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Richard M. Stallman resigns

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Re: Richard M. Stallman resigns

#541

Post by Barrin92 »

LaGrange wrote: post #480
nabla9 wrote: post #343

RMS has called himself "borderline autistic". His socially clueless black and white thinking makes it look like he is far in the spectrum. RMS is anal about meanings of terms and their use. That's not working well in the current climate where words carry perceived intent. I find myself agreeing with RMS with most of the terminology and its use in this case. Women who tell stories about him paint a picture of lonely s…

> RMS has called himself "borderline autistic". As someone actually autistic, he doesn't get to blame being a douchecanoe on being autistic. > His socially clueless black and white thinking makes it look like he is far in the spectrum. Then _learn_. Also, we're not talking about not getting social cues about when it's okay to start talking, we're talking his considered and repeated position on issues such as sexual a…

Sad to see that you're being downvoted. Richard Stallman's insane statements about child abuse have nothing to do with autism. The man has defended pedophilia and apparently also harassed women throughout his career. Absolutely disgusting behaviour that has nothing to do with being neuro-atypical.

Re: Richard M. Stallman resigns

#542

Post by AnnoyingSwede »

pjc50 wrote: post #458
mnm1 wrote: post #445

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is ridiculous in a culture that elected and continues to support an accused rapist to its highest office. If the highest office in the nation (and many others) can have such a scumbag without him being forced to resign, how can we expect someone in Stallman's position to be perfect and PC with his speech so idiots don't misunderstand his direct style of speech? Such hypocrisy, such bullshit, this argument is.

The President "should" also be forced to resign, but the power politics does not support that for a whole host of reasons. It's extraordinary to watch "Christian" evangelical moralists defend him, but in some ways that's the logical conclusion of their moral contortions.

Then again, if someone believes a man in the sky created the world in 6 days, claims the earth is 6000 years old, ... , what stops them from defending the POTUS? Why expect logic where no other logic seems to apply?

Re: Richard M. Stallman resigns

#543

Post by kelnos »

stevenjohns wrote: post #360
ryan_lane wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Find a few women who've met RMS and ask them about their experience. For years I've been hearing stories from women about RMS that paint a pretty clear picture, and if you look on twitter, there's a number of threads about his abusive behavior towards women. One example: people kept plants around because he hates plants and that made it less likely he'd come around to harass them. He's discussed his views on pedophil…

> He's discussed his views on pedophilia for a very long time, and this was just the latest on that Yes, he has. This is his view as of Friday[0]: > Many years ago I posted that I could not see anything wrong about sex between an adult and a child, if the child accepted it. > Through personal conversations in recent years, I've learned to understand how sex with a child can harm per psychologically. This changed my m…

The fact that he held the view that "voluntary pedophilia" is harmless for over 10 years, and only publicly recanted during this shitstorm is... not a good look, to say the least.

Re: Richard M. Stallman resigns

#544

Post by madmulita »

drcode wrote: post #512
kelnos wrote: post #490

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One has to have the right opinion or stay quiet. I don't really see how this is so hard. Don't treat women poorly, in person or online. Don't talk authoritatively about subjects you don't understand, especially when those subjects (like rape and human trafficking) cause people intense pain. If you really do want to act this way, then you probably should exercise some self-censorship, and rethink your views, perhaps…

> Don't talk authoritatively about subjects you don't understand No one is allowed to have an opinion unless they're an "expert" (Sarcasm)

You are right!

Maybe we should start an experts registry, so there is no confusion about who can speak.

Re: Richard M. Stallman resigns

#545

Post by Cacti »

marble-drink wrote: post #505

I'm so relieved to find that at least on hacker news people can still evaluate this situation with reason. Out there it's a witch hunt and Stallman is now a witch. RMS is a great man but sadly has difficulties communicating with the wider world. This has been true of many great minds throughout history. It's sad to see it happen to one of my own heroes but I believe history will do him justice if we continue to fight…

Do you really need a PR person to know that suggesting underage sex is OK is a risky topic of conversation? Like, come on. This isn’t a subtle mine field here, it’s not rocket science, and any adult, particularly someone as nominally smart as RMS, should be aware that suggesting 14 year old girls (particularly ones with a non-zero probability of being _trafficked_!!) engaging in sex with 60 year old men is a risky freaking topic.

I don’t approve of the current political climate (re: freedom of speech) but RMS is a grown man and he should know better. Not going to lose sleep over this one.

Re: Richard M. Stallman resigns

#546

Post by Faark »

noobermin wrote: post #511
kelnos wrote: post #490

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One has to have the right opinion or stay quiet. I don't really see how this is so hard. Don't treat women poorly, in person or online. Don't talk authoritatively about subjects you don't understand, especially when those subjects (like rape and human trafficking) cause people intense pain. If you really do want to act this way, then you probably should exercise some self-censorship, and rethink your views, perhaps…

How does one learn what is wrong unless they speak out? You have to give people room to grow and forgive them when they fail.

Yes, people have to grow to not be stupid assholes. On the other side, if people think you're a stupid asshole, they should be allowed to cut off contact.

Thus you probably want to avoid growing in the only global circle we have. With smaller circles, getting cut off (as always has happened) is less of big deal.

In a similar vein, I'm fine with scientists exploring "IQ of the races" in their work. But going on a podcast and sharing that with a more general audience while not understanding its role in broader society while washing concerns away with "this just facts" is fine to have consequences.

Re: Richard M. Stallman resigns

#547

Post by UserIsUnused »

JulianMorrison wrote: post #525

Some people here seem to need it explained why RMS's comments were wrong. - Minsky is accused, by a credible victim of a non-credible, convicted pedophile, of receiving sexual contact with a woman who was underage at the time, and who was dispatched to him as part of her employment. - RMS says the most plausible scenario is that she presented herself to Minsky as entirely willing. He also says that the difference bet…

He doesn't understands power relations because he ignores them. He doesn't bend, which makes him a general outsider of society, but he expect other to act in the same manner, of not bending, because he doesn't understand social ties.

There are various few occasions that you see RMS bending. Like plane travels (which require IDs), that he just does when he needs to cross oceans. So to him, a person that dd something because of a power relation with an employer is just weird.

Re: Richard M. Stallman resigns

#548

Post by davidy123 »

mnm1 wrote: post #445
nabla9 wrote: post #343

RMS has called himself "borderline autistic". His socially clueless black and white thinking makes it look like he is far in the spectrum. RMS is anal about meanings of terms and their use. That's not working well in the current climate where words carry perceived intent. I find myself agreeing with RMS with most of the terminology and its use in this case. Women who tell stories about him paint a picture of lonely s…

This is ridiculous in a culture that elected and continues to support an accused rapist to its highest office. If the highest office in the nation (and many others) can have such a scumbag without him being forced to resign, how can we expect someone in Stallman's position to be perfect and PC with his speech so idiots don't misunderstand his direct style of speech? Such hypocrisy, such bullshit, this argument is.

By evicting him, and finding someone who's better, making the parameters more clear each time.

Who can say what would have been in place if a particular leader hadn't? They take oxygen. Some would even say we should move away from the model of a few leaders representing many.

Re: Richard M. Stallman resigns

#549

Post by kelnos »

chroma wrote: post #485
rimliu wrote: post #459

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does this feel like such a witch hunt? Because you like him. If he were somone you did not like you'd be "good riddance". How do you fell about James Damore?

> How do you fell about James Damore? That was definitely a witch hunt. He worked hard to give advice that he thought would be useful for improving diversity at Google. Nothing he said was outside of the scientific consensus, yet he was demonized[1] and fired for it. The whole thing is absurd. 1. Check out some Googler's responses to his document (which, in case you forgot, was deliberately leaked without diagrams or…

Just because you write up something that sounds "intellectual" and appears to have "reputable sources", it doesn't mean it is or it does. Damore's garbage post was just that: garbage.

It's really sad that people felt the need to stoop to threatening him with physical violence, but that doesn't mean he wasn't completely wrong and had to go.

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