Stallman's article about singular they has always struck me as Stallman just reserving the right to be rude. Pronouns are a lot like nicknames or shortened nam

Stallman's article about singular they has always struck me as Stallman just reserving the right to be rude. Pronouns are a lot like nicknames or shortened names. You can ask people to call you Richard instead of 'Richie', 'Rich', or 'Dick' and generally expect that people will try to respect that. If someone wrote and essay that said, "I object to using the nickname someone prefers, because I found an equally correct replacement of my choosing..." I think we'd all raise an eyebrow. Sure, go ahead and reserve that right, but did you really need to?