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However, the fact that he is homeless has nothing to do with the discussion. It just adds some "feeling" to the problem which should not be there. A MacArthur fellow (1990) is supposed to be able to manage his life (or get someone to do so).
I'm not saying that RMS has committed any crimes of course, but there are other reasons that people do not see him as a political figure that they can rally behind in the modern day. A lot of this is entirely about image. People feel uncomfortable having an aging, socially irrepressible person in charge of an organisation which they support. A (seemingly false) allegation is all that it took to bring those qualms to the fore.
Also I note that the author tacitly avoids the other comments which RMS has historically made, in particular with regards to abuse of minors, instead focusing on the one which was incorrectly taken out of context.
1. He said/did thing x. He must lose his livelihood and be annihilated.
2. He did not say thing x, but he said y which is basically thing x.
3. He said neither x or y, but he essentially deserves this anyway because of other things he may have done or said. They may have not offended anyone at the time to cause this level of outrage, but clearly combined with what he may have said recently, his time was up anyway.
4. He may not have deserved what happened to him, but maybe he should have just kept his mouth shut about issue x. If me and my friends accused him, then he probably wasn't innocent.
(5.) Write medium/Quillette/twitter post: I was part of the mob until it came for me.
https://twitter.com/bcrypt/status/1173731697159835648
I don’t think it’s subscribing to or endorsing cancel culture to ask for that. RMS being a rude, insensitive jerk is not because he’s an aspie (claiming such is rude to aspies who manage to not be assholes), but because he is a selfish and self-absorbed person.
https://twitter.com/rakyll/status/1174141125902229504
We deserve better leadership.
It's not just about one incidence of some mistakenly pedantic comments, as has been made clear by many, many people. It's a pattern of behaviour over years combined with no interest in listening to other people or accepting that he might be in the wrong. His behaviour towards women in particular has resulted in a lot of people sharing stories of his behaviour which, on their own, should be enough for someone to be considered a problem. This latest incident is just what it took to finally tip things over the edge.
This article then goes on to talk about people like Stallman being needed, or essential for something like free software. It doesn't matter, even if it was true, which there is no way of proving, it's pure assertion. Phrases like "required someone who couldn’t take a hint" might sound all perseverance and dedication to this writer, but perhaps going and asking women what comes to mind when they hear about people like this might be an eye opener.
Without him students wouldn't have as many free tools? Maybe, but maybe they would have other tools, better tools, built by the people his behaviour, and the behaviour of people like him, have driven from the industry before they got a chance to have the impact that people like him seem to assume is a right.
He might’ve been an influential figure, but he’s still a creep. Just because someone made something once doesn’t mean we should turn a blind eye towards them.
these remarks, while slightly distorted by the media, are still part of a pattern of dismissing sexual assault (including the way RMS insists on not using the word assault despite it being well understood that assault does not have to be physical violence)
rms is the sort of person who overshoots principled to a point everyone is tired of talking to them and where in-person criticism dies before it is even expressed because why bother with someone who will never seek to be better anyway and that afforded him a lot of leeway, even if i think the means of removing him now have been not entirely clean, it still was overdue
The most disgusting thing is that whose who witch-hunted him, from their higher moral ground, will face no consequences at all.