31–40 of 376 posts
I personally don't like the guy, but to take away his views for the people that were genuinely interested was cowardly.
We live in a new age, where we can know a lot more about the personal lives of famous people. Decades ago, the problematic personalities of famous people were hidden by the gate keepers. JKF benefited from this. It would be nice if there was a more uniform way to handle situations like this. RMS isn't alone, in being accused of unsavory things. Should we shun Bill Gates because of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstei…
> Should we shun Bill Gates because of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein? In my opinion, yes, absolutely.
Bill Gates had bonds with Epstein. His multi decade marriage fell after the fact became public. He didn't get 1% the flak that Stallman had for commenting about a word to describe Marvin Minsky.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman#Controversies probably covers it I'm guessing.
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Someone researching the science of attraction in humans could very well be justified in saying "it is normal for adults to be physically attracted to adolescents".
Someone commenting in apparent defense of a convicted sex offender should not make that exact same claim, whether factually correct or not.
Bill Gates had bonds with Epstein. His multi decade marriage fell after the fact became public. He didn't get 1% the flak that Stallman had for commenting about a word to describe Marvin Minsky.
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The difference is probably that Stallman has no money or power, so he's an easy, safe target to attack.
We live in a new age, where we can know a lot more about the personal lives of famous people. Decades ago, the problematic personalities of famous people were hidden by the gate keepers. JKF benefited from this. It would be nice if there was a more uniform way to handle situations like this. RMS isn't alone, in being accused of unsavory things. Should we shun Bill Gates because of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstei…
> Should we shun Bill Gates because of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein? In my opinion, yes, absolutely.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Should we shun Bill Gates because of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein? In my opinion, yes, absolutely.
Have you or anyone else been able to confirm the relationship was what you imply it was, or are you advocating guilt by association?
It is well-known that Gates continued to associate with Epstein after the latter was convicted of procuring a child for prostitution. There doesn't really need to be anything else to the story in my opinion.
(Editing to be clearer: I don't think he is guilty of Epstein's crimes by association. I think he is guilty of associating with Epstein while being aware of some of his horrible crimes. I'm not saying he needs to be locked up over this, just that I don't trust him, and I question the judgment of people who do.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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There are many factually accurate statements that are, nevertheless, inappropriate to wildly inappropriate under the circumstances. I have personally interacted with rms decades ago and have a generally positive impression of his entire body of contributions to computing. Nevertheless, reading the controversies section on the wikipedia page induces a combination of cringing and face-palming. Someone researching the s…