A pattern related to ad hominem or generalisations is mentioned in passing along with other patterns that we itemised last year. It's the idea that someone saying something should be ignored merely because of feelings invoked (like supposed 'offence' or discomfort).

"Paid-for media indoctrination, for instance, keeps telling people utter junk like "Microsoft loves Linux" even though nothing could be further from the truth."We keep saying that every now and then, e.g. when autocrats such as Benoît Battistelli and António Campinos look for excuses by which they justify censorship. They try to prevent the EPO's workers from reading Techrights not because it is wrong but because it embarrasses EPO management. It exposes corruption and might even lead to accountability, however belated or overdue.

Don't fall for these tricks. Sometimes reality is simply not comfortable, especially to those who are introduced to new information for the first time and it contradicts prior perceptions. Paid-for media indoctrination, for instance, keeps telling people utter junk like "Microsoft loves Linux" even though nothing could be further from the truth.

We live in a world where we must coexist with Public Relations spinners and liars. It's inevitable that some things we see in the mass media will be false. That's just their business model, sometimes known as "perception management" (Bill Gates has been paying a lot for that lately).

In the case of the EPO, they've gone as far as bribing scholars for biased 'research'. Maybe that sort of 'research' helps comfort propaganda sites like IAM, which prefer to look the other way when presented with evidence of EPO corruption. In the case of Microsoft, there's no lack of cash-strapped people in the media, looking for opportunities to spread a bunch of lies. Microsoft Inside — Part III and Microsoft Inside — Part IV are almost ready to go now (on Sunday we published the first part and second part) and we believe they contain quite the 'smoking gun'. Microsoft has evil plans for Linux and those who refuse to learn from history will fall for it or even become complicit/accomplices. ⬆