Bonum Certa Men Certa

Abuse of Women's Rights and Misuse of Perfectly Legitimate Race Grievances Can Harm Real Victims of Discrimination and Violence

Even the "racist mobster" claims to be "the least racist person there is anywhere in the world"

Trump: 'I am the least racist person there is anywhere in the world'



Summary: It's a simple truism that for the sake of marketing (or positive image, brand power) corporations would pry/muscle popular movements out of the hands of actual victims

THE HEART of a corporation is metaphorical at best. Corporations are not people and they have no bodies. If corporations are really people, does that mean that people too are corporations? What the heck does that even mean?



"If corporations are really people, does that mean that people too are corporations? What the heck does that even mean?"Humans are technically or biologically animals, but they're not corporations.

Enter corporate marketing. Moments ago I saw IBM flaunting and speaking of "developer relations with empathy and compassion" (link intentionally omitted; it'll be in our next batch of Daily Links). IBM has done lots of that nonsense lately and sent PR people to target me. IBM is trying to change its image and bury its past. It portrays itself as an ally of blacks (whom it helped purge) and sends out women to act as the company's spokespeople (never mind scandals like these).

One need not be right (wing) leaning to believe that legitimate civil/human rights issues are being subjugated/coerced if not hijacked by rich oligarchs (usually white and male, obviously). It's very easily provable and we're anything but right-leaning (some would accuse us of being 'too far' to the left). This isn't even a 'wing' thing. It's about a certain concern about popular movements being co-opted by the rich and powerful, masquerading their for-profit agenda as community interests. Call them out on it and soon they'll paint you -- indirectly or by proxy inter alia -- as racist or sexist or at best an obstacle in the face of justice.

"One need not be right (wing) leaning to believe that legitimate civil/human rights issues are being subjugated/coerced if not hijacked by rich oligarchs (usually white and male, obviously)."Thankfully, people whose causes are being misused like that are not dumb. They can see what's going on and they respond (even if the corporate media tries to pay no attention to them).

Donald Trump's own lawyer has just labeled him "racist mobster" (it was all over the news earlier this week), but Trump and his enterprise insist that nothing could be further from the truth. In this particular case it's not the media that's lying; Trump's own track record speaks for itself. Words out of his own mouth (we'll spare the detailed list of examples).

"...corporations aren't people and they don't speak for people (they typically speak to the one person who owns them)."The bottom line is, there's an ample gap or difference between what's true and what's perceived. Microsoft is no friend of women's rights (there have been many lawsuits against the company for sexism; the courts sometimes had material from Techrights admitted), IBM doesn't work towards racial equality (folks need only assess its government projects around the world), Apple doesn't give a damn about privacy (the current CEO gladly added the company to NSA's PRISM program), Google isn't a friend of Free software (tell me where to download Google's search code; or any of its 'crown jewels' for that matter) and Amazon values workers/labour rights as much as Hitler "was a Zionist" (Ken Livingstone having a senior moment).

There's a profound problem when media is getting so weak (financial black hole), increasingly owned by advertisers, and controlled remotely by corporate marketing/PR departments of corporations with "perception management" budgets. There's much we can do about it other than shunning publishers that play along; we need to create alternatives and speak for actual people; and no, corporations aren't people and they don't speak for people (they typically speak to us for the one person who owns them).

The bottom line and perhaps the most important point is, when all those things get warped so badly the biggest casualties are the actual victims (of discrimination and abuse, sometimes physical assaults and even rape/murder). There's nothing for them to benefit from when billionaires take control of the message, deciding for example that removing "master" branches from repositories would magically tackle racial injustices and putting more women in visible (public-facing) positions would really address wage gaps (no, those positions don't pay equal sums of money). A lot of those billionaires profit from bombing countries where the ethnic majority is dark-skinned (perceived to be of "lesser worth), including women and children. But don't focus on the wars, focus on words instead. So they tell us...

Recent Techrights' Posts

Last Week's Public Talk by Richard Stallman Well Attended and Covered in Technical News Sites
and we're looking at about 60,000 Microsoft layoffs in 3 years
What Happened to the Open Source Initiative (OSI) Elections: Missed Deadline
they helped expose a number of other scandals
Red Hat's Owner is Called "America's Worst Tech Company" (IBM) and Microsoft's Liabilities Grow
Microsoft has about a quarter of a trillion (yes, trillion with a "T") in liabilities
 
2025 Will be a Big Year For GNU/Linux on Desktops/Laptops
with an economy like this, people who don't live in rich countries won't turn to Apple
Signs of Trouble: Microsoft Job Openings for Jobs That Do Not Exist!
Keeping up appearances?
"Special Place in Hell" for Women Who Help Violent Microsofters From Another Continent Attack Local Women Who Did Nothing Wrong, They Just Got Bullied and Deserve Sympathy or Compensation
Nothing says "Brat" like men who attack women, right?
The Numbers Game: 50,000-60,000 Microsoft Workers Laid Off in 2.5 Years? And Debt Still Tripled Under Nadella.
under Nadella Microsoft's debt trebled
The Slow Death of Windows Will Mean the Inevitable Demise of Microsoft
Once people stop using Windows, it'll be hard for Microsoft to sell anything to them
Gemini Links 13/05/2025: Shopping is an Exasperating Nightmare and Making Phones Minimal
Links for the day
23,000 More Microsoft Layoffs by the End of June If the Estimates Are Correct (In Addition to About 6,000 Layoffs So Far This Year)
There's no questions about many layoffs happening this month. It got leaked already. The only question is when (and also how many).
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, May 12, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, May 12, 2025
Major Microsoft Layoffs This Week (Discussed Online)
later we can expect a lot of spin, even misinformation
Links 12/05/2025: Measles Rising and Taliban Outlaws Chess in Afghanistan
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/05/2025: Advice, Iorist Ethics, and Touchscreens
Links for the day
The Finances of GAFAM Aren't as They Seem
MICROSOFT FINANCIAL PYRAMID revisited
Links 12/05/2025: US Brain Drain and Reminder That "Microsoft's Lobbying Efforts Eclipsed Enron" (Fraud Coverup)
Links for the day
The Enshittification of Royal Mail (Post Office/Postal Services) Continues
Enshittification is a thing, not only in the digital realm
If the Gossip is True, Today Microsoft Has "Large M1 Meetings" to Discuss Almost 30,000 More Microsoft Layoffs in 2025
the claim is that Microsoft is preparing to lay off 10% of its staff
Microsoft Has a Long and Proven History of Funding Meritless Lawsuits Against Rivals and Critics (It Always Backfires)
It also looks like the solicitor used by two Microsofters to SLAPP us is being urgently replaced
Links 12/05/2025: Gardens and Kitchens
Links for the day
Links 12/05/2025: Media Being Attacked (New Forms of Attack on the Press), Many Data Breaches
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, May 11, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, May 11, 2025
Links 11/05/2025: Pyotr Wrangel and Kubernetes With FreeBSD
Links for the day
What Happened to the Open Source Initiative (OSI) Elections: A Moment of Silence and Revisionism Amid US Government Investigation and Community Uproar
Not a word this month
Microsoft Florian Becomes Patent Troll, Arranges to Sue Companies (Extorting Money Out of Them)
From campaigner against software patents to paid Microsoft shill to "FOSS patents" (actually attacking FOSS) to revisionism as "books" (for Microsoft)... and now this
How the SLAPPs From Microsoft Staff Are Connected to the Corrupt OSI, Whose Majority of Money Comes From Microsoft for Openwashing, LLM Hype, and Whitewashing GPL Violations During Class Action Trial
Let's explain how some of these things are connected
Links 11/05/2025: China's Fentanylware (TikTok) Tells Kids to Vandalise Schools' Chromebooks and Increased Censorship in India
Links for the day
You Need Not Be a Big Company to Defeat Microsoft If You Can Successfully Challenge Its Core "Ideas"
Maybe that's just a sign that the ideas of RMS have become too effective and thus "dangerous"
Gemini Links 11/05/2025: Yeeting Oligarch Tech, Offline Browsing
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, May 10, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, May 10, 2025