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Richard M. Stallman resigns

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Re: Richard M. Stallman resigns

#121

Post by RoutinePlayer »

aazaa wrote: post #14

I've seen some online cheering Stallman's resignation from MIT. I suspect they'll also be cheering about this resignation as well. But this is nothing to cheer about. Regardless of what low regard the man might be held as a person, he's being persecuted for having expressing ideas, demanding proof of claims, advocating for objective standards, and asking questions. These are all hallmarks of scientific inquiry. It se…

I want to agree with you in some aspects of this, but the history of this topic has been so severely lopsided that the current cleansing was due and is helping. As a man, I can only imagine the shit women put up with on a daily basis.

Re: Richard M. Stallman resigns

#122

Post by equalunique »

sp332 wrote: post #69
iamnothere wrote: post #43

RMS was defending Minsky, awkwardly. As someone who has a history of social awkwardness, he should be forgiven for this. He's been a good steward of the FSF, which has doing important work in the service of free (read: non-backdoored) hardware lately. I know there are good people still at the FSF, but I can only hope they are as incorruptible and dogged as RMS. The way this attack came suddenly out of the depths make…

Forgiving someone doesn't mean letting them keep positions of power or avoid accountability.

accountability == forfiture of your life's legacy? That's an alarming line of thinking.

Re: Richard M. Stallman resigns

#123

Post by gkoberger »

hristov wrote: post #47

I think it is unfair to hound him over his latest statement about sexual assault. He is absolutely right that the term sexual assault includes actions that are so different that it can be used to unfairly destroy people's reputation. And if you are going to call someone a monster, it is better to more precisely define what type of sexual assault he did. I myself was sexually assaulted some time ago. I was in an ordin…

If he wrote that, he'd likely still have a job. But that's not what he wrote. He took it too far.

Re: Richard M. Stallman resigns

#124

Post by mikeash »

scrollaway wrote: post #96
mikeash wrote: post #61

I’m allowed to criticize him after reading what he actually wrote, right? Because I did and came away from it with the conclusion that he’s evil and shouldn’t be anywhere near anything resembling a leadership position.

He is many things, and shouldn't have been in a leadership position for a long time, but he is definitely not evil. I have a hard time even imagining how you reach the conclusion that he might be evil. Even the worst out of context headlines on his recent quotes just put him in the "gross" category. I say this, and I'm very glad he stepped down. I've argued for years that he should have stepped down a long time ago.

Evil is fundamentally a lack of empathy and I see no empathy from this man. He’s not a cackling crazy Hitler figure, but he seems to have a difficult time figuring out just what the problem is with having sex with children and with child slaves, and chooses to dedicate a great deal of mental energy defending the more powerful people in this scenario.

Re: Richard M. Stallman resigns

#125

Post by dropit_sphere »

rosser wrote: post #97

I find the volume of the noise being made over whether or not the "entirely willing" bit was quoted out of context by the media for sensationalist purposes — which it 100% was — quite curious. To me, the place Stallman screwed up was in trying to quibble over terms in defense of a man who we have reason to believe had sex with an woman of an age in a jurisdiction where that might have constituted rape. Because that's…

>Stallman quibbled over the definition of rape.

Hell yes he did. Wouldn't you? If I made my own country where "rape" was defined as "sex without first doing twenty jumping jacks," wouldn't you "quibble"?

>everyone admits knowingly slept with an woman of an age in a jurisdiction where that constituted rape.

So what? I drove 37 in a 35 today, who cares? You can't outsource your morality to the legal system like that.

If Minsky did something bad, say he did something bad. But don't launder your outrage through the VI's laws.

Re: Richard M. Stallman resigns

#126

Post by typon »

This is actually the best outcome for the FSF. Unwittingly, the FSF might now need to find a leader who isn't a known weirdo/creep who's "genius" people merely tolerate. This might be the best news for FSF fans like me.

Re: Richard M. Stallman resigns

#128

Post by ezoe »

RMS's definition of pedophile doesn't include people who feel sexuall attraction on person who has puberty and is sexual maturity.

I think that's a fair definition.

He also argues that 17 years old has ability to consent.

Since I'm from a country of consent age of 13 years, I agree.

RMS don't encourage to violate the law, merely presenting the opinion. This opinion isn't blaming certain group like James Watson and his comment on race and intelligence.

I guess some people aren't civil enough to discuss theoretical problems.

Re: Richard M. Stallman resigns

#129

Post by Cogito »

jakelazaroff wrote: post #98
aazaa wrote: post #14

I've seen some online cheering Stallman's resignation from MIT. I suspect they'll also be cheering about this resignation as well. But this is nothing to cheer about. Regardless of what low regard the man might be held as a person, he's being persecuted for having expressing ideas, demanding proof of claims, advocating for objective standards, and asking questions. These are all hallmarks of scientific inquiry. It se…

Here's a direct quote from one of his recent emails: > “I think it is morally absurd to define “rape” in a way that depends on minor details such as which country it was in or whether the victim was 18 years old or 17.” Is this really a topic that "requires the disinfecting power of sunshine"? Do we really think we've gotten the topic of statutory rape so wrong that we need to rethink it from first principles?

His point, as far as I can tell, is that in different countries legally define rape in different ways, but that shouldn't change what we find morally wrong.

To extend on what I think he is saying, he thinks it should be possible to say a thing was morally wrong regardless of which country it happened in.

If we're discussing if we think a person did something morally wrong, I'd rather talk about why we think that rather than pointing out there is a law against it (especially when the laws are different in different places).

Re: Richard M. Stallman resigns

#130

Post by idlewords »

aazaa wrote: post #14

I've seen some online cheering Stallman's resignation from MIT. I suspect they'll also be cheering about this resignation as well. But this is nothing to cheer about. Regardless of what low regard the man might be held as a person, he's being persecuted for having expressing ideas, demanding proof of claims, advocating for objective standards, and asking questions. These are all hallmarks of scientific inquiry. It se…

He's being pushed out for decades of being creepy, and especially so to women. At some point you have to say "enough", and that point is always going to look somewhat arbitrary. It's too bad MIT had to wait so very long to do this.
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