Richard Stallman Has Been Vilified by Those Who Don’t Know Him

Richard Stallman Has Been Vilified by Those Who Don’t Know Him
medium.com

> “I am sceptical of the claim that voluntarily pedophilia harms children. The arguments that it causes harm seem to be based on cases which aren’t voluntary, which are then stretched by parents who are horrified by the idea that their little baby is maturing.”

> “There is little evidence to justify the widespread assumption that willing participation in pedophilia hurts children. Granted, children may not dare say no to an older relative, or may not realise they could say no; in that case, even if they do not overtly object, the relationship may still feel imposed to them. That’s not willing participation, it’s imposed participation, a different issue.”

RMS isn't being "vilified," he's facing proper judgment for the stupid, ignorant, and disgusting things he's said.

While he obviously has had a long relationship with Stallman, one of his key takeaways was:

"RMS’s loss of MIT privileges and leadership of the FSF are the appropriate responses to a pattern of decades of poor behavior. It does not matter if they are appropriate responses to a single email thread, because they are the right thing in the total situation."

Which I think is very well said. So while Paull's assessment that people's reaction to some email quotes is out-of-proportion, this is really just the proverbial straw on the back of the camel.

[0] https://medium.com/@thomas.bushnell/a-reflection-on-the-depa...