Microsoft is rolling out ‘inclusiveness’ checker in Word

And you can bet that whenever you use one of those phrases or reject Microsoft's recommended alternatives then your stats will be collected and sent to MS.

Being in the possession of the collective data of millions of users puts MS in a position of being able to determine the mood of the populous on many social issues, thus it's in a position of being able to wield real political power. Leak what people are thinking to politicians etc. and you'll have the potential to alter politics.

The other way of viewing this is that if enough people adopt or use Microsoft's recommended phraseology then, in effect, society will have adopted a form of subliminal social engineering - for eventually that will become the dominant 'speak'.

The question of course is who gets to set what's acceptable and what is not. Why has Microsoft now become the arbiter of our social norms? And what on whose right or authority has Microsoft accepted such aagency? Right, it's none other than itself.

As is is, in recent decades we've already been forced to moderate what we say or write to a point where we now cannot express ourselves openly. This alone is dangerous and ultimately it'll have political consequences.

Moreover, if we can't speak out without fear then we've not only lost our individual autonomy but also we give others more opportunity to control us.

You're right about LibO, we need it more than ever nowadays.

Really?

I feel old.

Gets auto-corrected to

“The bourgeois ripped the gazelle to shreds.”