Summary: Repetition of patterns in the news led to a serious rethink about concentration of attention in Techrights (starting 2011)

Techrights is here to stay for a good while to come and it has nearly 7,500 blog posts which are categorised as "Microsoft". It also contains a lot of material about the Gates Foundation, which works very similarly (and often serves Microsoft behind the scenes). Techrights covered both of these very heavily, especially between 2008 and 2010. There was a good reason for it, but having written all these posts, it very often seems like any bit of news is now a deja vu, which leads to a lot of cross-referencing and repetition of arguments. For people who read Techrights regularly this can become rather tiresome and boring, but for the rest it may provide a new lesson]. As the majority of our readers are RSS subscribers who read the items offline or online, we now view any items that repeat old observations (and merely provide new examples from the news) as unnecessary, or at least as a poorer use of time. We had a discussion about this subject in IRC last night. The point was clarified after someone had urged us to cover more reasons not to use Internet Explorer. We've been there and done that.

Regarding the Gates Foundation, the subject of its hijack of US public education came up as well. It went like this:

qu1j0t3	schestowitz: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/apr/07/schools-school-funding?CMP=twt_gu	01:26
TechrightsBot-sc	Title: Cathie Black and the privatisation of education | Daniel Denvir | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk .::. Size~: 131.44 KB	01:26
qu1j0t3	Quadrescence: ^^ that's worth reading,  a good summary of how Obama administration is implementing right wing extremist plans to destroy public education. Gates is a big part ofthis effort.	01:29
[...]
schestowitz	[01:29] <qu1j0t3> Quadrescence: ^^ that's worth reading,  a good summary of how Obama administration is implementing right wing extremist plans to destroy public education. Gates is a big part ofthis effort.	07:09
schestowitz	Part of the obscene view that if *Everything* is turned into business mode, then it improves	07:09
[...]
qu1j0t3	schestowitz: yes, it's related. but there seem to be a few much more sinister things behind this as well.	13:22
qu1j0t3	schestowitz: even if you look at that ideology ALONE, it	13:23
oiaohm	qu1j0t3: Just got in what topic.	13:23
qu1j0t3	oiaohm:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/apr/07/schools-school-funding	13:23
TechrightsBot-sc	Title: Cathie Black and the privatisation of education | Daniel Denvir | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk .::. Size~: 155.52 KB	13:23
qu1j0t3	schestowitz | Part of the obscene view that if *Everything* is turned into business mode, then it improves	13:24
qu1j0t3	schestowitz: ...even if you look at that ideology ALONE, it is denied that the change is ideological	13:25
qu1j0t3	schestowitz: I think we are dealing with a different species entirely	13:25
qu1j0t3	schestowitz: of human. We have these countless examples of straight-face lunatics -- Rhee, H.Clinton, all the way thru Obama, Blair, Harper, and thousands of others	13:26
qu1j0t3	schestowitz: they act as if programmed ...	13:27
qu1j0t3	schestowitz: not 'born'.	13:27
qu1j0t3	schestowitz: maybe 'V' is actually a documentary....	13:27
oiaohm	qu1j0t3: Really lets be trueful most countrys don't most of the population with a good education	13:30
oiaohm	Since it would make idiot getting into goverment job harder.	13:31
qu1j0t3	of course. that's part of it.	13:31
qu1j0t3	it's also about creating a slave class	13:31
qu1j0t3	or perpetuating one, more accurately	13:31
oiaohm	USA eductation system already fails students.	13:32
oiaohm	So really cannot be made much worse.	13:32
qu1j0t3	oh, it can :)	13:32
qu1j0t3	wrecking it is an active project for the current administration.	13:32
qu1j0t3	Arne Duncan was hired to do this	13:32
qu1j0t3	Bill Gates is pushing the project along	13:33
oiaohm	Australia has issues in its education systems.	13:33
qu1j0t3	same agenda is being applied in UK, Austradlia	13:33
qu1j0t3	Canada will be hit as well, though it's not much in the news yet	13:33
oiaohm	Not really qu1j0t3	13:33
qu1j0t3	definitely.	13:33
qu1j0t3	nobody escapes, oiaohm	13:33
qu1j0t3	did you miss the protests in the UK ?	13:33
oiaohm	Australia kinda different.	13:33
qu1j0t3	oiaohm: it is?	13:33
qu1j0t3	i should visit some time.	13:34
qu1j0t3	must be amazing to have escaped this crap.	13:34
qu1j0t3	oiaohm: at least you guys stayed well out of the Iraq war. well done!	13:34
oiaohm	Our schools have required testing.   Any school who students are not passing as well as the rest can expect inspentions.	13:34
qu1j0t3	oiaohm: read the article.	13:34
qu1j0t3	oiaohm: that's part of the agenda...	13:35
oiaohm	Funny part private schools were doing better.   So they have lost funding here.   qu1j0t3	13:35
qu1j0t3	to the extent that slave class is wanted, the agenda will be applied.	13:37
qu1j0t3	simple cause and effect	13:37
qu1j0t3	Howard is gone, he was the most effective agent	13:37
qu1j0t3	he'll be back, in some other guise	13:37
oiaohm	Iraq war has been profitable to australia.  qu1j0t3	13:38
qu1j0t3	that's great	13:38
qu1j0t3	i'm pretty thrilled about that	13:38
qu1j0t3	in fact i'm really annoyed Canada wasn't all over that. bunch of poofters.	13:38
[...]

And on it goes. The main point is, this new article talks about the "privatisation of education" and Gates too is mentioned:

Cathleen Black, the multimillionaire publishing executive with absolutely no background in education, has resigned as New York City schools chancellor. Her departure is a rare setback for a corporate-funded education reform movement that lauds standardised tests, non-union teachers and private management as the solution to the problems of public education.

Mayor Bloomberg was shocked by the negative response to Black's appointment – just as he was shocked by the visceral public backlash against his elimination of term limits. Black was appointed precisely because of her lack of education experience, just as billionaires nationwide have campaigned for office as consummate non-politicians. All that our benign corporate overlords expect, of course, is the occasional "thank you".

[...]

The so-called school reform movement has gained ground over the past decade. Chancellors Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee and now secretary of education Arne Duncan have made their case as tough advocates for children boldly pushing back against a bankrupt status quo. Priorities are set and billions in funding provided by the cocksure leadership at the Gates, Broad and Walton foundations. The movement has led to more testing and more charter schools. It has not, however, led to poor students getting a demonstrably better education. And the minority of charters that do work have proven impossible to scale up.

We have covered it all before, in literally dozens of posts. We probably will resume this later this year. But until then, news which is not truly new will be treated as a low-priority activity. We have some exciting areas to research and cover instead. ⬆