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Most people don't need to be told that child abuse is bad. Stallman used to think child abuse wasn't harmful. He only changed his mind after survivors of abuse
by DanBC 7y ago
Most people don't need to be told that child abuse is bad. Stallman used to think child abuse wasn't harmful. He only changed his mind after survivors of abuse spoke to him.
Some will claim this is evidence of his scepticism but really it's evidence of lazy thinking. He could have done a tiny bit of reading before saying that child abuse isn't harmful, but he chose not to do so.
- leereeves 7y agoAlmost all societies used to believe (and some still do) that what we now call child abuse was ok. People who experienced it themselves would go on to do it to others. Getting past that was a thought evolution that took hundreds of years, not "a tiny bit of reading". Stallman dared to question the dominant belief in the US today, and needed more evidence before accepting that belief. With sufficient investigation (hardly "lazy thinking") he came to agree with it, but that's not enough for the social media mobs. His experience shows that one must not only accept the dominant belief, one must accept it immediately and without question, because a moment of heresy will never be forgiven or forgotten.