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What strikes me here in particular is that this article is mirroring most of my own reasons for being uncomfortable with Facebook, but I still find myself wanti
by bunderbunder 10y ago
What strikes me here in particular is that this article is mirroring most of my own reasons for being uncomfortable with Facebook, but I still find myself wanting to disagree with him. The rhetorical style makes him come across as a bully, and on a gut level I don't like to side with bullies.
So I'd like to say that after some more measured, thoughtful reflection I come around to his side.
But I don't. The enemy of my enemy is not my friend, and even after taking a few breaths and trying to read it more calmly, his hyper-paternalistic posture still gets to me. I read his writings, and I don't ever see a glimmer of an attempt to empathize with the people he's ostensibly standing up for. Instead, it seems to me that he's only thinking about his own feelings on the subject, and assuming that everyone else either (A) thinks about it exactly the same way he does, or (B) doesn't know from beans and needs to be browbeaten into realizing it.
It's a wonder he doesn't use the word "sheeple" more often.
- rhizome 10y agoWhy do you consider RMS to be your enemy?
- vacri 10y agoThat's not what bunder said. 'enemy of my enemy is not my friend' just means that a common opponent means nothing for your relationship with another party.
- bjourne 10y ago> The enemy of my enemy is not my friend, and even after taking a few breaths and trying to read it more calmly, his hyper-paternalistic posture still gets to me. Can you give some examples from the text? Like you are expressing frustration over something but what is it? It's a long list of arguments with links to supporting articles. I don't understand what your complaint is.
- pyre 10y agoSounds like the complaint is about tone.
- stephenr 10y agoI can't speak for the person you replied to, but it seems that I'm not the only one in this thread who gets a descending, "I know better, you should just listen to me" vibe from a lot of Stallman's writing.
- erroneousfunk 10y agoI wrote a comment with an example, in a reply to the commenter as well: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11988075 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11988075
- bjourne 10y agoGood example, I see your point. Whoever takes the picture owns it and it is not up to him to decide that it can't be posted on Facebook.
- kartickv 10y agoI have been struggling to identify why I dismiss Stallman and think of him as a idiot, and your post calls it out: the bullying. The assumption that if you don't 100% agree with him, you are an idiot. And the complete lack of empathy.
- erroneousfunk 10y agoAgreed. It's things like the line: "From now on, when people want to snap me with a mobile, I will verify it does not have a Facebook app installed before I say yes." What is he actually achieving there? People can legally take his picture without his permission. People can take his picture (on a Facebook-less phone) and then upload it to Facebook later. And what sort of malicious things is the Facebook server going to do with his sacred visage anyway? So a fan asks for a picture, he demands to search through their phone first, probably gives them some anti-Facebook lecture if their apps don't pass muster... but for no actual "privacy" benefit? Okay. It's just bullying.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]