The fact that one is neuro-atypical doesn't mean one cannot also be an asshole. RMS was both, and people finally got fed up with the latter bit.
Richard Stallman Has Been Vilified by Those Who Don’t Know Him
61–70 of 580 posts
Re: Richard Stallman Has Been Vilified by Those Who Don’t Know Him
#62I think what this comes down to is pretty simple. Does Richard Stallman make women at MIT uncomfortable?
If yes, then Richard Stallman shouldn't be a leader at MIT.
Re: Richard Stallman Has Been Vilified by Those Who Don’t Know Him
#63Dude 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 don't understand why his pronoun scheme is antagonistic. He still respects that you want gender neutral pronouns, he just won't use they because he thinks they has a standard plural meaning.
I don't understand why people have an obligation to use "they" specifically as long as they respect the gender neutral concept.
Re: Richard Stallman Has Been Vilified by Those Who Don’t Know Him
#64Earlier 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.
It's called "libel".
Re: Richard Stallman Has Been Vilified by Those Who Don’t Know Him
#65> 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.
He’s autistic. Suddenly the people who were annoyingly vocal about being “inclusive” are forgetting Stallman’s disability. He says “creepy” things because he doesn’t understand social cues or casual communication at a certain level. Everyone in this thread demonizing RMS should be ashamed of themselves. This is the same reason why he can’t hold a relationship, or why he sleeps in his office. He’s just far out there - This doesn’t take anything away from his hard work, his genius, or his dedication. He never had a chance. People look at the “evidence”, but refuse to look at it with the proper context.
Re: Richard Stallman Has Been Vilified by Those Who Don’t Know Him
#66Umm.... 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.
Stallman.org:
> 05 June 2006 (Dutch paedophiles form political party)
> Dutch pedophiles have formed a political party to campaign for legalization.
> [Reference updated on 2018-04-25 because the old link was broken.]
> I am skeptical 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.
https://www.stallman.org/archives/2006-mar-jun.html#05%20Jun...
> 04 January 2013 (Pedophilia)
> 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 realize 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.
http://stallman.org/archives/2012-nov-feb.html#04_January_20... / https://stallman.org/archives/2013-jan-apr.html#04_January_2...
(Note the site is currently being _very_ slow to load, so the second one is quoted from the most recent Internet Archive)
Re: Richard Stallman Has Been Vilified by Those Who Don’t Know Him
#67If you read the article she notes that the infamous "hot ladies" photo was the result of someone else writing and then snapping that shot of his office door.
People only see what they want to see. I see a bunch of people beating up on and attacking an awkward "nerd". It reminds me of high school.
Re: Richard Stallman Has Been Vilified by Those Who Don’t Know Him
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
there's a large contingent of people on hn (in tech, in the world) that fetishize "logic" and believe it always trumps "feelings". i put both in quotes because to this contingent both of those concepts have absolutely zero relation to their actual form. i too used to be quite fond of making completely dispassionate arguments about controversial things (race, gender, class, etc.) because i believed that the entire con…
I think you summed it up really well, but reached the wrong conclusion. Who cares who is entitled to Palestine? It's a boring and pointless problem to try and solve. People who are interested in spending their lives productively are understandably fed up with others who want to squabble over their pointless feelings that contribute nothing to society.
>Who cares who is entitled to Palestine?
~5 million people. how can you be so blithe as to completely discount the existence/experience of that many people. i challenge you to empathize with someone living there. truly imagine it and then tell me it's completely trivial.
Re: Richard Stallman Has Been Vilified by Those Who Don’t Know Him
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
there's a large contingent of people on hn (in tech, in the world) that fetishize "logic" and believe it always trumps "feelings". i put both in quotes because to this contingent both of those concepts have absolutely zero relation to their actual form. i too used to be quite fond of making completely dispassionate arguments about controversial things (race, gender, class, etc.) because i believed that the entire con…
I think you summed it up really well, but reached the wrong conclusion. Who cares who is entitled to Palestine? It's a boring and pointless problem to try and solve. People who are interested in spending their lives productively are understandably fed up with others who want to squabble over their pointless feelings that contribute nothing to society.
As someone with friends and family personally impacted by that conflict, I’d wager quite a few people care and think that resolving that geopolitical issue is very contributive to society.
Re: Richard Stallman Has Been Vilified by Those Who Don’t Know Him
#70> 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.
He’s autistic. Suddenly the people who were annoyingly vocal about being “inclusive” are forgetting Stallman’s disability. He says “creepy” things because he doesn’t understand social cues or casual communication at a certain level. Everyone in this thread demonizing RMS should be ashamed of themselves. This is the same reason why he can’t hold a relationship, or why he sleeps in his office. He’s just far out there -…
>He’s autistic.
this is literally the "we need better mental health facilities because of gun violence" argument. the vast majority of autistic people do not behave like stallman. it's not a pass. if he's so fucking smart why didn't he figure out how to comport himself better amongst the normies?