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Good for him. In this day and age I support any fightback against deplatforming. I hate that it has come down to this, where you have to take a stand just on pr

Good for him. In this day and age I support any fightback against deplatforming. I hate that it has come down to this, where you have to take a stand just on principles. I don't know if Stallman is really a "creepy old man" who hits on his female co-workers but any chance of a fair enquiry in an appropriate manner is near zero. The mass hysteria and instant justice demands of the twitter outrage mob has killed nuance or shades of grey from public discourse. I really really hate that anything in the center is taboo. I lay the blame squarely on the far-left for this state of affairs. They started this war and this trend. God knows where it will end.

deleted 7y ago
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smolder 7y ago
The thing you're describing where people latch on to outrage in the social media age isn't an effect exclusive to the left. I think that human tribalism and group think in a huge instant forum like the modern internet inevitably lead to some bad conclusions and disproportionate outcomes. I think we have to find a way to give deeply considered and measured commentary the share of our collective attention it deserves. Upvotes and downvotes and likes and shares don't serve that purpose well enough.
- DiogenesKynikos 7y ago
  I agree with you for the most part, but I disagree about the characterization of the phenomenon as "far-left." It's driven by middle-class conformists, in my humble opinion.
  - specialist 7y ago
    Now that's an interesting idea. I'm very political and some of my peeps (on the left) exhaust me. I disregard anyone telling someone else how they should be living; remove the log from your own eye first and so forth. Left, right, up, down -- they're all the same. I call them scolds. I'll now have to consider your thesis (about scolds being a flavor of conformists).
  - mlevental 7y ago
    ya because the upper middle class and the wealthy are such a heterogeneous bunch with respect to what they're intolerant of (or really along any dimension)
adamsea 7y ago
Your own words lack the nuance and shades of gray whose absence you so lament; methinks the lady doth protest too much.
- bscphil 7y ago
  "the twitter outrage mob has killed nuance" and "I lay the blame squarely on the far-left" is a very funny combination of claims to have in the same paragraph. :-)
  - esyir 7y ago
    It is... though twitter does swing heavily left. Outrage mobs on twitter are thus expected to swing left.
narag 7y ago
Good for him. In this day and age I support any fightback against deplatforming. Maybe it's just me but these news surprise me most because, of all people, Stallman is a pioneer of some kinds of activism that these people also practices, like nitpicking about language or the idea of purity.
- zajio1am 7y ago
  It is a big difference between just making moral claims (even about language and purity), expressing them and conforming to them perself on one side, and calling for outrage mob and deplatforming on the other side. The first one is responsible moral position, the second one is witch hunt.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
ran3824692 7y ago
No one has ever accused him of hitting on his female coworkers. His assistant for the last 15 years is a woman. In most of his activities, hes a volunteer activist. Some of his critics are past female coworkers, but they would gladly say he has never done that. So, you actually can know that.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

smolder 7y ago

The thing you're describing where people latch on to outrage in the social media age isn't an effect exclusive to the left. I think that human tribalism and group think in a huge instant forum like the modern internet inevitably lead to some bad conclusions and disproportionate outcomes. I think we have to find a way to give deeply considered and measured commentary the share of our collective attention it deserves. Upvotes and downvotes and likes and shares don't serve that purpose well enough.

DiogenesKynikos 7y ago
I agree with you for the most part, but I disagree about the characterization of the phenomenon as "far-left." It's driven by middle-class conformists, in my humble opinion.
- specialist 7y ago
  Now that's an interesting idea. I'm very political and some of my peeps (on the left) exhaust me. I disregard anyone telling someone else how they should be living; remove the log from your own eye first and so forth. Left, right, up, down -- they're all the same. I call them scolds. I'll now have to consider your thesis (about scolds being a flavor of conformists).
- mlevental 7y ago
  ya because the upper middle class and the wealthy are such a heterogeneous bunch with respect to what they're intolerant of (or really along any dimension)

adamsea 7y ago

Your own words lack the nuance and shades of gray whose absence you so lament; methinks the lady doth protest too much.

bscphil 7y ago
"the twitter outrage mob has killed nuance" and "I lay the blame squarely on the far-left" is a very funny combination of claims to have in the same paragraph. :-)
- esyir 7y ago
  It is... though twitter does swing heavily left. Outrage mobs on twitter are thus expected to swing left.

narag 7y ago

Good for him. In this day and age I support any fightback against deplatforming. Maybe it's just me but these news surprise me most because, of all people, Stallman is a pioneer of some kinds of activism that these people also practices, like nitpicking about language or the idea of purity.

zajio1am 7y ago
It is a big difference between just making moral claims (even about language and purity), expressing them and conforming to them perself on one side, and calling for outrage mob and deplatforming on the other side. The first one is responsible moral position, the second one is witch hunt.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

ran3824692 7y ago

No one has ever accused him of hitting on his female coworkers. His assistant for the last 15 years is a woman. In most of his activities, hes a volunteer activist. Some of his critics are past female coworkers, but they would gladly say he has never done that. So, you actually can know that.