Microsoft: It's Even Worse than You Think

by Tom Paine

If I told you that there was a web site that advocates the cloning of human beings, calls the 10 commandments "1st century rules is a 21st century world," and portrays Adolph Hitler as a loveable cartoon character, you probably wouldn't be surprised. After all, the Web is an equal opportunity medium and even the twisted are allowed their opportunity for free expression.

But would you believe you can find all this on the Microsoft- owned, Michael Kinsley-edited Slate? If they haven't wised up and removed this monstrosity -- written by no less a personage than Nathan Myhrvold, Microsoft's Chief Technology Officer -- you can see for yourself.

This wasn't an obscure article either. It was featured right on Slate's home page for a full week. And in case Microsoft didn't make its point clear, the article that took its place the following week was entitled: "In Praise of Cheap Labor -- Bad jobs at bad wages are better than no jobs at all" by Paul Krugman, a professor at MIT.

Krugman's thesis is that low wages and unsafe working conditions for third world people are OK and we shouldn't trouble ourselves about their plight. After all, if it weren't for the sweatshop jobs, they'd just be picking through garbage heaps anyway. "Arbeit Macht Frei" and all that.

Conveniently, the esteemed professor leaves out a few facts. For example, the countries that provide us with labor at below slave rates (you have to feed and house slaves) are usually run by dictatorships. Labor organizers and people who advocate fair distribution of land for peasants are usually rewarded with a bullet in the head. In places like Guatemala and Indonesia, simply living in the wrong place at the wrong time can earn you an instant death sentence.

So what is Microsoft telling us by featuring opinions like this in their most high profile public organ? Could it be they are preparing us for the road ahead? Let's look at the US in the last 20 years: lower real wages, the dismantling of whole industries, massive cuts in social spending, control of the media concentrated in the hands of a few corporations, the gap between the wealthiest and the poorest members of our society widening.

Believe it or not, there are wealthy, powerful people who like it this way and there are no small number of them. These are the same kind of people who brought us the Viet Nam War and who backed Hitler right up until the war -- and I'm talking about Henry Ford, inventor of mass production, and Henry Luce, founder of Time Magazine, not some obscure kooks. Then, of course, there are the "journalists" like Michael Kinsley who will promote any point of view as long as there is a payday involved.

There's never been a shortage of "captains of industry" who believe their right to make money and wield power is more important than economic justice and a healthy society. Through these articles in Slate, Bill Gates and the whole sick crew in Redmond are letting us know where they stand. It's not enough that they're wreaking havoc in the computer industry, stiffling innovation and sabotaging progress, they also apparently intend to use their not inconsiderable media clout to promote ideas that diminish humanity as well.

Inferior products and unfair trade practices are just the tip of the iceberg of reasons why you should boycott Microsoft products. Opposing Microsoft and what it stands for is not an eccentric hobby. It's the ultimate act of patriotism in the digital age.

"Tom Paine" is the pen name for the owner of a small computer company who prefers to remain anonymous.

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the editor of Boycott Microsoft.

c 1996-7 Moral Highground Productions

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