Earlier quoted context omitted.
The world has always seemed far ruder & far more off-base. In every circumstance. Linus isn't always a good role model for how to behave, but it is enormously relieving sometimes, in a world that feels batshit insane, to hear someone else processing-out-loud their strong reactions.
Most people prefer to be lied to by someone pleasant than have their stupidity accurately and bluntly laid bare. That's the short of it. I've never seen a Linus rant be a personal attack. Every time, he's pointing out that someone who ought to know better is being dangerously stupid to the detriment of a great many others. Some people take offence at this -- even if they're not the target of Linus' ire -- because the…
He called for someone to be 'retroactively aborted'.
> they mistakenly believe that everyone has the right to be treated nicely
Everyone should have the right to be treated reasonably nicely, even if they misbehave, unless there's some kind of threat to life or some other extreme that obviously never comes up in the context of software development.