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Richard M. Stallman resigns

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Re: Richard M. Stallman resigns

#251

Post by methehack »

mkeedlinger wrote: post #239

There are so many judgements on both sides, both in these comments and in the articles on the subject that have been submitted, but very little quoting of what he said in context. Where can I find what he said? Why is everyone talking about what he meant without quoting what he said so I can decide what makes sense for myself?

I agree it's very confusing and to me sudden. Here are a couple of links to get you started anyway:

vice article summary: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/9ke3ke/famed-computer-sci...

which has a link to this blog post (which is somehow central): https://medium.com/@selamie/remove-richard-stallman-fec6ec21...

Doesn't anyone sleep on anything any more?

Re: Richard M. Stallman resigns

#252

Post by bad_user »

naringas wrote: post #114

it's rather interesting how all the information technology (social media, etc...) is slowly moving our culture towards increasing self-censorship. One has to have the right opinion or stay quiet. Having the wrong opinion about certain topics is getting more expensive. Stay away from taboos or else... never mind the fact that what we regard as wrong changes across different societies over time. Weirdly all the informa…

This has nothing to do with technology.

If you start expressing opinions about how sex with a sex-trafficked child should be legal, won't your friends and family raise some questions about your character?

Unless we're talking of morally flexible individuals. And at least parents should raise an eyebrow, since we have this natural reaction to protect our children.

> information wants to be free

Whomever said that was probably thinking of facts, of knowledge, s/he was probably not thinking of having opinions about pedophiles.

EDIT: don't get me wrong, I think there's a time and place to argue that consensual sex with teenagers might be ok and I think people should be free to make that argument, the problem in this case is that the sex couldn't have been consensual, in which case age becomes relevant, as that teenager isn't fully developed, therefore the harm done is amplified.

And also these opinions have been delivered by a very public figure, with a history of harassing women.

Words matter so the lesson here is don't be a jerk, as technology won't save you from that.

Re: Richard M. Stallman resigns

#253

Post by UncleMeat »

topmonk wrote: post #235
esotericn wrote: post #13

C-x C-c. Thank you for bringing the FSF into the world, Richard. Whatever comes out of this and whatever comes next, your philosophy on software freedom has influenced us in innumerable ways.

"C-x C-c" should become a new rallying cry for valuing technological ability over political beliefs.

And what of all of the qualified developers who are excluded from the community by ignorant or bigoted people in positions of power? What of their technological ability?

Re: Richard M. Stallman resigns

#254

Post by xlii »

I, as many others, never personally liked Dr. Stallman and didn’t agreed with many of his views.

That being said, the way that that happened is absolutely terrifying. Fact, that people rather crucify someone instead of argue, explain or prove him wrong is the sign of our times.

End of free speech is here. It’s free only if it doesn’t offend group powerful enough to destroy you, and it’s narrowing every single day. We’ve seen many instances of this happening both on personal, unpopular views and gossips and false accusations.

Want to keep your career? Best you can do is to steer out of the social media and don’t share your thoughts with anyone. Not only controversial ones, because what might not be controversial now, might be controversial in 10 years, and you will suffer because of it.

Re: Richard M. Stallman resigns

#255

Post by [deleted] »

naringas wrote: post #114

it's rather interesting how all the information technology (social media, etc...) is slowly moving our culture towards increasing self-censorship. One has to have the right opinion or stay quiet. Having the wrong opinion about certain topics is getting more expensive. Stay away from taboos or else... never mind the fact that what we regard as wrong changes across different societies over time. Weirdly all the informa…

[deleted]

Re: Richard M. Stallman resigns

#257

Post by mistersquid »

robocat wrote: post #207
noelsusman wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Saying we wouldn't have anyone left in power of they were held up to this standard seems more damning to our current power structure than the moral standard at play here

The underlying moral story of all this is: 1. If you are attacked by the media, you will lose in the court of public opinion (I expect we wouldn't know about this at all except for the egregiously misleading "news" headlines). 2. Never ever discuss toxic topics (particularly if you are either a little odd, or politically weak). 3. If you publically question anything about a witch hunt, you too will be branded as a wi…

Your garden-variety human being with even the slightest social wherewithal would know better than to say some of Epstein’s victims were “entirely willing”.

This is not the fault of the media looking for witches to hunt. This is the result of a massively intelligent man deciding to spit into the political wind.

Re: Richard M. Stallman resigns

#258

Post by [deleted] »

topmonk wrote: post #235
esotericn wrote: post #13

C-x C-c. Thank you for bringing the FSF into the world, Richard. Whatever comes out of this and whatever comes next, your philosophy on software freedom has influenced us in innumerable ways.

"C-x C-c" should become a new rallying cry for valuing technological ability over political beliefs.

[deleted]

Re: Richard M. Stallman resigns

#259

Post by throw_away_zyx »

bad_user wrote: post #252
naringas wrote: post #114

it's rather interesting how all the information technology (social media, etc...) is slowly moving our culture towards increasing self-censorship. One has to have the right opinion or stay quiet. Having the wrong opinion about certain topics is getting more expensive. Stay away from taboos or else... never mind the fact that what we regard as wrong changes across different societies over time. Weirdly all the informa…

This has nothing to do with technology. If you start expressing opinions about how sex with a sex-trafficked child should be legal, won't your friends and family raise some questions about your character? Unless we're talking of morally flexible individuals. And at least parents should raise an eyebrow, since we have this natural reaction to protect our children. > information wants to be free Whomever said that was…

>If you start expressing opinions about how sex with a sex-trafficked child should be legal, won't your friends and family raise some questions about your character?

In a civilized world you would be sued for libel for saying that.

I look forward to someone making a startup doing just that.

Re: Richard M. Stallman resigns

#260

Post by flukus »

oefrha wrote: post #182
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…

> It sets a precedent that will absolutely lead to self-censorship on a topic that really requires the disinfecting power of sunshine. This incident doesn't change anything since much more chilling precedents have been set so many times before. RMS's position is way too extreme here, 99.9% of people would probably find it despicable. Meanwhile, lives (including at least one Nobel laureate's) have been destroyed for c…

> This incident doesn't change anything since much more chilling precedents have been set so many times before

Your not wrong, but in this case he is 2 degrees of separation away from someone that we know was guilty. It feels like the witch hunting has moved onto those who are guilty by association.

> RMS's position is way too extreme here, 99.9% of people would probably find it despicable.

Quite a lot of us live in a world where what Minsky did would not be considered statutory rape, so presumably they wouldn't find it despicable (if we ignore potential sex trafficking): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_consent#/media/File:Age...

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