5 ms·
I didn't read this as RMS minimizing sex trafficking or defending rapists. I read it as him making an inappropriate argument about semantics in entirely the wro
by xkapastel 7y ago
I didn't read this as RMS minimizing sex trafficking or defending rapists. I read it as him making an inappropriate argument about semantics in entirely the wrong place. These are very different things, and it seems like many people, including the author of that Medium article, really want it to be the first instead of the second.
- Jonnax 7y agoHow old is this man? He's not stupid. He knows what he's doing. What a cop out to say "no he was just really hung up about grammar. "
- xkapastel 7y agoNot grammar, the connotations of the phrase "sexual assault". I don't think it's a cop out, I think it's clearly literally the case.
- DanBC 7y agoHe's autistic and he probably has trouble with communication. He might not know that it's a terrible idea to quibble about why his preferred definition of assault is better than the commonly accepted and used definition.
- krapp 7y ago>He's autistic and he probably has trouble with communication. His job is communication. His eloquence, and the precision of his language have been praised more than once here. And autism doesn't come with a "get out of social consequences" card. Certainly not for a sixty year old man.
- DanBC 7y ago> And autism doesn't come with a "get out of social consequences" card. I agree.
- mikeash 7y agoSurely an autistic person is still capable of learning these things. If he is not capable of that, then he’s disastrously unqualified to be leading an advocacy organization.
- DanBC 7y agoI'm not defending him.
- mikeash 7y ago“...the most plausible scenario is that she presented herself to him as entirely willing.”
- xkapastel 7y agoDo you think it's more plausible that she'd present as being in distress?
- mikeash 7y agoThat’s not the issue. The issue is that this hypothetical is used to argue that having sex with her was totally fine.
- xkapastel 7y agoThe hypothetical is used to argue that the phrase "sexual assault" has the wrong connotations, not that it was "totally fine". It's you who keeps adding this "totally fine" part. The biggest problem I can see here is that Stallman should have posted it on his blog if he wrote it at all, not blasted it out to everyone on that mailing list. That was definitely the wrong thing to do as it's basically picking a fight with people who are organizing an event.
- mikeash 7y agoIf it’s not “sexual assault” then what is wrong about it?
- xkapastel 7y agoWhat is wrong about it is that Epstein is running a child sex trafficking ring. It's not clear what Minsky knew.
- mikeash 7y agoBest case scenario for Minsky, if he did have sex with this girl, is that he was tricked into raping her. But RMS isn’t going with that. He’s going with “not rape.”
- Ensorceled 7y agoThe best-case scenario is still incredibly sordid: Minsky partook in sex acts with a young woman 50+ years his junior who was part of a billionaire's "harem" without checking her age or true consent status. Quibbling about whether it's actually sexual assault still leaves RMS using his position, stature, and reputation to defend this still horrible "best" case scenario. He still needs to go even if you believe this is what is going on here.