Much as I like razorfist's pithy reformulation of 'get woke go broke', and your 3 points, it's missing one last element. Or at least, an additional reason to why going broke makes them go woke:
2.5) The individual's cultural tribe incentives to go woke, once the company is already going broke, with this being particularly relevant for editors of failing newspapers and websites and the like. Slate star codex hit on this one, basically it's not (just) the ESG money that makes them do it at the individual level, it's cultural capital that comes from going down a 'hero'. You're already going broke, so you may as well publish that 'heroic' crap, provide positive coverage for those crappy games companies, and in so doing secure your next job at some ESG infested shithole, even if you aren't a true believer yourself it is in your interest to make a name for yourself as well as curry favour and cultural capital with them on your way out of your current failing job.
Much as I like razorfist's pithy reformulation of 'get woke go broke', and your 3 points, it's missing one last element
- The individual's cultural tribe incentives to go woke, once the company is already going broke, particularly relevant for editors of failing newspapers and websites and the like
Slate star codex hit on this one, basically it's not (just) the ESG money that makes them do it at the individual level, it's cultural capital that comes from going down a 'hero'. You're already going broke, so you may as well publish that 'heroic' crap, provide positive coverage for those crappy games companies, and in so doing secure your next job at some ESG infested shithole, even if you aren't a true believer yourself it is in your interest to curry favour and cultural capital with them on your way out.