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In Defense of Richard Stallman

geoff.greer.fm

451–460 of 681 posts

Re: In Defense of Richard Stallman

#451

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stallman wasn't convicted of any crime, so please drop the "illegal" thing. He can have whatever controversial opinions he wants.

He can have whatever controversial opinions he wants. Not without losing his job, apparently.

Yes? Is it surprising to you that words can have consequences up to and including your employers no longer wanting to employ you?

Re: In Defense of Richard Stallman

#452
post #375
post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't have anything to do with diversity of opinion or lack thereof. If this article is correct, the issue is simply a blatant misrepresentation of what Stallman said. I admit I haven't been following this news very well so far, so I'm doubtless missing some important facts. I'd heard Stallman was stepping down because of something he said about Minsky, but I have no idea what that was. If this is it, and this a…

And how do you feel about weirdos who treaten to kill themselves if a girl won't go out with them?

So you call suicidal people with mental health issues "weirdos". Now nice of you.

Re: In Defense of Richard Stallman

#453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mu. You asked if leader is defined by challenging things. I gave an alternative definition with an example of leaders not challenging things. (and sure, there are also those who do challenge) No-platforming is a completely different topic, and I have expressed no opinions about it.

You haven't responded to my point here, this is just playing semantics and making me guess your definitions. Despite how you are dancing around responses, from where I see it: You are clearly denying him a platform by saying he shouldnt be a 'leader' (ie. keep his posts). You are making that decision by institutions instead of individuals. You are holding all the worlds 'leaders' to your own moral views which is logi…

You've made multiple assumptions about my opinions that I disagree with, and honestly it's too much work to unwind. I'd rather leave now.

Re: In Defense of Richard Stallman

#454
https://stallman.org/archives/2006-may-aug.html#05%20June%20...

Done. You go on record that it’s sometimes ok to fuck children you’re gonna have a bad time. Full stop. Who gives a shit that the Minsky comment got misquoted or whatever, he has worse shit on his website. Why is this a conversation?

Re: In Defense of Richard Stallman

#455
post #171
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. If Stallman was a charming, charismatic, handsome guy with a square jaw and good hair the whole conversation would probably have a different lens placed on it.

Hot, charming people get away with things that ugly awkward people don't. However, the lesson to be drawn from this isn't that it's ok to do those things. Rather, it's that life is unfair.

> the lesson to be drawn from this isn't that it's ok to do those things

if it's OK for the charming, suave guy to do it, then the issue exists at the "victim", not the "perpetrator".

Rule of law is meant to make life more fair, and this isn't a lesson, but it is something for society to improve on.

Re: In Defense of Richard Stallman

#456
post #232
post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spot on. You have just outlined the double-speak of the SV technocracy, which have imposed these hidden codes on those that they disagree with. Mind you that the media has now amplified this and have used all of this to create a new enemy called Richard Stallman. As long as this appalling cancel-culture behaviour stops, he certainly won't be the last one to fall victim to these purity tests. Absolutely hypocritical i…

from reading just this comment, i would have assumed that stallman was stripped of all his land and titles and made to starve under a bridge. what really happened was that he went from holding leadership positions in three prominent institutions to just one. it's easy to have strong feelings about these issues, but let's try to keep things in perspective.

He was fired for taking an unpopular stance about a very subjective topic in a private mailing list. He isn't a law maker or a sociologist. He is a technologist. He isn't obliged to have a socially correct opinion.

You are right. Let's try to keep things in perspective.

Re: In Defense of Richard Stallman

#457
post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well there were also those posts about having sex with children sometimes being quite fine. Edit: The downvotes are interesting given that this is how Stallman himself characterized those posts: "Many years ago I posted that I could not see anything wrong about sex between an adult and a child, if the child accepted it."

Not trying to be pedantic, but we're not exactly talking about children here. I believe the girl was 17 and probably gave the impression (when put in a group with other girls) to be older. And 17 is not illegal in most countries, so morally that age by itself is and should not be a major issue.

[deleted]

Re: In Defense of Richard Stallman

#458

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If it's enough to distance people, maybe they're not a great candidate for a leader. Isn't the whole point of a 'leader' that they challenge the status quo not bite their tongue to follow it?

The point of a leader is that they do/present something that gathers followers. If the followers say "no, that's not ok", they're by definition not a good leader anymore (or not for that group of people - RMS can definitely create an FSF clone with people who accept him). There's lots of leaders who love the status quo and organise people around it. No challenging needed. (for example priests being leaders for a smal…

a minority of followers didn't like what RMS did (from what i hear). Do we now aim to please every body, even if it means removing the awkward visionaries that would've otherwise have contributed more, and replace them with crowd-pleasing socialites that navigate people gracefully?

Re: In Defense of Richard Stallman

#459

Earlier quoted context omitted.

my last comment is a good jumping off point https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21113873 I might have to add a bunch of sources since we seem to have a lot of people in denial. The responses to the Medium article are... not nice.

Thanks for the link. It's interesting start. But it doesn't show me a predator as I expect at the end of sexual assault accusations. It shows more of a sad lonely guy, that's probably sometimes annoying and is not welcome by people. This date-suicide thing is still abusive, but on very personal and not even ethical level. Not sure if it should involve some organization in any way. It's a bit hard now to figure out wh…

That's a thing that often is misunderstood: Intent is not required to be a cultural detriment.

RMS still refuses to take any sort of criticism, even now.

People refuse to see the problem in this very thread.

That is what's wrong with tech. Not wanting to see the problem.

Re: In Defense of Richard Stallman

#460
post #271

Thank you for that article!! It's a shame what a piss-poor narrow-minded society 'the west' has become...

> narrow-minded society "don't defend the rape of children" isn't narrow minded.

For me what you write is hyperbole and such a loose application of 'rape of children' belittles a 'real' rape. It also kills discourse: if you risk such a toxic label (and thousand times multiplied by social media) you be quiet in future. There the society goes...
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