I hate to belabour the point, but it does give me the opportunity to mangle a well known aphorism: one man's integrity is another man's poison. "Most people" disagree with you on the integrity point, as recent events show.
As to growth, I agree, it's often taken as too negative a signal, but if a tech company isn't growing then it's as sign that it's not innovating. Other companies will.
> I’m sure most people would be fine with Apple having flat revenue and not sacrificing their integrit
How about people who own stock in apple, for example in their 401k or taxpayer funded pension plans, which directly mean higher taxes if equities do not perform.
But we’ve all been programmed to believe that a company not growing is as good as dying.