We want our public figures to be predictable. When we lived in small bands we knew the peoples our whole life and we could build a really good model of their th

We want our public figures to be predictable. When we lived in small bands we knew the peoples our whole life and we could build a really good model of their thinking. Later when we had bigger polities, we did not have that much information about the leaders. Now we know all of what they say and do and any time - but what is reported are only the deviations from the expectations - in our perception they are not balanced by the whole daily predictable lifes. To be public figure now means to be a good actor, understand what the public thinks about you and constantly adjust your behaviour to fit in and never be caught on any deviation from the public figure image. Stallman is not good at adjusting behaviour. He is still pretty predictable in the geek culture - but for the wider public he is really weird. See also this blogchain: https://www.ribbonfarm.com/series/predictable-identities/ https://www.ribbonfarm.com/series/predictable-identities/ And in particular this quote from another article: "The perception of creepiness is a response to the ambiguity of threat. […] While they may not be overtly threatening, individuals who display unusual patterns of nonverbal behavior, odd emotional responses or highly distinctive physical characteristics are outside the norm, and by definition unpredictable." from https://sci-hub.tw/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2016.03.003 https://sci-hub.tw/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.20...