How Corporations Such as Microsoft Try to Crush Critics and Dissolve Activism
Stay focused, don't feed the trolls
This week or this month, perhaps even last month, Microsoft does a gish gallop with a supposed anniversary and faux nostalgia (including Windows 95); there's lots of "dirty laundry" being brought out. Microsoft hopes you won't notice it; you'll be drunk at "the party". It'll come out "from the back", even months late.
One thing I've learned over the decades is that riling up people to induce or invoke or cause anger is a method. Why is this done? In order to impact composure and undermine calm, which may otherwise result in reasonable explanations (or convincing criticism). It is also a political tactic; debates that are meant to infuriate the other side are better off avoided. If the bullies treat the other side with disrespect (or issue veiled threats, feed words into the other side's mouth as bait, gish gallop and so on), then the only solution is to disengage immediately.
We're going to keep our eyes on the ball this month. Microsoft is taking out a lot of dirty laundry while Bill Gates-funded media (like NPR) begs people to look the other way and crimes are being normalised (or trivialised) by so-called 'journals of record' (oligarchs' stenography). █
About 7 hours ago someone said that IBM did the same after laying off lots of Americans:
