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

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

#41

Post by mlevental »

topmonk wrote: post #10
menotyou43 wrote: post #3

Umm.... absolutely not. These quotes (directly from his site) beg to differ: > “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 par…

>> Richard Stallman Has Been Vilified by Those Who Don’t Know Him > Umm.... absolutely not. These quotes (directly from his site) beg to differ: Do you know him? Aren't you vilifying him? Having an unpopular opinion isn't grounds for "proper judgement" of being constantly harassed by a mob every time his name is brought up.

>Having an unpopular opinion isn't grounds for "proper judgement"

why? i don't understand this. if he's entitled to his unpopular opinions why in the world isn't everyone else held to the same standard? i'm entitled to my unpopular opinion (at least on hn) that he's a socially inept idiot who shouldn't be in a public facing position. will i be spared downvotes and a slew of responses harassing me? i doubt it (it's already happened twice).

this has literally always been in the court of public opinion because guess what? he's not an engineer and we're not assessing the quality of his work here - we're assessing his ability to be a public persona.

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

#42

Post by fao_ »

falcolas wrote: post #36
menotyou43 wrote: post #3

Umm.... absolutely not. These quotes (directly from his site) beg to differ: > “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 par…

When were those posted? That they (and other similar comments) suddenly appearing out of nowhere makes me question their veracity. They represent a broader point of view - a set of values - that are quite distinct from the views that have been presented before.

> That they (and other similar comments) suddenly appearing out of nowhere makes me question their veracity.

They've been on his site for over decade, certainly longer than I've been a programmer (>8 years)

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

#43

Post by Pfhreak »

Dude has gone out of his way to make other people uncomfortable. I use singular they for my pronouns. He's so bothered by this that he goes out of his way to not only tell me I'm wrong for doing so, but to invent his own language for referring to folks who use gender neutral pronouns (which no one will understand, because it's not widely used).

I would certainly question whether I was welcome at an event where he was a speaker/key presenter. Even if I was told I was welcome, I suspect others would feel emboldened to antagonistically challenge my pronouns. To me, it makes sense that if he's causing people to consider not attending events or signing up for his causes, then he's maybe not the right 'perse' for the job.

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

#44

Post by [deleted] »

confidantlake wrote: post #31
menotyou43 wrote: post #3

Umm.... absolutely not. These quotes (directly from his site) beg to differ: > “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 par…

Hasn't he since changed his mind about those things and apologized for it? If someone believes something bad, gets educated, and changes their point of view, isn't that a good thing?

[deleted]

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

#45

Post by WillPostForFood »

TomVDB wrote: post #27
WillPostForFood wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this different than police planting evidence on a known bad guy and saying, well he was a criminal anyway so who cares, justice was done by putting him in jail with falsified evidence. As long as you get what your deserve, process is irrelevant.

One is a criminal investigation where evidence is planted. The other is not.

What got Stallman taken down was a false claim that he said Epstein's victims were "willing". That was totally a lie, and the equivalent of planting evidence.

"Famed Computer Scientist Richard Stallman Described Epstein Victims As 'Entirely Willing'."

https://archive.is/RVpdd

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

#46

Post by WillPostForFood »

houssc wrote: post #28
WillPostForFood wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this different than police planting evidence on a known bad guy and saying, well he was a criminal anyway so who cares, justice was done by putting him in jail with falsified evidence. As long as you get what your deserve, process is irrelevant.

Was something planted in Stallman's case? Blowing his quotes out of proportion isn't the same thing as planting evidence. I suppose a better analogy is being on your second strike and doing some minor crime to get your third. Some would argue people on two strikes should keep their head down. Furthermore his quotes are pretty fucking creepy.

Twisting a quote into a different meaning is a lie, and pretty similar to planting evidence. You are saying two strikes, and then we have license to make up a third to take you out.

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

#47

Post by olliej »

No, he has been widely reported for decades that he behaved unprofessionally, and harassed women who worked with him.

That it took him publicly taking the position that child sex work was acceptable is the problem - his long history should have got him fired decades ago.

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

#48

Post by [deleted] »

chasing wrote: post #39

> He takes everything literally and doesn’t necessarily take feelings and the reactions of others into account when making statements that are outside the bounds of his expertise in free software. Whelp, then no one should be that surprised when people stop taking his feelings into account and decide they no longer want to be associated with him. Not being an asshole is a two-way street.

[deleted]

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

#49

Post by olliej »

iamleppert wrote: post #29

It’s awful to see people come out of the woodwork to try and defend him. Who is Sylvia Paull? I wonder if her major clients would like to know that she is a supporter of someone who condones rape? In one breath she says she disagrees with it and the next she’s defending him. Crazy!

She’s a publicist “friend”

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

#50

Post by mr_woozy »

Pfhreak wrote: post #43

Dude has gone out of his way to make other people uncomfortable. I use singular they for my pronouns. He's so bothered by this that he goes out of his way to not only tell me I'm wrong for doing so, but to invent his own language for referring to folks who use gender neutral pronouns (which no one will understand, because it's not widely used). I would certainly question whether I was welcome at an event where he was…

I feel emboldened to antagonistically challenge your pronouns right now, and I barely know you.
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