Yes, but will he step down from his role with the Free Software Foundation? I'm more concerned about that, since that's a more public-facing role.
Richard Stallman resigns from CSAIL at MIT
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Re: Richard Stallman resigns from CSAIL at MIT
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
I didn’t follow the story. Was Stallman taken out of context? Anyway, he probably should have know better than to weigh in. One’s well thought out response and subtle points can often turn out to have a few holes. In fact... “If one would give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest man, I would find something in them to have him hanged”
> Anyway, he probably should have know better than to weigh in. RMS is not exactly famous for his keen social skills.
It really seems like his real 'sin' is not being neurotypical.
Should he try to have more tact? Sure, of course. But failing that, the correct response is compassion and gentle correction, not a witchhunt. Not driving him out of his jobs.
Re: Richard Stallman resigns from CSAIL at MIT
#13This is how you destroy an institution. Now a politically correct person will take his place, likely a young women. She will increase equality and participation, and also those nerd computey things. Funny this is not happening everywhere, just in the west. Makes you think.
Yes, I am sure this will destroy an institution with a $16,000,000,000 endowment.
Perhaps you should step up, donate, give them a comfortable nest egg so they don’t feel the need to take donations from a convicted sex offender. They are obviously that hard up for cash.
Re: Richard Stallman resigns from CSAIL at MIT
#14That's a bummer. All of the articles talking about how MIT SCIENTIST DEFENDS EPSTEIN'S CHILD RAPE RING were incredibly misleading and taking his quotes ridiculously out of context.
That’s definitely true. But I think the big problem for him is that his comments were quite troubling even in proper context.
Which ones were troubling? I don't see anything that stands out on the page linked.
Re: Richard Stallman resigns from CSAIL at MIT
#15Finally being seen for the jackass that he is.
Re: Richard Stallman resigns from CSAIL at MIT
#16Is anyone else baffled by the idea that discussing something on an intellectual level, even related to a person, has to somehow be a 'defense' or an 'offense'?
I've spent basically my entire life discussing things in the abstract. I'm not a politician, I don't make laws, and frankly I wouldn't want that power.
To me it makes absolute sense that someone would attempt to "defend" even the most heinous person. It's weird to me that being considered a "defender of X" could even be a bad thing. That's the process by which we collectively make decisions, it's the basis behind stuff like fair trials for example; the lawyer acting for a defendant is not a bad person. It's what (rational) individuals do when they make decisions - even some of the most obviously correct ones - take the opposing side and see where it leads.
It doesn't seem to be limited to this case - I don't know if it's a recent thing, having mostly come of age post-Internet. It's just like, really weird. Amongst my real-life friendship groups this sort of "hate mob" type stuff just doesn't exist, pretty much any topic is up for grabs.
Re: Richard Stallman resigns from CSAIL at MIT
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Anyway, he probably should have know better than to weigh in. RMS is not exactly famous for his keen social skills.
It really seems like his real 'sin' is not being neurotypical. Should he try to have more tact? Sure, of course. But failing that, the correct response is compassion and gentle correction, not a witchhunt. Not driving him out of his jobs.
I mean, this certainly isn't the first time that he's publicly said that he thinks "consenting pedophilia" is 100% fine, and it's not the first time that people have told him "Hey, don't say that, you're gonna get in trouble."
At a certain point it stops looking like ignorance and stubbornness and more like he's got a horse in the race.
Re: Richard Stallman resigns from CSAIL at MIT
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
That’s definitely true. But I think the big problem for him is that his comments were quite troubling even in proper context.
Which ones were troubling? I don't see anything that stands out on the page linked.
2006: https://www.stallman.org/archives/2006-may-aug.html#05%20Jun...
> 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.
2013: https://www.stallman.org/archives/2012-nov-feb.html#04_Janua...
> There is little evidence to justify the widespread assumption that willing participation in pedophilia hurts children.
Wading in with commentary on the Epstein case with those quotes on record is simply not a good look.
Re: Richard Stallman resigns from CSAIL at MIT
#19Related earlier post: > I want to respond to the misleading media coverage of messages I posted about Marvin Minsky's association with Jeffrey Epstein. The coverage totally mischaracterised my statements. > Headlines say that I defended Epstein. Nothing could be further from the truth. I've called him a "serial rapist", and said he deserved to be imprisoned. But many people now believe I defended him — and other inac…
I didn’t follow the story. Was Stallman taken out of context? Anyway, he probably should have know better than to weigh in. One’s well thought out response and subtle points can often turn out to have a few holes. In fact... “If one would give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest man, I would find something in them to have him hanged”
He was dancing on a tightrope. Whether or not his statements were taken out of context requires a mind-reader to intuit what exactly he, uh, meant by them.
It's not an interesting defense, and given his prior statements on the subject of statutory rape, I'm having a hard time taking it seriously.
Re: Richard Stallman resigns from CSAIL at MIT
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
It really seems like his real 'sin' is not being neurotypical. Should he try to have more tact? Sure, of course. But failing that, the correct response is compassion and gentle correction, not a witchhunt. Not driving him out of his jobs.
I mean, this certainly isn't the first time that he's publicly said that he thinks "consenting pedophilia" is 100% fine, and it's not the first time that people have told him "Hey, don't say that, you're gonna get in trouble." At a certain point it stops looking like ignorance and stubbornness and more like he's got a horse in the race.
You know he's also recanted that shit, right?
> and more like he's got a horse in the race.
Has the mob now progressed to insinuating that he's a pedophile himself? Is that what the 'horse in the race' idiom means in this context?