time
The Bloating of the Web Contributes to Global Warming and Causes Burnout (Slowdown, Hardware Erosion, Waste)
This problem isn't limited to weather sites or subsites
Why It's Ludicrous to Call Us "Microsoft Haters"
Even if clustered together, news items still cover a broad spectrum (or spectra) of issues
The Old Ways of Computing Were Objectively Better
Not as fast, but certainly much better
 
Google: We Are Locking You Out of Your Account (Since 15+ Years Ago) Because You Don't Have a Spyphone We Remotely Control
Google (GAFAM) is an evil company deep in debt
Red Hat: Bluewashing by IBM, Followed by RAs (Layoffs)
We could use some hints or evidence related to this
Links 26/05/2026: "Making the Digital Physical"; "The Medical System Abandons Women When They Are Most Vulnerable"
Links for the day
While US Government Greenlights (or Bluelights) Bailouts for IBM Some Foreign Governments Blacklist It
"Albany leadership doesn’t know what they are doing but are damn good at pretending they do."
IBM Bailouts and the IBM People Inside the Administration
It seems possible/plausible that it is bailout money down the drain or that this money will never arrive at all
Links 26/05/2026: Lithium Batteries Causing Fires (Even on Planes), 'Timmy' the Whale Dies
Links for the day
Pursuing Facts in an Age of Lies and 'Hallucinations' (Falsehoods Without Anyone Accountable, They Try Calling Computer-Generated Lies or Forgeries "Intelligence").
Our aim is to relay information while bypassing gossip networks like social control media and slop in "search" clothing
Computer-Generated Legal Filings Get You Reported to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)
We'll write a lot more about this in the future
EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part XII - In the Second-Largest Institution in Europe One Can Take Paid 'Sick Leave' for Doing Cocaine, Then Come Back
Cocaine addicts in the management were bullying colleagues. They're still in charge.
Sites in Their Twenties
We currently run concurrently a handful of series and have a lot more in the backlog
SLAPP Censorship - Part 88 Out of 200: Brett Wilson LLP is Defaming Trans People in America Because Garrett Pays Hired Guns to Silence Them
Garrett is scoring many own goals this year
Sloppy "Resource Action," (RA) or IBM Layoff, Leads to Another IBM Lawsuit, Alleging IBM Tries to Pass Liability to Algorithms
IBM is meanwhile resorting to slop to gaslight its remaining shareholders
The Latest IBM Layoff Rumours
What has happened to the company that invented so much of modern computing?
Holy See Recognises the Threat of GAFAM and Slop
Will the Holy See move away from GAFAM?
Social Control Media is a Giant Waste of Time (and There Are No Future Remedies for This)
Social Control Media is considered unhealthy to young people, but it is also collectively unhealthy to nations and nation-building
Codecs and Software Patents - Part X - Florian Müller Still Muddying the Waters for FOSS, Using Software Patents
Some things never change...
Gemini Links 26/05/2026: Slop Bug Reports and Crawlers Considered Evil
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, May 25, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, May 25, 2026
Slop Causes Global Warming
in some parts of the world people die from overheat (heat strokes) as temperatures reach almost 50 degrees as early as May in the northern hemisphere
Vatican Speaks Out Against Slop, Promoting Instead "Truth, Dignity of Work, Social Justice, and Peace."
Religion (no matter which) does not oppose machines, but LLMs aren't useful machines
SLAPP Censorship - Part 87 Out of 200: Access to Justice
this part will be short
A Promise IBM/Red Hat Could Not Keep
"all about control, not so much optics."
Links 25/05/2026: Russia Lobbing Oreshnik Ballistic Missile Again, Slop Comes Under More Fire
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/05/2026: Injury in Gym and Abusive LLMs DDoSing Software Developers While Misusing Their Code
Links for the day
A 'Bank Holiday' When National Debt Doubles in a Decade
Maybe it's time to rename "Bank Holidays"
Links 25/05/2026: Lingering Environmental Concerns and Domain Registrars Targeted for Unmasking
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, May 24, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, May 24, 2026
Gemini Links 24/05/2026: Impressions of Auckland, the Age of Left or Right Extremism, and .zim files
Links for the day
Microsoft's 'Hiring Freeze' (Layoffs) and Salary Freeze (While Inflation Approaches Double-Digit Rates)
If they get replaced by anyone, it'll be low-paid folks in low-salary regions [...] workers' stress levels shoot up, compensation goes down
Slop Will Not End Humanity, The Pushers of It Do (Artificial Scarcities and Global Warming)
Causing hunger and poverty in the name of "computation"
How Can the 'Broligarchs' Love Us When They Don't Even Love Themselves?
Their SLAPPs have their limits
Death at IBM Due to Overwork
Dying for IBM is never worth it
We Publish Less, We Get More Exposure
UbuntuPit is coming to realise that quantity isn't what comes to matter or truly "count", especially when quantity comes at expense of authenticity
Codecs and Software Patents - Part IX - GNU Project Has Chosen to Adopt AV1 for Its Videos, Conversion and Additions Underway
One of our readers is working to help GNU through the maze of software patents and maze of patent lawsuits, which aren't the same thing but are somewhat overlapping issues
SLAPP Censorship - Part 86 Out of 200: The Position of Courts on Computer-Generated Lawsuits and Filings From Another Continent (Made by Two Men Who Work for Slop Companies)
Lawsuits by proxy from California
Links 24/05/2026: SoftBank CEO Getting Conned by Scam Altman, Hotter 2026 and El Nino With Growing Impact
Links for the day
Links 24/05/2026: Ebola Outbreak and "Journalists Identify Murder Victims Of Trump’s Boat Strike Program"
Links for the day
IAM Magazine is in Effect Dead, It's Now Fused Into Microsoft's Patent Troll (Which It Has Promoted All Along)
Microsoft-connected patent trolls in Europe [...] Now, in his new job, Wild can use his 'expertise' to help guide blackmail/extortion to better harm Europe's industry
A Huge Proportion of 'Articles' in The Register MS Are Actually Paid Spam of the Communist Party of China, Selling Compromised (for Wiretapping) Technology
The Register MS is having a go at becoming a marketing company or "B2B"
Top Officials Have Just Left Microsoft, Layoffs in Anything But Name
Microsoft's debt is very fast-growing
Local Staff Committee The Hague (LSCTH) Meets "Alicante Mafia" at the European Patent Office (EPO)
Report on meeting with VP1 and his team on 21 April 2026
UbuntuPit (ubuntupit.com) Has Deleted Slop Pages, Its Slopfarm Experiment Has Failed (Like Always!)
Turning one's site into a slopfarm is a death knell
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, May 23, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, May 23, 2026