Earlier quoted context omitted.
What did he do to them? Touch their hands? Look at them wrongly?
This comment is Peak HN 2021.
Crap missed it (flagged now)
An open letter in support of RMS being reinstated by the FSF
31–40 of 120 posts
Re: An open letter in support of RMS being reinstated by the FSF
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
I find it hard to support a guy that says stuff like this: "There is a perverse movement among women to think that they should carry fetuses with Downs' syndrome to term, rather than abort them and try again. ... Next, people will take thalidomide to demonstrate how they can love babies born without limbs." - RMS
You are, of course, free to choose who to support. Does "support RMS being on the FSF board for life" mean supporting him on everything he says, or even suggest supporting him for this quote?
> Does "support RMS being on the FSF board for life" mean supporting him on everything he says
Of course not.
I just say that I understand if people would not like no associate with him.
Re: An open letter in support of RMS being reinstated by the FSF
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
I find it hard to support a guy that says stuff like this: "There is a perverse movement among women to think that they should carry fetuses with Downs' syndrome to term, rather than abort them and try again. ... Next, people will take thalidomide to demonstrate how they can love babies born without limbs." - RMS
What does this have to do with his tenure on the FSF?
[deleted]
Re: An open letter in support of RMS being reinstated by the FSF
#34What's going on with the stained glass/haloe deification of RMS in the profile photo? That alone turns me off from even reading the letter. Its visible in the HN RSS entry and on the main page: https://github.com/rms-support-letter
Re: An open letter in support of RMS being reinstated by the FSF
#35As little as I like to do this, I think it's important to bring up the "autism" topic, because I see way too many autistic programmers being thrown under the bus for stuff like this. To start, the three smartest programmers I personally know are autistic, and all of them struggle to make sound judgement calls at the drop of a hat. I've seen them lambasted in IRC channels for saying stupid things or slipping up a func…
https://dev.to/baweaver/the-myth-of-the-autistic-jerk-3kjl
I agree with a lot of the stuff being said here, but it's entirely tangential to what I talked about. Our "cancel culture" is more focused on zooming-in on the minutia than the big-picture. I love my autistic friends, and never once would I describe their behavior as mean-spirited or "jerk-like". I treat them with patient respect, and they reciprocate the sentiment. I personally know that 2 of those 3 friends love RMS (haven't asked the third :p), and I fail to see what harm he can cause by rejoining the board. Stallman envisioned a free world, where people can communicate openly and without censorship. When people try to silence him, they're only showing how little they understand his goals. You can love him, you can hate him, but you can never stop him. I personally disagree with many of his opinions, but I fully support him coming back to the FSF. Richard Stallman embodies freedom, so he belongs there, regardless of his political or personal opinions.
Re: An open letter in support of RMS being reinstated by the FSF
#36As little as I like to do this, I think it's important to bring up the "autism" topic, because I see way too many autistic programmers being thrown under the bus for stuff like this. To start, the three smartest programmers I personally know are autistic, and all of them struggle to make sound judgement calls at the drop of a hat. I've seen them lambasted in IRC channels for saying stupid things or slipping up a func…
https://dev.to/baweaver/the-myth-of-the-autistic-jerk-3kjl
"If you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism." - Dr. Stephen Shore
Re: An open letter in support of RMS being reinstated by the FSF
#37What's going on with the stained glass/haloe deification of RMS in the profile photo? That alone turns me off from even reading the letter. Its visible in the HN RSS entry and on the main page: https://github.com/rms-support-letter
It's from Stallman himself: https://stallman.org/saint.html
Re: An open letter in support of RMS being reinstated by the FSF
#38What's going on with the stained glass/haloe deification of RMS in the profile photo? That alone turns me off from even reading the letter. Its visible in the HN RSS entry and on the main page: https://github.com/rms-support-letter
It's reminiscent of the /g/ sticky, but I think the image macro goes back much further than that.
Re: An open letter in support of RMS being reinstated by the FSF
#39I do love to see people come out with a public statement that says "We believe that a guy who, in public meetings, representing his organization, picks toe cheese from between his toes and consumes it in front of people, is absolutely the right leader for us! We believe that a guy who showers once or twice per year is the best public face for us. Out of all the billions of people on Earth, he's the one!"
Takes guts to make a statement like that. Bravo.
Here's a link about Stallman for the many HN readers who obviously don't know anything about the guy. I urge you to read it before forming your opinion about "cancel culture".
https://daringfireball.net/2019/09/richard_stallmans_disgrac...
Re: An open letter in support of RMS being reinstated by the FSF
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
I find it hard to support a guy that says stuff like this: "There is a perverse movement among women to think that they should carry fetuses with Downs' syndrome to term, rather than abort them and try again. ... Next, people will take thalidomide to demonstrate how they can love babies born without limbs." - RMS
What does this have to do with his tenure on the FSF?
Libre software, if it ever becomes the societal norm, is revolutionary in the traditional meaning of that word - turning over the societal order (vs. smartphones which haven't changed the existing societal order much at all), and if you are seeking to create a societal revolution, the words and actions of your leadership matter beyond the immediate domain of your movement.
RMS may not have much in terms of money, but he has a lot of influence due to his stature in the libre software movement, and with influence comes responsibility and accountability to those in the movement he started.