To deflect, knowingly and unknowingly, from the problems
one might have with a commercial product/a corporation's unethical behavior by turning it into an overly emotional issue centered around how a high-level executive directly responsible for said problems must have felt.
Originally used on Blizzard Entertainment's Overwatch 2 forums to describe the perspective that the
game's director, who misled an entire community by lying about a
game feature that was heavily advertised when they knew prior to the
game's release it was cancelled, must have felt too ashamed to
act otherwise.
A: I feel so bad for the
game director, they must have felt too bad to tell us the
truth...
B: That's pity shilling- feeling too bad to do the right thing means nothing when not doing it means you are misleading
people.